This past weekend I went skiing in the Reno/Tahoe area with a group of friends. Friday we went to Sqauw Valley. I started out by taking the "First Time Skier" course. It was very basic, they taught you how to balance on the skis, how to stop and supposedly how to turn, but I felt the instruction was lacking in that department. They also taught us how to get on and off the lift, which I did manage to do with falling the third time. I attempted to ski a few green slopes after the course and managed them okay but stopping and turning were still a problem. I was able to stay balnced and up on the skis even when going fast but stopping was a little difficult. I either had to fall down on purpose or needed a lot of room.
On Saturday, we headed up to the Heavenly resort right on Lake Tahoe. I signed up for the level 2 course, eventhough the "snowboard dude" said I should take the level 3. (Which of course costs more.)
We arrived later than on Friday so we had a few hours before the course started. Heavenly has multiple lodges that you can access the mountain from and unfortunately the one we chose ended in the "intermediate" ski area. One of the guides said that there was one green run in the area however and should be fine for a beginning skier. I went up the lift and managed to get off without falling. The trail was packed with snowboarders however. I waited for a long time so there would be fewer people before I started down. I was doing okay and saw that I would have plenty of room to stop at the bottom. Right then a snowboarder moves right in front of me. I turned but not soon enough and I knew we would collide. I fell to the left on purpose but still collided with them rather spectacularly. Neither of us was hurt but I decided that I would not try the rest of the trail and walked down.
The instructor for the level 2 course was great. He taught us way more than than the instructor on the first day. It was a 3 hour lesson, but by then end of 2 hours I was stopping and turning with no problems. I skied the rest of the day down the training slopes. All in all it was fun but very tiring. I'm pretty sore today.
Wow, that's sad that your first instructor sucked. It's really not that complicated, which I'm sure you figured out from your 2nd instructor.
Glad you had fun :) It becomes addicting real fast.
Yes I want to go again. It's just kind of expensive.
Ah, but New Mexico is a lot closer and has great skiing. So does Colorado for that matter. They're within driving distance which cuts the cost, no?
Marginal driving distance... it's like 10 hours from here to Dallas. One reason why you guys never see me =P
I know a lot of Texans go to Apache (southern New Mexico) but their snow kinda sucks.
My driving limit is about 3 hours. I don't even drive home to Tulsa unless I'm taking the dog.
Wow, just from the trail map Heavenly doesn't have much in the way of green runs. Tough place to learn to Ski.
We go 4 hours to Wolf Creek on the weekends; it's not that bad, especially if you stay the night.
Pfeh. Southwest.
Bunny, are you pfeh-ing Southwest? You know WRIGHT IS WRONG!!!