Another powder day, and I’m beginning to understand why people like them. My confidence got another boost today, after a slight waning yesterday when the bumps weren’t soft.
I don’t think any new skills were introduced today, just refining what he’s already been telling us. We skied some of the fluffiest snow I've ever been in, some bump runs, and went in the trees twice. It was a super short tree run but lots of fun. The second time we each picked our own line and it was SO COOL! There’s another woman in class who is a bit more tentative in this stuff, like me, and we were really supporting each other - high fives, etc. It's been fun.
One thing Derek wanted us to do was to follow each other through the fluff, so we would all take the same line. He seriously wanted me like only a ski length behind the person in front of me. I declined - not sure enough of myself at that point and it seemed like a recipe for trouble. I must have sounded VERY firm when I said no, or my body language was yelling it, because he kind of looked up at me and then let me stay right where I was.
I also saw the instructor that I had five years ago, on our only other Taos trip. That was just a group lesson that turned out to be only me, not a ski week like this year. I went over to say hi - told him he didn’t know me but that he’d given me a lesson five years ago and it had been really helpful. I told him that we’d had a day like today, and he had promptly taken me into Etch's Glade, right after I’d told him I wasn’t sure about trees. He thought a second and then referred to Ski Diva, and asked how my neck was. So, he did remember me, because I’d had a face plant and posted about my lesson, and how my neck was going to hurt! He was super nice and thanked me for saying hi. (If you're reading this, Tom, hi again!)
I certainly hope I retain some of this stuff I’m learning. I don’t get much practice in these conditions, so it's really hard to ingrain some of these lessons. What's nice is that some of the things I’ve been working on at home have come in very handy this week, mainly all my focus on turn shape. I have skied some steep things very slowly (although the deep snow helps with that, lol). And I’ve also been able to follow someone else's tracks, which used to only work for a turn or two before I’d lose it.
Finally, he said I’m good at the carving turns when we did them. Always nice to hear, especially when the rest of the day had been hard.
Main note to self - Remember to narrow stance in the soft bumps and to stand up, because you're likely hunching.