My first - and last - ski trip

One of the great things about New Haven is it's location: less than 2 hours from NYC, and only 2-3 hours from Boston. As I learned today, it's also only about 3 hours (by bus!) away from some great skiing/snowboarding at Okemo Lodge. Normally, a day of skiing would cost $100+, but thanks to Silliman subsidies, we only had to pay $25/person for the works: transportation to/from the resort, all the rental equipment, and even beginner lessons for those of us who needed them (like me).

College students are normally not morning people, but by 5:00 AM we had loaded up two coach buses with enough food to take up several seats, taken attendance, and settled back to nap as the drivers took us through CT and MA. By 9:00, we were picking out equipment from the rental shop, excited to get out on to the fresh powder (that would continue to fall all day).

Base view of Okemo

10:30 it was time for my first ski lesson...walking around with skis, gliding, turns, etc. I thought the hardest part was just walking in the ski boots - I had never realized that I usually walk on my toes, especially going up/down stairs, or that not being able to rotate my ankles would suck such much. We didn't even have poles (the guy in the equipment shop had told us that we didn't need them), although looking back, they might have been helpful when I couldn't stop turning and ended up going down a a very steep slope on the side of the lesson area.

I finally graduated to the "Magic Carpet," aka the most basic bunny slope possible. To get to the top, you didn't even take a ski lift, you took a rubber conveyor belt. I was still a pretty bad skiier, but I got progressively better:

First trip: 4 falls
Second trip: 3 falls, including one getting off the conveyor belt (to be fair, there was ice buildup at the top)
Third trip: 2 falls
Fourth trip: 1 fall
Fifth and sixth trips: no falls!

Me and Hilina, a fellow Silliman senior from Ethiopia
It was also her first time skiing =P

After a lunch break, I made it down the Magic Carpet a few more times, then asked a staff person if I could probably make it down a green circle slope, the easiest possible level. He said the fresh powder meant the slopes were slower than usual, so I would probably be ok if I felt comfortable with the Magic Carpet. After some hesitation and self-debate, I decided to go for it! As I was going up the lift, I took a couple photos for Hilina's sake (by this point she had decided to give up on skiing)

I did make it down...after 7 falls, including 1 after which I spent 20 minutes trying to get my skis back on my feet -_- By the time I finally got back to base, I was ready to call it a day, so I returned everything to the rental shop, got back to the bus, and happily collapsed into my seat with a handful of snacks and a couple boxes of Nesquik chocolate milk. It took us considerably longer to get home (thanks to all the snow clogging up Vermont's highways), but we made it back...even in time to watch the Oscars (which is what I'm doing now).

All in all, I'm glad I went, but from now on I think I'll stick to sledding =P