Ski trip to Tyrol Basin
by Hanly on Feb.22, 2009, under Leisure, Life, The Wisconsin Experience
Last weekend I went skiing for the first time. It was only for around 3 hours, but due to the falling, rolling, ski popping and pain, it seemed like much longer. However that night I managed to make it down the easiest slope without falling once. There was no real snow that night, just fake icy snow that had been made by the machines. That icy snow made it super slippery to go down, which is why at the end of the night when the easy trail was closed and we were forced to take the blue trail, I slipped on an icy patch and somersaulted around 20 feet while both my skis flew off in different directions. On the way home and for several days after my body was in pain. However, I did decide to make the trip there again this week when our dorm was going.
Today’s (well yesterday technically 2-21-09) was completely different. This time there was actual snow since it snowed about 8 inches and was still snowing as we we skied down the slopes. The real snow made it a lot better and easier since there were fewer icy patches in which to loose your balance. However,…enter the snowboarder complaints…the snowboarders’ plow marks and super packed trails made their own nice gashes and packed down icy patches for one to fall and or get a ski caught in.
I started my day by going down the easy slope, which was fun now, since I could do it without falling. After a few runs we decided to step up the challenge a little, and try the blue from last week. That didn’t go well, at least the first time. Thanks to the snowboarders making a path to the rails on the side, there was this big gash of snow. Without realizing it I went that way and made it through the first bump, but as I came down the ski got stuck on the other bump since the skis are much longer than the width of the gash. I tumbled down, got up quickly and made it down. I went up the chairlift again and once again headed for that blue. While on the chairlift I looked at the slope making note of where the dangers were . This time I used one of the chairlift supports as my marker for the gash. I headed towards it and avoided the gash, raced down the slope and made it down without falling several times. Once again my friend Tyler decided that it was time for bigger and greater things so he convinced us to try a black diamond that was coming off of the beginning of the easy trail. This one was a narrow zigzagging path through a bunch of tightly packed hills. I went through and fell once I hit this ice patch midway through the run, which caused be to not be able to make the next turn. Tyler had jumped over the hill I crashed into and lost one of his ski’s. After a few minutes of looking he found it buried in the snow a few feet away. I tried this run several more times, however I wasn’t able to master it. In fact one of the times I went down it I tripped on my stick and hurt my knee and thumb in the process. It wasn’t that bad of an injury; my thumb feels fine, and my knee hurts a bit when I walk. We went down another black diamond in which I wiped out the first time. The second time going down the same one I took note of the terrain and avoided the bad spots. I was able to make it down without falling.
After some time I met up with Sebastian, Miles, Fro, and Chris, who had been doing their own thing going through the woods. I decided to join them and give it a try, but large skis and the woods don’t go together. Everyone else had been wearing the snow skates (smaller skis) which are more maneuverable, which allowed them to turn better in the woods. That ended in failure for me, causing me to crash into several trees and eventually wipe out as I jumped out of the woods into the run.
Nevertheless, despite the minor injuries skiing was much funner the second time around. Once you know what you are doing it really becomes fun. The nearly 5 hours we spent at Tyrol Basin today flew by very fast. I love skiing.
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