“Skiing combines outdoor fun with knocking down trees with your face.”- Dave Barry
Beginning skiers wait for their lesson at Soda Springs in Nevada County (Camera: Canon 20D. Lens: Canon 17-55mm @ 51mm. Exposure: 1/250th sec. @ f/8. ISO: 100).
The first and only time I went skiing was a few years after graduating from high school. A friend invited me to go up to the Sierra for a day of schussing down the slopes (it’s been so long that I don’t remember the resort). My mistake was agreeing to be taught by said friend, who, unbeknownst to me, had only skied once before himself.
We rented our equipment, and I remember him telling me how to slow down. “Just point the tips of your skis inward and you’ll stop.” What he neglected to tell me was I needed to catch the inside edge of the skis as well.
Jennifer Farrell of Woodside helps her 5-year-old daughter Elle Marsyla ski at the Soda Springs ski resort near Donner Summit (Camera: Canon 20D. Lens: Canon 70-200mm @ 200mm. Exposure: 1/500th sec. @ f/7.1. ISO: 100).
My first run down the bunny slope was an eye opener. I started sliding down the hill, picking up speed. As I reached the limit of my fear level, I pointed the ski tips to each other. Nothing happened and I kept going faster and faster. Fearing for my life and anybody in my path, I bailed out and crashed in a snowy heap. It took me a while but I finally realized what I had to do and gained a modicum of control.
Beginning skiers make their way down an easy run at Soda Springs in Nevada County (Camera: Canon 20D. Lens: Canon 70-200mm @ 200mm. Exposure: 1/500th sec. @ f/7.1. ISO: 100).
While I was learning all that, my friend took the ski lift all the way to the very top of the mountain. Straining my eyes I spotted him, a tiny dot. I watched him as he slid from mogul to mogul crashing every 10-15 feet. It was painful to watch him fall, then get up only to fall again.
Skiers and snowboarders ride the ski lift at Soda Springs in Nevada County (Camera: Canon 20D. Lens: Canon 70-200mm @ 180mm. Exposure: 1/500th sec. @ f/5.6. ISO: 100).
After what seemed like an eternity he finally made it to where I was taking my baby skiing steps. It was smooth and relatively flat there (though more than a challenge for me) and he was able to stay upright. I remember him zooming past me and watching him as he uncontrollably launched himself over a large mound of snow. He flailed about as he caught some air and quickly disappeared over the other side. Then all I could see was an explosion of snow, skis and poles. I thought he was dead.
I shuffled over as fast as I could. When I got there, he was still righting himself, covered in white power. Even the eyepieces of his glasses had two coin-sized discs of snow plastered on them about 1/2-inch thick. He looked like Frosty the Snowman meets a train wreck.
We managed to both survive the day, but I vowed then never to go skiing again, an oath I have managed to keep over the years.
First time snowboarder Aaron Kitade of Elk Grove snowboards at Soda Springs in Nevada County (Camera: Canon 20D. Lens: Canon 70-200mm @ 180mm. Exposure: 1/500th sec. @ f/5.6. ISO: 100).
Last weekend the family and I went to Soda Springs for a ski/snow trip organized by my son’s Boy Scout troop. My son and daughter took snowboarding lessons for the first time, and although they spent more time on the ground than they did upright, they had fun. I stayed at the bottom of the hill and watched them, my ski-less feet firmly planted in the snow.
