will WE play in Peoria?

I wish grown up ski lessons could be as cool as the lessons for little kids.

Today was Kaitlyn’s first day at ski school. She put on her yellow ski boots and her skis with penguins on them (the guy at the ski shop showed them to her and said “happy feet”) and she was off for two hours at the piou piou club. The kids “ski” around an obstacle course of sorts. They learn how to ride on a conveyor belt with their skis (there’s a big one at the ski resort, plus at least one as you get onto a lift)… then they ski under two hoops (Kaitlyn called them rainbows), down a tiny slope, around some cones and back onto the conveyor. (you can see a picture on their website http://www.esf-chamrousse.com.fr/en/pitchouns.htm) Yesterday, Kaitlyn couldn’t stand up on her skis when we took her out on our own. After two hours at the piou piou club, she was maneuvering the course with a fair amount of skill. Ok, maybe not skill. Competence?

We didn’t stay to watch the whole time, we were afraid we’d be a distraction. Two hours seemed like enough time to get in a little skiing for ourselves. We bought the passes for the “mini-domain,” not knowing what lifts that let us onto. (yes, we had a map) Then we went and rented skis and boots. Embarrassing? Thankfully, giving your weight in kilograms at least sounds like you don’t weigh much. I put on the horrid purple Barney ski pants and we were off. First, I had to make my way up a hill to get on the conveyor belt that Kaitlyn had already mastered by then. That dumped us off about a third of the way down a slope of unknown intensity. I snow plowed my way down to a lift which went to an unknown destination. Bill figured what the heck, we should be around all lifts that lead to green (easy) runs.

The lift tickets at Chamrousse were new to me. You put the ticket in your pocket and at the entrance to each lift you pass by some kind of reader. Your ticket is good, the turnstile lets you through. Wrong lift, no turny. That lift, no turny. So we backed our way out, past the other skiers with the right kind of ticket and kept skiing down the hill. We found another lift and figured if IT didn’t take us back up the mountain, we’d have to walk, because we were at the bottom. This time, it worked. And for this lift, you get on a conveyor then the seat comes up behind you as the conveyor is carrying you toward an edge… scary. And, dang, that lift was high up in the air. Yes, I know that’s how lifts work. It’s been a while since I’ve been on one.

At the top, I managed to get off the lift without falling, which made my entire day on the mountain a huge success. Bill stopped to check out the map, then I followed him. Now not too far along, I noticed big blue circles on the trees. I tried to tell him, but he was so far ahead of me he didn’t hear me. Not like I was going to turn around at that point anyway. I figured I had to be wrong, those couldn’t possibly have been blue dots indicating an intermediate run. So, not having a choice anyway, I kept going. I made it all the way without falling. That’s not to say I made it with a great deal of style or grace. There was a lot of arm waving and snow plowing. Bill kindly said I did better than he thought I would. I guess that was a compliment. At the time, on the mountain, I took it to be one.

Once we finished that run, Bill checked his map to see where we needed to go to get back to Kaitlyn’s ski school. That was when he realized, I’d just come down an intermediate slope. (So I’m not entirely crazy – those were blue dots on the trees!) He agreed, next time down he’d make sure we were on a green run.

The green run wasn’t really so very easy, if you ask me. The trouble started getting off the lift, when I tried to avoid the woman ahead of us who’d fallen and, as a result, I fell. Then at one point on the slope, I got myself turned around and was about to head down the mountain backwards when I discovered that if you try really, really hard you can snowplow in reverse. Just after getting myself pointed in the right direction, I head someone yelling my name. Another ISE family was passing overhead on the lift. What are the chances? (I’m told, pretty good, actually)

We made it to the bottom with enough time to watch the end of Kaitlyn’s class. She was doing better than I was, maneuvering the obstacle course like a little pro. She told us she had a good time. She sure looked like it.

After stopping for lunch at the lodge, I told Bill to ski some more on his own, so he wouldn’t have to wait for me. Kaitlyn and I puttered around for a while on her skis, then she decided she really wanted to join the other kids sledding. Right there outside the lodge, kids drag their sleds up the bottom of the slope and ride down. We hadn’t brought Kaitlyn’s sled. So I forked over 3, 50 for a pink sled that looks like a big shovel with a short handle. Sit on it, and slide down the hill. Maybe head over heels, but you slide nonetheless. Kaitlyn loved that, too, although after a while she was so tired she couldn’t even carry that little thing up the little hill. Bill skied three more runs. He looked so happy. When we met one of the first things he told me was that he loves to ski – and we have never been.

I get the feeling, we’re going to be back at Chamrousse a lot this year. I know we’ll be back next weekend… for Kaitlyn’s triumphant return to piou piou. And my lesson. After skiing with me, Bill immediately signed me up for lessons. It’s all ok with me. I had a great time. Yea, I need to get some pants so I don’t have to fight the urge to sing “I love you…” in my purple pants. But standing there I realized why my brother bought a condo at Mammoth Mountain in California. And I think he should expect us to visit.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 7th, 2007 at 1:11 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.