So I Took A Skiing Lesson Today At Pat’s Peak

By Jim on February 15th, 2009

I finally decided to take a skiing lesson today. I went to Pat’s Peak in Henniker, New Hampshire.

Some observations:

1. I hate ski boots. They are uncomfortable and too stiff and too high. I didn’t like walking in them either.

2. Skiing is MUCH harder than it looks. The people who are good at it make it look effortless and fun.

3. Skiing takes a toll on your legs. My legs/feet/knees are already a bit sore and I wasn’t even on my skis that long. My friend Kate told me about how it bothered her knees when she was much younger and did a lot of skiing. I can totally understand that now.

4. I dislike sports where there is no real way to stop your body without doing unnatural leg movements. I really and truly do NOT like the feeling of forward movement with no way to slow myself down other than trying to angle my legs to slow the skis down. Try as I might I could not seem to do it properly and when there are so many people around it’s nerve racking as you feel like you are going to ski right into them.

5. Beginner ski areas should NOT have small kids in them. I had one kid ski into me and I was very much afraid of skiing into one of them and hurting them. It’s just a stupid idea to have so many small kids running around there. While I was driving home I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if somebody smacked into one of those kids hard and injured them. Would the parent sue? Probably, knowing how litigious everybody is these days.

Overall I didn’t have a good time at all. I had a lot of trouble trying to turn my feet the right way to slow down. Since I was struggling he asked me to take a rest while he took the other two people in my group up the lift. I said okay but then decided I’d had enough so I headed back to the rental area and turned in my skis.

I think perhaps I picked a very, very bad day to go as it was really busy and there were a lot of people in the beginner’s area. I found it to be very congested and I felt very self-conscious while trying to learn. I also did not like the feeling of skiing as I didn’t feel like I could stop at all.

I took a couple of falls and didn’t mind it but I think it would have been better if total newbies were in an area without other people skiing near them. It’ s not fun to have people going by you or near you while you try desperately not to lose control or smack into anybody.

I just felt at one point like I wanted to get out of there as my ski boots were killing my feet, it was very uncomfortable just standing nevermind skiing. I tried to make sure I didn’t have them on too tight but they were still killing me. I have lower leg circulation problems so that might have been the problem.

I regret that I didn’t have fun and that I left with a sour taste in my mouth. I really had hoped to enjoy it and I hoped to have fun. I guess skiing just isn’t for me. Since I spent $80 I don’t think it was worth the money at all.

At least now I know that skiing probably isn’t for me. Too bad I didn’t figure that out before I blew all that money.

But what the heck, I sort of tried it. I wish I’d left feeling triumphant and that I’d really learned something great. But that’s not how it turned out and I definitely left feeling bummed out, stressed and unhappy. At least before I went I thought skiing might be fun and a new hobby to enjoy but now that feeling is gone. Now it just feels very negative when I think about it.

Oh well, nothing ventured nothing gained. It was a nice sunny day and at least I had the chance to go to a ski resort and see what it was like. I’d never been to a place like that in my life so it was nice to see what people do. There were snowboarders there too. I’d thought about trying that but after my experience skiing, I will take a pass on that too. I don’t want to blow another $80 just to find out I don’t like it.

I will probably buy Wii Ski and Snowboarding when it comes out as I can then enjoy skiing and snowboarding at home without paying a lot of money and without hurting my legs, feet or ankles.

Edit: I contacted Pat’s Peak and they will be sending me a gift certificate for the amount I spent yesterday. I am not sure I will go back but I thought it was nice of them to offer it to me.