Skiing !!

I have been waiting so long to write this post but was waiting for the snaps ... now that I have the snaps, here it is ... Last weekend, we all decided to convert the seattle snow storm to our advantage ... What better time for skiing, right ?It might sound very ironic but even after being in snowy weather for 2 years during my masters, I had never done skiing before ... so I was damn excited !

Beautiful views on the way

Saturday morning a group of 8 of us left early morning around 8 and reached there by around 9 ... Most of us were doing it for the first time so everyone was as excited as I was ... as we started approaching the summit at snoqualmie mountains, all I could say was, 'Yeh Hasi wadiyan, Yeh Khula Aasaman" .. It was just amazing, truly amazing work of nature everywhere ... Look the at the pics here ..

Ready to skii !!

Soon the long drive was over ... first I felt sad that the drive was over but then I got out and just had one look at the people skiing and all the sadness just vanished in like a second ... Looked like the whole seattle was there ... we found out that everyday ski rental was $34 + lift ticket was ~$50 bucks ... and then there was this pass for beginners called EZ123 which was for $99 - it included 3 days of rental (worth $112) + 3 lessons + 3 days of lift (worth $150) ... so thought thats the best deal ... and we were of course hoping that we will like it so much that we would want to return next time ...

We got our rental stuff ... and my god, the rental shoes !! They were sooo huge and so awkward to wear ! Walking with them on was damn tough ... I had never imagined them so big ! But oh well, it was not if I had a choice, right ? :) .. The beginner day 1 lessons started soon and I found out how tough skiing is ... well not really, to be frank, skiing was easy ! It was very easy to come down skiing down the slope, it would take hardly few seconds for that but walking up the hill would take more than 10 minutes ... not to mention, it was so damn tough !! It was more exercise than 1 hour work out in pro club ! Even in that cold weather, I was sweating like anything !

(Group snap1)

He started teaching with a normal walk with ski and then went ahead with right and left turns, weight balancing, how to stop (without falling ;) ) and so on .. things became tougher and tougher gradually ... but it was mostly about practice & confidence. After a few hours of practice, I could take left turns pretty well ... or at least i thought so :) ... It was great fun !! Falling down in all white snow and getting up and falling again ! :) ... After a while we lost our count ...

(Group snap 2)

After a good workout for 3 - 4 hours, we took a break, had our lunch & rested for a while ... Thats when we took off our shoes and felt like heavens !! thats why putting them on after the lunch was even tougher !

(The lift in the back)

After lunch we practised a little more and then decided to move on the medium level slope - This was at a much higher elevation and was serviced by a lift. Getting on and off from the lift was an adventure in itself ... it was more like a moving bench (imagine a bench in a park) which you have to catch as fast as a local train on Dombivli station :) ... You need a technique to get on it and to get off it ... but we found it the hard way ...:)

Looking down from that elevation, we all predecided our path down - it was a 'Z' shaped path so as to make sure that we dont go down fast on the slope and have a control on our decent ... but let me tell you, no matter how much even you decide, its gonna be a complete fiasco ... I dont remember how many times I fell down while coming down ... and most of the times my planning didnt work ... since to go down Zigzag, you need to turn both right and left :) and I could only turn left properly but I could not control my right turns ... So I always ended up going straight down the slope and falling down ... but it was awesome !! Its difficult to tell it in words, you have to imagine it for yourself !!

(Snoqualmie mountains in the night)

It was about 5.30pm and we were tired ! we decided to call it a day then and left for home at around 6 .. In any adventure, the journey back is the most boring one as everyone is sleepy and tired and all ... I came back home and just threw myself on the bed and handed myself over to sleep .. :) I was a prisoner for more than 10 - 12 hours that night !! Thank god the next day was a sunday ... one full day to recover ...

Next day, whole body was aching and I came to know about various parts of back and neck and shoulders and legs which I never knew existed thru' it ... :) .. still even after all this, I am waiting for the next chance to enjoy skiing again ...

12 or 13 people ?

Got this cool email forward ... keep looking at the image ...