How'd you start skiing?

[skiadikt]

lol i went to hunter years ago on thanksgiving weekend. trust me, belt parkway IS for someone with a death wish under those circumstances. 800 people crammed onto one very icy trail.

ugly ... maybe i oughta enter belt pkwy in the underated trail thread. the thing is listed as a blue but skis more like a triple black

 

[JimG.]

ugly ... maybe i oughta enter belt pkwy in the underated trail thread. the thing is listed as a blue but skis more like a triple black

Don't go near the belt on a weekend or holiday...gaper central.

 

[Grassi21]

I was 26 when my wife forced me to give it a try. We were up at Okemo with a bunch of friends who have been skiing since they were 4 or 5 yrs old. It was March and we had blue bird skies both days. I took a lesson the first day and spent day two with the wife. The atmosphere at Okemo and spending time with my wife and friends is what got me hooked. We didn't get out the next season because we were searching for a house. This season we leased gear for the season and logged 11 days. During those 11 days I found two more reason why I love the sport - the balance it brings to my head and the individual challenge. I bought all new gear at the end of this season and plan to put in 20+ days per season going forward. My wife created a monster and she knows it!

 

[Marc]

I skied my first time when I was a senior in high school the winter of 2000. Once. And I had a ball. I went on a whim with a couple high school buddies. It was one of those things that just fit. I knew for a long time it was a sport I wanted to be into, but because my parents had never skied and didn't, I just didn't have the facilities to start.

Then I bought my first setup (and still have the skis) the next fall and probably skied ten or eleven days the winter of '00/'01 when I was in college. I learned a ton about skiing from my room mate that year. Thanks for all the pointers, Ben.

Sophomore, winter of '01/'02 year I had my car at WPI, so I went up to Wachusett a number of times, I'd say total was somewhere between ten and fifteen days out. That was a terrible winter, but still I had fun. I continued to improve.

I have skied, little by little, more each winter. This season was my sixth full season and there is no turning back. I've made so much progess since I started skiing with Nate, it's absurd.

Hell, I couldn't even begin to think about skiing a mogul run at the beginning of this year, and now, 28 mediocre ski days later, there isn't an inbounds trail on any mountain I've been to that makes me nervous. Man what a great feeling. I hate summer.

 

[Greg]

Hell, I couldn't even begin to think about skiing a mogul run at the beginning of this year, and now, 28 mediocre ski days later, there isn't an inbounds trail on any mountain I've been to that makes me nervous. Man what a great feeling. I hate summer.

Nice! The challenge and desire to improve is what's so intriguing about it to me as well. I've sort of had a breakthrough on the bumps the past two seasons; moreso this year.

 

[kickstand]

the Christmas Eve following my college graduation, I had finally had enough of my uncle giving me crap about trying skiing. He had been doing it for years, so now that I had the time and money, I figured I'd try it, more to shut him up than anything.

So, here I am 10+ years later.....

 

[cbcbd]

Freshman year of HS, my sister and her boyfriend at the time were going to try skiing.
I tagged along with them and another friend from my class. We headed up to Brodie. It was frustrating at first, but quickly I progressed and during that first winter we all headed up regurarly. The next seasons after that were sort of the same with some HS ski trips thrown in there.

When my sister and her boyfriend broke up around my junior year of HS the skiing stopped for a long while. In college none of my friends skied, first two years I didn't have a car anyway... I skied ONCE during college.

Two seasons ago I decided to get back into it and really just try to get better at it. My girlfriend at the time skied and so did her family, so it was easy to find time for trips.

For the past 3 seasons I have progressively been getting out more and more (it's not a lot, but the progress is good) and have hit some important revelations and breakthroughs with my skiing (mostly with bumps) this season. My season is still divided between skiing/mountaneering/ice climbing so it's hard to fit it all in, but I'm psyched for next season so I can start good and early. Very psyched!

 

[ski_adk]

During my Sr. year in college, my friend Katie took me to Jiminy to give it a try. Oh, how vividly I remember that day. My jeans were tucked into my boots, and my super cheap snow pants were straight off the shelf Wal-Mart quality. Immediately, I did a split as I tried to "skate" up the hill to the bunny slope. I did manage to graduate all the way up to 180 and even took a run down a very icy left bank. Let me tell you, that wasn't a family-friendly skiing zone that day!

Ahh, yeah, I hated skiing that day, but immediately felt a drive that I wasn't going to let the mountain beat me. A couple more trips back to Jiminy and a day at Gore solidified my addiction to skiing. Here I am now, nearly 8 years, 10 pairs of poles, 6 lessons, 3 pairs of skis, 2 pairs of boots and 1 rebuilt ACL later and I'm a +/- 60 day / season skier, ready to try just about any run out there. Little did either of us know that rough and loathsome day of skiing would become such a major part of my identity and who I am today, because now, I'm a skier and I ski. Everything else seems to be second.

 

[Vortex]

I was 5 and my parents took me to the mountain with my snow boots and 160 Northland green skies (same size I use know )and said your going to learn this we live near a mountain. They bought me ski boots at the mountain after they found out I needed them. Parents were cool never skied, but wanted my bother and I to learn.

 

[snobababunny]

It's funny how many people hated skiing after the 1st time, but we all become addicts anyway.

I, too, had a horrible first experience. A friend took me upto the top of the hill at Pat's Peak, never being on skis before I crashed right into a tree getting off the lift. My stubborness & determination got me down the trail somehow. Years later, I had friends & boyfriends who encouraged me to give it another try - good thing.

10 years after that, my husband said that I'd hate snowboarding & I probably should just stick to skiing. I don't think that he thought I could do it. So, I had to prove him wrong & after a few seasons I was better on the board. Although I do like both.

 

[skibum1321]

It's funny how many people hated skiing after the 1st time, but we all become addicts anyway.

Skiing is alot like crack - try it once and you're hooked for life.

 

[Marc]

Skiing is alot like crack - try it once and you're hooked for life.

Are you addicted to crack, skibum?

 

[Zand]

When I was about 8, my grandma took me to Pine Ridge. The next year, she took me to Ward and my mom signed me up for a town club that went to Wachusett over February vacation. Within the next 2 years, I'll be able to drive to ski areas my self (mom isn't sure if she wants me going too far this winter) so I hope to get an ASC pass at that point.

 

[maplevalleymaster]

Starting to Ski

I started skiing by my parents forcing me. After a few days, i loved it.

 

[andyzee]

Skiing is alot like crack - try it once and you're hooked for life.

Not crack, more like coke or heroin. All that white powder is hazardous to your health, yet extremely addictive.

 

[teachski]

My neighbor took me on my 4th or 5th birthday(she said 4th this weekend, so I may have a year more experience than I knew). All of the other kids in my family skied so it was ok with my mom and dad. She was an instructor so I got a free lesson.

I stayed skiing because it was a family thing to do. Being the youngest though, it wasn't long before my older brothers had different interests (girls). My sister and I both liked a couple of the male ski instructors at our little local area...she married the one she liked and has been married to him for almost 26 years.

Until college I had really only skied at my little area. Mt. Tom and Wachusett once or twice, but they were all t-bars then. Round Top, VT once...my first experience on a chair lift.

My interest in ski history began when I was little. My elementary principal, Roger Langley, was president of the National Ski Association and Editor of their periodical for many years. He was also instrumental in the founding of both the National Ski Patrol and the 10th mountain division. It really doesn't surprise me that he really gets little credit for each as he was a very humble and modest man. Minnie Dole gets most of the credit for both.

 

[NYDrew]

I believe I was 13, my friends temple youth group was going skiing at tanglewood Pa. He invited me to come along so I did. While everyone waited for their lesson, me and my friend hit the bunny hill (he already could ski faily well). By his instruction (he was an andrenaline junky) I just kept bombing the hill. Then on one of my bombs I lost a little control and instinctively did a hockey stop. (I played hockey). Instantly I was a lower intermediate skiier, I just pretended I was skating.

I advanced pretty quickly to a point that I could ski glades and was extremely comfortable on black diamonds. By the time I was 18, you would consider me a lower level expert skiier.

Then I became and instructor when I was 20 after meeting some other instructors on vacation. I'm 23 now and usually consider myself "that guy" when I ski under the lift, or duck a rope into the trees. The funny thing is, is that I don't feel like it, you just kinda know.

Another instructor afte the orientation at smuggs said "I thought I was going to be the best skiier here, then when I finally skiied with you, I realized I would have to compromise with second best.

Reason I brag is because I was once told by that kid who took me skiing for the first time, that I would never get paid to ski after I told him what I want to do (I was 15 or 16), the general opinion was that no one from long island could ever become good enough. Well Mike, kiss my butt.

Thats how I started skiing, still learning how actually.

 

[ckofer]

I was about 5 (late 60's) when my Norwegian father put xc skis on me, told me to climb Blanchard Hill and come down. After all, that's the way he learned growing up near Tromso, Norway. I hated those brats with fixed heals and lift tickets.

 

[ckofer]

Skiing is alot like crack - try it once and you're hooked for life.

I'm waiting for the COPS episode where they bust a toothless woman for pandering herself for lift passes.

 

[riverc0il]

my dad got me on a lift when i was about four years old. family ski trips followed.