Do you remember your first time on expert ski terrain? I do. I was on leather boots and long skinny skis when I started skiing at Gore Mountain in the late 90s. All I could really handle was Sunway, Gore’s long classic beginner trail. As I “upgraded” my gear, I started to ski some of the blues like Showcase. For years my ski buddy was Rand. Rand started to get better and one day he told me he’d “been up top.” I was in awe.
He said to me…”you know, you could totally handle Chatiemac or Hawkeye.” He couldn’t convince me to go and I spent my time convincing him to stay at the bottom with me. The next year, at the end of March, it dumped over 2 feet. The mountain was almost deserted. However there was a gang that formed, comprised of skiers of all ages and abilities.
Rand says to me…IF YOU CAN’T SKI HAWKEYE TODAY – YOU NEVER WILL. The finality of it all — I went. In those days it was a commitment to go up top. You had to wait in a long, slow line, load the Old Red Gondola and take the slow ride up. You didn’t want to make that trip more than once a day. By the time we got up there, HUGE cutup bumps were forming and we were basically leaping over them.
It was so much fun that we were laughing as we skied. We kept a group of 10 SKIERS together for over 2 hours. I’d never skied snow so soft that I’d lost all fear of falling. It’s a great feeling to overcome a long held fear. I’ll never forget it. What’s your story? Post a comment below.
