Day Three: Friday (Part 2)

The mountains in Utah have always been pretty impressive but on this trip I was looking at them through new eyes.
The eyes of a First Time Skier…
DUN, DUN, DUH!
Man did they look HUGE! And steep, and treacherous
I started to get nervous on the way back to the hotel from the renters.
I started to get very nervous on the way up the canyon.
I started to get very, very nervous when we got to the parking lot of Brighton (which by the way is one of the easier slopes in Utah.)
There to great me, was a guy being loaded into a cab with a broken leg…
Sis. H pulled over the side to unload her passengers (she wasn’t skiing with us) and Jessica and Jim went ahead to find a parking spot.
I started put on my gear but apparently there is method to the madness and Jason told me to take all of it off and start over again.
First you put on your boots.
Second you put on any layers you feel you need, then your jacket, then your hat, then your goggles, then your gloves.
Jason prefers to wear his goggles backwards and resembles an 80’s aerobics instructor. Jessica wears hers the same way and does not.
I clumped over out of the “Dry” slush in the parking lot and promptly had to use the bathroom. Jessica, Jennifer and I ran a bathroom break during which, Bro. H disappeared to the mythical land of “lockers” so we spent 10 minutes trying to find him.
So after all these trials and tribulations it was time to ski.
Yay.
For those of you who haven’t skied before, it’s really hard to walk up stairs in boots that were designed to limit your ankle movement.
We get out side and every one leaves me to Jason’s teaching skills which consist of:
Describing “pizza’ing” and one demonstration, He then had me do this maneuver to the lift. He explained how to load myself onto the lift. Which I did without mishap. And then while we were on the lift explained how to get off. And told me he was going to take my poles away from me.
I explained to him in a calm voice he was NOT going to take my poles away from me! This went back and forth a couple of times before his self preservation kicked in.
I kept my poles. (Granted, they did in fact get in my way but I am not going to admit that to him.)
As we were riding the lift we watched snowboarders try different jumps on Brighton’s trick course and I noticed that this lift seemed a little long and steep for a bunny hill.
Jason assured me that this was the bunny hill and everything was going to be fine.
We reached the top and I followed through with my disembarking instructions.
1. Grasp poles in one hand. (Check)
2. Put other hand on the back of lift chair. (Check)
3. Scoot to the edge of the chair. (Check)
4. Once your skis hit the snow jump off the lift. (Check)

Here is what happened. I grasped my poles in one hand, braced myself on the chair with the other, scooted to the edge like a champ (despite the vision of falling out dancing in my head) and jumped off at just the right moment.
AND…
Fell on my butt in an undignified heap accompanied by the word “Sh*&T”! Jason laughed at me both because I fell and because I was embarrassed to be swearing around kids.
He skied back over and offered me a “hand up” which I rebutted with an “I can get up myself” and followed Megan’s instructions given so long ago. Get your skis to one side, dig your poles in and lever your self up. Thanks Megan, it worked like a charm.
He then took me over to a course assuring me once again that it was a “bunny hill”. He then explained and demonstrated “serpentining”, and off we went!
I didn’t fall once! In fact as we were descending the mountain the other Heilpern’s spotted us from the lift and cheered me on.
Once we got the bottom, and yes, I stopped with out having to use an unmovable object or small child to slow my momentum, we took a break and were talking about my experience when a skier next to us piped up and corrected Jason by explaining that “blue” was the second level. “Green” was the bunny hills.
Jason swears that this was an innocent mistake but I think he planned it.
But since I was unscathed I decided to forgive him and try this “skiing thing” again. This time I did fall, and I had forgotten to put the little loops around my wrists so I lost my poles about 7 feet up the mountain, and ended up having to unlock my boots and walk up to get them.
The rest of the course was uneventful and we stopped for lunch with the rest of the family.
It was at lunch that they announced that they didn’t think this was my first time skiing and that I had made it up so I could look good when we went. The fact is, is that skiing is a lot like ice skating, in that the movements are very similar, so I think that helped me.
After lunch we started going up the mountain as a group and got a couple of pictures in at the top. My knee started hurting after a bit because I am a bit of a sloppy skier and was pizza’ing more than I should have. It’s just really scary to plummet down the mountain. Jason massaged it and off we went again. I did stop after each run and worked out any cramps before starting again.
I have decided that I don’t like night skiing- the snow gets icy and it changes to mostly snowboarders who fall all over the place or just sit down in the middle of the course. I could barely go strait let alone avoid people!
Markham showed up around 8pm and Jason and he took off to spend some time together while I joined Jessica and Jennifer on their runs. This turned out great because my knee had started hurting after each run A LOT. I knew it was because I was pizza’ing to much and dragging my ski so going down the green route was much more enjoyable for me and my knee. Plus Jennifer wasn’t going very fast so I didn’t feel like I was getting left behind or being a drag for anyone.
I surprise myself in saying that this is something I would definitely do again.