The quote in the title changed my life. Me and my girlfriend both have a passion for traveling but we have a bit of a different view on it. We traveled together to Cuba, Indonesia, Italy, … and both like hiking, nature and culture but I love diving and like to do a holiday that contains sea, coral and sharks. She learned skiing as a kid and hopes to do a yearly skiing holiday.
We made a deal, I take skiing lessons and she takes diving lessons. I was a bit reluctant because I hate cold and going down a steep hill on 2 ‘planks’ seems like suicide. She was a bit reluctant because she hates boats and breading through a tube under water seems like suicide.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
I was thrown into skiing because we decided to book an apartment for a week in Switzerland with a group of friend to do skiing. I bought a shitload of thermal underwear and a helmet and off we were.
Once arrived I rented a ski set, went to the local ESS (Ecole Suisse de Ski & Snowboard) and luckily managed to find 4 more people to start with a group lesson for a week. Every morning we had 3 hours of class with the afternoons to practice on our own.
At first we started in the 'kids practice court' getting down a little slope holding the hand of my teacher. I felt a bit ashamed when I saw 5 year old's getting down easily while I was struggling. In the evening I discoved a part of skiing I like: après ski. Having a drink, eat melted cheese and relax after a day of outdoor sports.
After 2-3 days and hundreds of fall's I started to get some control and managed to get down a blue slope at a descent speed. I felt like a pro.
On the last day we decided to explore more slopes and encountered a red slope. I looked down the hill and blocked: this is too steep and humans are not made for this... With some encouragement and with a lot of turns I managed to stay alive and get home with all my bones intact.
Year 2 we booked an apartment in Val-Cenis in the French Alps close to the Italian border. I booked skiing lessons with the local ski school and actually started to look forward to it. I learned to control my balance and speed and I found some confidence. Red slopes started to be fun because of the speed and didn't fell like death traps anymore. I fell in love with skiing.
I love the silence of the mountains in the morning when you get on top of the mountain and start your first descent. I like the feeling of being outdoors, the fresh air, the hungry feeling and sore legs after a day of sports and the fact that I don't think one second about anything else then skiing when going downhill. No work, no stress, no bills just me, my ski's and nature. I love the sense of freedom you have when going downhill just on those 2 'planks'.
Last week we went for the 3th year in a row skiing and I took my last year of classes. I worked on my posture and reached my goal in skiing: descending a black slope without braking my neck. I don't expect to get nearly as good as skiers who started as a kid but I can explore the slopes in the area, make a day trip from slope to slope and ski-lift to ski-lift and enjoy every minute of it.
