MY STORY

On January 20th 2010 I departed for my Colorado adventure. Final destination is Telluride, CO. My previous employer closed our Boston office on October 31, 2009 and this seemed to be the most opportune time to do something different. My inspirations are two things really. They are both movies. First is "Into the Wild", a movie about a person who leaves his life behind to pursue a life in the Alaskan wilderness and along the way he meets people that shape his life. The second movie is "The Bucket List", a movie about two terminally ill men who escape a cancer ward with a wish list of to-do's before they die. The #1 item on the wish list is "Witness something truly majestic". My adventures are not exactly similar to these movies, but underlying themes and life changing perspectives are. As far as the location, I thank my sister for that. She lived in the beautiful & remote town of Telluride for five years and met Paul there. Their 1997 wedding was in Telluride (Trout Lake). Telluride is nestled in the dramatic Rocky Mountains of Southwest Colorado.

BLOG 101

If you are new to blogs so am I. Here is an intro. The home page http://mycoloradoadventure.blogspot.com/ has all the posts (the write ups) in order and they work so that most recent is at top of the order. i.e. Day 1, my first post/write-up, is on the bottom page of all the posts/write-ups. On the left side of the blog site there is a "Blog Archive" section where you can navigate to pick and choose year, month and then specific daily posts/write-ups. I wanted to share this in the event you are new to blogs.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Day 58 - 3/18/10 - Learning to Ski











"If you aren't crashing, you aren't skiing."
~Author Unknown







Today is Thursday March 18th 2010. It's a sunny and warm day on the mountain. I decided to go out and take just a few runs. It was a quiet day today. Here is why:


The person in today's photo is someone I do not know, but he must have had a sore neck after that fall. This made me think back to when I was young. Learning to ski was challenging, but fun and falling did not hurt as much. Here are some beliefs I have on learning how to ski:
  1. Like today's quote suggests, you have to fall. Getting into skis is hard enough, but the slick wax on the bottom of the skis make you glide, feel unstable and ultimately fall as you get used to it. If you are willing to fall, you will learn to ski. TIP - When falling, avoid the full somersault like the person in the picture of the day.
  2. You have to train your body and mind balance on skis. Shifting your weight will help teach you the actions of start, stop and turn. You have to be patient with all three of those actions. Balance is where it begins and you will learn to ski with good balance.
  3. Once you are comfortable with #1 and #2, then the idea is simple...speed will teach you to become a better skier. You will fall harder and learn what not to do, but you will learn to turn more aggressively and become a better skier in shorter time.
  4. If you do not fancy speed as much then you will still learn and improve just through repetition and time. BUT. I believe, especially through seeing smaller and more fearless children, that speed gets you more confident, more balanced and more graceful.
Today is a big day for Tanya. She skied for the first time. She took a lesson with the Telluride instructors who will do a much better job of teaching her then I will. I covered minimal instruction by just having her click into the ski bindings and try to get used to movement of being on skis. The instructors will teach her the harder things like the ski wedge (used to turn and stop) and the art of getting onto and off of a lift. Based on her feedback she got the hang of it although the ski boots were a little agitating to her. They are to everyone who skis for the first time. Quick note on that. With ski boots or snowbaord boots, make sure your long-johns /thermal underwear and your ski/snowboard pants are ABOVE the point on your leg where the upper boot stops. Any lines from overlapping clothes will create circulation issues and pressure points that will cause discomfort. Just have your sock (and toe warmers if needed) in your boot. This will minimize boot agitation. Simple concept. Very important.

Telluride has some amazing skiers and snowboarders. It is Day 58 of my journey and I have been in this environment long enough to respect the Telluride skiers and riders as some of the best I have ever seen. By far the most impressive are the children. They are fearless and make the job look easy. In my earlier posts I mentioned the Alpine races and how many of the high school and college level athletes were impressive. Now after being on the mountain as long as I have, even the five and six year olds tear down the mountain. Some have their parents with them (teaching) and some are in groups of 4 or more (all same age) where they whip through trees and launch themselves off jumps. They can make any older skier feel humble in mountain skill. It's not hard to understand either. Younger children are constantly developing motor skills and they are like sponges when it comes to mental and physical development. After an initial fear, it quickly diminishes and they have less of a filter of what is dangerous. They just want to go straight down the mountain because it is a new level of fun for them. Like I said in #3 above, this makes them improve in a shorter amount of time.

I hope all you non-skiers are ready to go out and take on the mountain now. If you do, take a lesson, give it time, try not to watch little kids and go fast....just kidding. You'll figure out the speed part on your own. If all else fails then make sure you look good in your ski outfit. Most important is to have fun. Good night from Telluride and hope you are well.


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