Skiing Memories

On this date I spoke to someone who works a day or two a ski season for a Utah ski area, and in return receives a ski pass for herself and a companion that she uses on many Saturday’s. We went skiing many times as I grew up in Colorado. We were rarely, if ever, able to go get free ski passes. My father was able, however, to get free ski gear for us. The Eskimo Ski Shop in Englewood had donated their obsolete ski equipment to the scout troop for our LDS ward. This gear included wood skis, cable bindings, and leather, lace-up boots. At some point the scout troop decided this gear should be thrown into the trash, but my father thought otherwise. For the next few years this gear became our gear, which led to many a misadventure. My younger brother Doug became an excellent skier. He made great efforts that included reading a library book or two on skiing. After reading one such book, he confided to me that he aspired to become a “novice” skier, which he understood to be someone who could ski all the way down the mountain without falling. Doug also would carefully wax these old skis in an attempt to exact any possible improvement in their performance. My father, my brothers, and I would frequently ski at the Keystone resort. Doug and I often skied together, though he was the much better skier. After a run on a trail with numerous moguls, we got on the ski lift, lowered the foot rest, placed our skis on the foot rest, and the tip of Doug’s right ski fell off. Doug skied the rest of the day on those skis, with no apparent drop-off in performance. NOTE: Members of my vast readership may have noticed that I fell behind in my blog entries a few weeks back, and that I have been attempting to retroactively post entries for those days. A colleague pointed out that a “web log” suggests currency, that the entries should reflect impressions I have on the date the entry is posted.. His point is well-taken, so I have persisted in my effort to make the belated entries, but have also posted a note explaining the actual date of writing as well as the date of the experiences that lead to those impressions. This entry is the best illustration of his point, as I report an experience I had on February 27, but it was only on March 15, 2006 that I reflected more on that day, which triggered some of the memories I shared in this entry. I am continuing my efforts to get current.