Progression

[Marc]

Btw, that avatar is hawt, zook.



Turned on.

 

[kbroderick]

Don't feel bad about getting schooled your first time at MRG, I think most people do! :lol: It certainly is a good kick in the butt to up your game though, eh?

I'll second that. I made my first trip to MRG this past season, and the guy I was visiting with asked me, "History or warm-up?" on the first run. I'm used to skiing aggressive terrain on my first run out, in part because my patrol shifts were lining up with end-of-daylight sweeping for a while and resulting in my first run being a closing run down some of our glades, so I said "History," and up the single we went.

Well, it's not that the terrain was necessarily a lot harder; it's also that it went on for a lot longer. A lot longer. I think I made it about 1/4 of the way down Chute before I started to really feel fatigued, and I was in survival mode before the bottom. That's the first time I've ever had to go inside and rest after my first run, but it still ended up being one heck of a ski day. I'm trying to keep that in mind for motivation when it comes to summer fitness activities.

Personally, my big progression this year has been learning to tele. I started out nearly falling on my butt just attempting to get off the beginner's lift and managed to get to a point by the end of the season where I was able to ski Castlerock Run the last day that lift turned and Stein's for closing weekend at the Bush. I think that attempting to keep up with better skiers--some of whom are used to skiing with me on alpine gear and weren't altogether mindful of the difference in my ability level on tele gear--as well as skiing with accomplished tele skiers were the key components to my progression. I've been advised that I should see a big jump when I manage to get my hands on some more aggressive boots (I've been using a pair of Veloces, which are more of a lightweight backcountry boot). Definitely a much quicker learning curve there than making the same leap on alpine gear, and I'm looking forward to pushing both sets of skills next year.

 

[snoseek]

i kind of stoped caring a few years ago (don't get me wrong there's plenty of room for improvement). i really just try to get out as much as possible and have a blast. i think maybe i've slowed down a bit in the last few years(that really needed to happen), and maybe that is an improvement.