Blue, Blue, Blue! (and that's a good thing!)

[Tvan]

This is my fourth season on skis. I started skiing at age 45, during the "Year of Doing Things I'd Never Done Before". I've taken lessons and practiced like the little engine that could. Finally this season, I'm comfortable enough with my technique to ski blue!

I took today off from work (mental health day) and skied all morning at my local mountain. All blue, all morning!!!! I'm so excited! I feel like the mountain is opening up and like I have so many more options! I'm also thinking that a lesson would be a good thing, next time I'm up there.

 

[G-skier]

Hello! First-time poster (though I've been lurking a while) and had to respond to this because it made me feel, well, HOPEFUL! I started skiing last year at age 44 and, despite having skiied quite a lot the past two seasons, am still on greens, barely out of a wedge, and sometimes feel like I'll never ski greens, let alone blues, easily and comfortably! So seeing your post (and others like it) reminds me that I'm not alone in being new to all of this, and that it comes when it comes! So congratulations! That is such a great accomplishment! And I hope to join you, in spirit or otherwise, on those blues one of these days!

 

[litterbug]

I'm back to skiing after several years of illness and inactivity; started with short afternoons in March, back at it two afternoons/week since late November, and the day about 2 months ago when I skied two blue runs top to bottom with no serious problems was a happy, happy day! Not that it was pretty, but it showed me that I'm teachable.

Next lesson coming up shortly...

 

[maggie198]

I can so relate! Well, sorta. I started getting back into skiing after a 20-something year hiatus, feeling like a beginner again (didn't even know how to pop on skis with those #@$n ski brakes ). I left an intermediate, and five/six years later I'm STILL an intermediate, but upper level. Amazingly enough, I now can often look at BLACKS and say, "sheesh, that's not so bad, I can ski that", or better yet, "that one looks like fun!"

On the other hand, a bad day of mashed potatoes has me skiing like a newbie again.... :mad:

 

[Blue Diamond]

Congrats, Tvan! Isn't it great to try something new that you have never done before (no matter at what age) and love it?

There is no rush, blues are fun! And yes, I would highly recommend you to keep taking lessons.

G-skier, welcome to The Ski Diva! I'm sure you'll be doing blues one of these days too, and we'd love to hear about it. Take it easy, and if you can, lessons. They will help you with technique, and therefore, confidence.

 

[Serafina]

Yay, Tvan!! This opens up so much of the mountain to you! Now you're going to be saddled with all of those choices...which lift to take? which run to try? hmmm.... things you didn't have to think about much as a green skier.

I remember the first time I took a blue run as my warm-up. Realizing that I was good enough to take blue runs without carefully inspecting the surface or getting my skis under me on an easy cruiser was an awesome feeling.

 

[Tvan]

Thanks for all the encouragement! Skiing is something I never thought I could do, and I've worked hard to get where I am. The fact that I can hold my own on blue slopes makes me want to shout from the rooftop! I'm in no rush to get to black, but I did find myself looking over a couple runs from the chairlift thinking "that doesn't look so bad...". ;)

 

[Serafina]

I'm in no rush to get to black, but I did find myself looking over a couple runs from the chairlift thinking "that doesn't look so bad...". ;)

MWAHAHAHAHA... You're in for it now...you think riding the blue was a rush...just wait until you do your first black. I had that pleasure last week, and I had to tell the entire world. An awful lot of the people I told came back with "I remember when I did my first black..." including some people who have been skiing for decades.

 

[Tvan]

But Serafina, my skis don't talk to me like yours do...maybe I need to gear up before I can tackle blacks!

 

[maggie198]

... but I did find myself looking over a couple runs from the chairlift thinking "that doesn't look so bad...". ;)

Lol, that's how it starts. You get an idea in your head and next thing you know...

 

[Serafina]

But Serafina, my skis don't talk to me like yours do...maybe I need to gear up before I can tackle blacks!

Not a bad idea! But I think it's really that "hmmm...I might be able to do that" that is the real catalyst. I found myself deciding which black would be my first...next year...the week before I actually went down a black for the first time.

You are doomed. Black runs, here you come.

 

[gardenmary]

But Serafina, my skis don't talk to me like yours do...maybe I need to gear up before I can tackle blacks!

Naaah. I did blacks at Snowbasin for the first time last week, on my trusty K2 True Luvs. I was wondering about ratcheting up a level on the skis, but it was completely unnecessary on the groomed runs.

I'm another who came to this sport late - started XC at 44 and downhill at 47. The combination I've done - as many lessons as I can afford, supplemented with as much practice time as I can spare - has reaped fantastic results. I am NOT an athletic person by nature, and am a bigger girl (I like to say "Viking skier") so at first it was tricky, but I am SO GLAD I stuck with it. Three years later I have gone from verrryyy slow wedge turns on the bunny slope to skiing almost the whole mountain with confidence. So please believe me when I say, if I can do this, ANYONE can. My mother still doesn't believe that I am a good downhill skier, lol.

Keep at it, and you all will be great skiers too!! Glad you newbies have joined us!

 

[gardenmary]

Not a bad idea! But I think it's really that "hmmm...I might be able to do that" that is the real catalyst. I found myself deciding which black would be my first...next year...the week before I actually went down a black for the first time.

You are doomed. Black runs, here you come.

SO TRUE. Even as recently as 18 months ago I was saying "I'll be perfectly happy to stay on greens". Famous last words. Well, now my goal over the next year is to ski the mens' AND womens' downhill Olympic runs at Snowbasin. I may not do them from top-to-bottom without stopping - but by gosh, I AM GOING TO SKI THEM WITH CONFIDENCE.

My instructor is stoked. He remembers when I could barely wedge in XC skis!

 

[Ski Around Sue]

This is my fourth season on skis. I started skiing at age 45, during the "Year of Doing Things I'd Never Done Before".

I LOVE the idea of a year of doing things you've never done before! I also love your perservance. I am 45 and just back to sking after 20 years so not quite a beginner but not more than an intermediate. I second the vote to continue lessons. I took one on my first day back after all of those years and could not believe how much things have changed! As to doing new things, I second the appeal of that. I have just started taking piano lessons along with my 8 year old daughter and am trying to branch out in other ways. This is the stuff that feeds our souls and makes our hearts sing. Kudos!

 

[marzNC]

SO TRUE. Even as recently as 18 months ago I was saying "I'll be perfectly happy to stay on greens". Famous last words. Well, now my goal over the next year is to ski the mens' AND womens' downhill Olympic runs at Snowbasin. I may not do them from top-to-bottom without stopping - but by gosh, I AM GOING TO SKI THEM WITH CONFIDENCE.

My instructor is stoked. He remembers when I could barely wedge in XC skis!

From what I saw, I have no doubt you'll make your goal!

 

[gardenmary]

From what I saw, I have no doubt you'll make your goal!

Thanks!! Our week was wonderful. It was great to ski with you to start it off so well!

 

[smartjingle]

Congratulations! It's amazing the feeling you get for accomplishing something you didn't think you could in a certain time-frame!

 

[litterbug]

I can so relate! Well, sorta. I started getting back into skiing after a 20-something year hiatus, feeling like a beginner again (didn't even know how to pop on skis with those #@$n ski brakes ).

I forgot this when we had the "most embarrassing moments thread": About the 2nd time out last year I somehow ended up on a teensy bit of soft snow and of course I fell off my teetery little legs, and the DIN was set so low that a ski came off. And I swear I spent more than 20 minutes pissed and fussing and cussing and flailing until some really sweet guy stopped and showed me how to reset or release or whatever the binding so I could get it on again.

I have always relied on the kindness of strangers...

 

[deannatoby]

Ooo! Congrats to you, Tvan, for your fantastic accomplishment, and congrats to ALL OF US who are mid-life old ladies (even though I don't feel old...usually) and taking up the speedster sport of skiing. But, actually, it's not a speedster sport, is it? It's a "Wow, what a beautiful day to cruise down a beautiful mountain and enjoy God's creation," kind of sport. And watching people who ski well wind their way down the mountain is just plain elegant. Really inspiring. What a way to enjoy adulthood, eh?!

And I swear I spent more than 20 minutes pissed and fussing and cussing and flailing until some really sweet guy stopped and showed me how to reset or release or whatever the binding so I could get it on again.

Me, too! On my first run I spent the whole time on my butt, saw some snowboarders sitting on the ground waiting for a friend and asked them how to get down easily. They said, "If you go that way it's green." I thought, "Green?" I asked them if "green" meant that it was grass. Then I got stuck in the trench by the side of the mountain, couldn't get my skis off, and had to get safety services to help. They just took me down the rest of the way on the injury toboggan, even though I wasn't injured (which in itself is amazing). That was the most fun of the whole thing! After that I learned how to take my skis off.

Now I can ski practically anywhere, but I never took lessons. Bad bad bad idea. I can ski anywhere, but I don't do it well and I don't have control. I'm finally taking more lessons, feel like I've dialed back my skiing a LOT, but I can already see how the new things I'm learning make a difference. I should have done lessons so much earlier. Keep up with the lessons!

Yea to all of us oldies who have figured out how to enjoy life!

 

[maggie198]

Yea to all of us oldies who have figured out how to enjoy life!