Snow Day Follow Up - Epic Fail and Lessons Learned

Yesterday we had a fun, yet challenging snow day.

Usually we have an 8-10 hour snow day, not including drive time to the snow area. My husband teaches snowboard lessons, my daughters and I ski, and then we all roam the mountain together for an hour or so.

Yesterday we spent nearly 12 hours at the Summit. My husband taught two snowboarding classes, and assisted our 17 year old nephew as he taught skiing for the first time.
We skied a number of runs from blues to blacks (intermediate to advanced) and visited with family and friends on the mountain. It was almost a perfect day, except for end of the day exhaustion and

an epic fail on one of my favorite black diamond runs, “360 Showoff” – also called “Face”. One of my bindings was a bit loose, and my left ski popped off on an easy turn near the top of the run. I couldn't get back into the binding, and when I tried to stand on one ski, I ended up back on my rear sliding down the hill with one ski on and one ski in my hand. I tried and tried again, and I started to panic, feeling that all the awkwardness of too much weight and not enough muscle might be too much for me to overcome. I finally settled for the humiliation of sliding down the hill on my rear until I could find an area less steep.

With the run being called Show off you can correctly imagine that I was directly under the run's ski lift in full view of the lodge and several other ski lifts. People pointed, laughed, yelled encouragement and other things, until a complete stranger stopped and helped me by letting me lean on him while I fixed my binding. After accepting my thanks, he skied off, and I skied down the run without any further incident.

Still, I seethed with embarrassment and chagrin until I redeemed myself a few hours later by going back on the run, and staying on my skis the entire time.

I still didn't ski it as hard and as fast as I used to be able to - once upon a few years ago, I raced my husband down that run and kept up with him. (He's an amazing downhill snowboarder and skier so that isn't too shabby)

So, this morning, despite tiredness and sore muscles, I got back on the exercise bike and put in my time. I know that I want to conquer that run again, and the only way to do it with style is to drop about 20 pounds and gain some muscle.

This reminds me of my writing lately, my novel The Crystal Sword is in the throes of a painful revision. Determination and a desire to conquer the story and make it true to my vision are keeping me going each day.

Lessons Learned:
Sometimes the only way to stand up is to get help.

Anything worth doing is worth a little sweat and concentration.

And yes, pride comes before a fall. Even though outwardly I laughed at myself and teased myself, it seriously stung to find myself unable to complete a run I thought I could do easily.