My husband, the athlete... or is he ?
Brian and I moved into our new home in Park City, Utah in December 2010. In January, 2011, I was very excited to become a volunteer Lift Line Coordinator at Park City Mountain Resort (PCMR) – a job which I still do today. This, for a beach girl and business woman was a drastic change of pace for me and challenging to say the least. Standing in the elements for 9 hours a day is tough, but counting to 4 or 6 is a nightmare!
A Lift Line Coordinator’s job is to call forward the appropriate number of skiers/snowboarders from the maze so they can ride the lift together. It’s very organised and a great way to ensure that every lift is full to capacity. In Europe. I believe there is no such system – it’s just every man for himself! Can that be true?
Anyway, the wonderful benefit of this volunteer position was that I got a season pass to PCMR, and Brian received a discounted pass. So since Brian had not skied for 28 years, the next steps were:
1: Get Brian outfitted with ski gear.
2: Get Brian on a slope.
3: Get Brian to enjoy the whole experience so that he will want to do it again.
Even though we’d only just gotten married, I knew Brian very, very well, and boy, is he stubborn! If he doesn’t want to do something – he won’t!
So, on Valentine’s Day weekend 2011, we ventured on our maiden ski trip together. The plan was to ski a little baby mountain called Wolf Mountain about an hour and a half’s drive north from Park City, stay the night at some cute accommodation, and then ski again the next day at another mountain. It just so happened that the day we chose to ski Wolf Mountain was the day it also chose to blizzard.
I must say at the outset, that my husband, unlike me or anyone in my family, is a gifted sportsman, and because I am NOT, I am constantly bragging about my husband’s athleticism to anyone who will listen.
But, this day, was different. I have NEVER seen anyone fall off a chair lift in quite so many different ways as Brian, AND, I have NEVER seen anyone fall as much as he. I mean, the guy was totally uncoordinated! Luckily I was wearing my neck gaiter and wearing goggles, so he could not see me laughing at his mishaps, and while I would have thrown in the towel after 30 minutes or burst into tears, he would get up, gather himself and take off again!
And, when Brian falls , he is SPECTACULAR! Snow, skis, poles…EVERYWHERE! Bless him.
After what I would have called a disastrous day, I was anticipating that he was going to say that he hated it and that was that. So you can imagine my surprise when at the end of the day, Brian announced that he was looking forward to the next day…at a bigger mountain, and still one of our favorites – Powder Mountain!
Powder Mountain is what I refer to as a “local’s mountain”, not far from Wolf Mountain, but with long runs, and there’s even a pommer – the first I’ve ever seen in the USA.
And, it was like Brian just “got it” and was skiing blue runs by the end of his second day. And fast! Or was that because he couldn’t really stop? I think that had something to do with it. Oh dear, Brian’s is about to make a new friend…