Skiing--Don't Break Your Hip!

We had originally planned to go skiing this weekend, but with the temperatures forecasted to dip into the single digits, we decided against it. However, when Saturday came, it was sunny and gorgeous out. Cold, but gorgeous. Cincinnati doesn't 'do' sunny in the winter very often, so we decided to get out and enjoy it by braving the cold temps and hitting the slopes.

We live about 30 minutes from the Perfect North Slopes in Lawrenceburg, Indiana--http://www.perfectnorth.com/. I'd never been skiing before. Phillip went once before with Morgan about 12 years ago, and Archie, of course, had never been either. So we were all newbies.

Fortunately, the ski place makes it's own snow, because although it was super cold, the snow that fell naturally had all melted by Saturday. So driving there was kind of neat. The ski slopes stuck out like a sore thumb because it was the only snowy area in sight.

We finally found a parking place waaaaay out in the middle of nowhere and made our way to the lift tickets area. After spending an insane amount of money, we went in to get on all our ski gear. Let me preface this by saying that Archie was the only person dressed appropriately for skiing in single digit temperatures. He is the only one of us who owns a snow suit, which not only keeps out the wet, but provides a couple of inches of extra padding for the inevitable tumbles. Since I have actual snow boots, I thought that I was very fortunate to be able to ski in my own comfortable, weather proof boots. So I didn't worry about doubling up on socks or even wearing thick socks. I couldn't have been more wrong!

Apparently, to ski, you have to wear these gigantic hard plastic boots which fit into the skis. So here I was, with my thin socks, and my snowboots tucked safely away in the locker. After getting all of our equipment and proper foot wear, we were ready to go! So we go right outside the lodge area and snap the skis and boots together. This is a very flat area, a bit crowded with people, and kind of far away from the beginner slopes. It is harder to ski along flat ground than it appears on television. My arms and wrists were killing me because of pushing off again and again with the ski poles. After a while, we finally had the good sense to take our stuff off and walk to the slope. I didn't get very many pictures...it is tough to try to learn something that's physically taxing and remembering to take photos at the same time. So here are the only surviving visuals. Here is Morgan with all her gear:

Archie stopped to pose:

And Phillip snapping his boots into place:

That's it. Terrible, I know. I didn't even get pictures of the super steep tree dodging slope! Or of the ski jumping ramps...I'll do better next time!

The beginner hills were not very high. Even so, there was a great conveyor belt contraption that you would ski onto and ride up to the top. Thankfully. Because I wouldn't have made more than one downhill ski if the conveyor belt wasn't there! So we get on the conveyor belt, and first thing, Morgan falls over. The conveyor belt stops and and waits on her to get situated. She was embarrassed, but that didn't stop me from teasing her about it! So finally we get to the top of the beginner slope. I pushed off with the poles, and wow! It was so fun! All was well until I got going a little faster than I felt I should have, then I started wondering how in the heck I was going to stop at the bottom, and in general, beginning to panic. But I stayed up and miraculously somehow managed to stop before the snow ended.

Archie had many tumbles on the first couple of tries, but he really took to skiing quite quickly. Morgan also did really well after her conveyor belt tumble. We went on the next beginner hill which was a tad bit more steep than the first. We all did so well on it, that I had the bright idea to ride up the chair lift to the next hill. After all, standing there at the bottom of it, it didn't look too difficult. And it would be really fun to ride the chair lift! So we separated into twos. Morgan and I rode together and Phillip and Archie were together. Even though I knew the chair lift was going to come up behind us and bump us into a sitting position and carry us up, it was still a bit of an unsettling surprise. It was fun riding up with dangling legs and watching the skiers underneath. But then came the top of the hill. I began to really worry about the dismount. The chair never stops, so you pretty much have to hop off and gracefully ski to a stop. Easier said than done. I made it off, but not the way you're supposed to. I used a tuck and roll method, which almost got me beaned in the head by the snowboarders in the chair right behind us.

So I picked myself up and dusted myself off, and waited for the boys to arrive in the lift. They were much better than I was (I think everyone was) and even Archie made it mostly standing. So we check out the best way to ski down. The hill must've grown lots taller since we saw it from the bottom! I began having doubts right away. It looked absolutely huge from the top! But what the heck...we did the first two hills with relatively little mishap...what's the worst that could happen? Right?

Archie went first. I went right after him, thinking that if he fell, I could stop and help. Yeah, right. He was doing really well at first. Then about half way down, I think he got going too fast (I know I was going waaaaay too fast!) and he fell. So as I whizzed by him, trying to stop, I had to just drop. I slid probably thirty feet on my back and head. Getting back up to him to help him up was no picnic either. I was really afraid I would begin sliding backward. So I went sideways up to him. I got him all settled and snapped back in his skis and off he went. Then I went. It was a matter of seconds before the front of my skis crossed, and over I went. One of my skis snapped off the boot. No matter what, I couldn't snap that sucker back in there. I tried and tried. I was getting so frustrated. Mostly I didn't want to make the walk of shame down the remainder of the hill. I must have worked on it for a really long time, because pretty soon, Phillip came walking up the hill to see what was going on. So I carried the skis and walked down with him.

As it turns out, he took a really bad tumble down the hill. He apparently hit his hip and his head really hard. He says he felt a little nauseous for a minute. He walked down the remainder of the hill. He apparently tumbled head over skis for a bit. I'm glad I didn't see that! Archie made it the rest of the way down the hill with no problem, and apparently Morgan took a tumble too, but then made it the rest of the way.

After all that trauma, we decided to take a bathroom break. Plus, I was extremely cold...I couldn't stop shivering after kneeling in the snow for so long, and my fingers hurt so badly from the cold. I should have worn better gloves. Phillip decided to 'walk off' his injury in true man fashion by skiing MORE after the injury. We sat in the lodge and warmed up for a bit, then went back outside to find our skis were gone. We found out that we had put them in the wrong place, and the workers took them back to the rental area. So back to the rental area we went for more skis.

Morgan decided to take the opportunity to try snowboarding and Phillip, Archie and I got into our skis. This time, we decided to stick to the two beginner hills for the rest of the evening. And things were great! We had a blast! At one point, I lost a ski pole trying to get Phillip's glove he dropped. I got the glove, but lost one pole. It turned out, that skiing worked out better for me with only one pole. I didn't worry so much about trying to use my hands to stop myself and used my legs, like you're supposed to. And who knew...it worked! I even began to steer around folks a little better!

Morgan had trouble using the snowboard. It looks really difficult to manage. She even had someone giving her some tips. She says she would lose her balance really quickly. She got pretty frustrated with it. But she says she would like to try it again sometime, next time taking the lesson first.

Archie looked like a pro toward the end of the evening. He would steer around people with no problem. He had such a great time! He never wanted to leave. I chickened out first...My toes and fingers were hurting so badly and I just couldn't stop shivering. So I turned in all my stuff and waited for the others. It felt so good to get those ski boots off! My ankles are a bit bruised from the boots.

About 45 minutes later, Phillip was hurting pretty badly from the fall earlier and we left amid much objection by Archie. By the time we made it to the car out in the middle of nowhere, Phillip could hardly walk. it was 10 degrees out. 10! No wonder I couldn't get warm! When we got to the car, I drove us home, we got Phillip up the stairs and he laid in bed. Apparently his back and hip area where he hit the ground was swelling, and he could hardly move. Of course, he didn't want to get an x-ray. I picked up some pizza for a very late dinner and I think everyone slept like the dead.

Sunday we took it easy. Archie and I went to church, then came home and I took a nap. Phillip stayed on the couch most of the day and began feeling a bit better. By Sunday evening, he was walking around with a bit of a limp, but was walking around, which was a vast improvement.

I figure our skiing adventure was a good one, but I did notice that skiing is not for the oldster set. You should be young enough to call people 'dude' and speak in a surfer-guy-frat-house sort of speak. I'm not that young anymore, incidentally. You just don't take falls as well as you do in your teens and 20's. So if you're approaching or past the thirty year age mark, ski now before it's too late! Hurry, before you fall and break your hip!