 Poster: A snowHead
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My skiing career started at Knock Bracken dry slope in Belfast when I was about 10. Dad had been going on ski trips with the Rugby Club for a few years, and as he was determined to be the fastest down every slope (style didn't matter, only speed!) he went to the dry slope once a week every week for several months before his trip. When he decided I could learn too he started lessons in front of the TV - using the Learn To Ski videos by Andrew Neill. Once he deemed I was ready for the dry slope I was instructed that, when asked if I had skied before, I should answer 'Yes' without any hesitation (even then insurance meant that no one but slope employees could teach at the dry slope, and I didn't need lessons, oh no!).
Knock Bracken is long gone, but in those days it had 2 slopes - the beginner slope with a rope tow was at right angles to the main slope and its drag lift. You could check what was happening on the learner slope by peering over the edge of the big slope when you reached the top of the drag.
So up we rocked, I answered 'Yes' at the right time, and soon I found myself standing on some upside down brush in plastic boots that were fastened to two long planks of wood. Dad got me onto the tow and we came down together, and it must have gone ok because he quickly decided that I was going well enough to continue on my own, so he bu g g e r ed off to the main slope and left me to it. Fortunately, as far as I can remember, the slope was pretty quiet the first few times I went!
After that I went with him anytime he headed to the dry slope, and it wasn't long before I made my on snow debut on a school trip to Glenshee, although a bigger milestone at the time was probably my first time from the top of the main slope - scary stuff!
So... how and where did you learn?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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School ski trip when 11, second year of secondary school, to Andalo, in the Italian Dolomites. Completely hooked in that first week and have skied every winter since then (until this winter  )
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Learn to Ski week with Inghams in St Wolfgang when I was 30...then 31 as I had my birthday that week. Early March, just enough snow on the meadow to learn on, the rest was completely green. Skied most years after that, but never went back to Austria till I was buying my apartment
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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School trip in Norway, 1961. Completely hooked, but couldn't afford to go skiing again till I was 40.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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The dry slopes of Morfa stadium in Swansea. It doesn't exist either anymore.
We went there every Tuesday for a few months before a school ski trip. It wasn't a particularly large slope. By the end, most of us you to get the drag to the top, wax our skis with the wax thingy at the top, climb up the racing start block and just go straight down the whole thing in tuck and do a massive hockey stop at the end. We used to jump for joy if it was frosty as it made it even quicker.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Hillend dry slope, Edinburgh early 80s, when I was 14 in preparation for a School trip to Zell am Ziller. Hooked there and then. My first time abroad and it was fantastic.
We had lessons for two hours in the morning and afternoon. We were allowed to free ski ourselves between lessons, and then with the teachers after lessons in the afternoon. No workbooks, lessons, projects or any bolloux like that, just great fun with great teachers. Bowling, sledging etc in the evening. We were taken to a Tyrolean night and half way through they served us schnapps. You've never seen shots being downed so quickly. Serves the teachers right for standing at the bar. The kids from the English school that were with us were a bit more street wise and each had a half bottle of something stashed away. They quickly became our new best friends.
Great idea for a thread BTW
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I moved to Aberdeen to study for a PhD and took up skiing late in the day (my mid 30s) in the late 1980's. Wed afternoons, snow willing, and we'd take the Ski Club mini-bus up to the Glenshee slopes at Braemar. I started with some second hand boots and skis and my motor cycle one piece suit and gloves - we 'ad it tough in them days, eventually I got the right gear once I'd been hooked. Taught myself to ski, so I have what friends call "a unique style", but I can get up and down pretty much any mountain in most conditions. Later on my wife and young son (4 years old) started to come up with us and they both caught the bug. My lad pretty much took to it like a duck to water, and once we started taking annual trips to the Alps I stopped paying for lessons for him because he just got too damn good. Glenshee was a great place to ski if you could avoid the weekends. I still remember the tiger run and its one man creaking chairlift. I may have to take a trip back up there once normality returns. Happy days 
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For me it was Plas-y-Brenin, Capel Curig in North Wales. November 1978, I was 5
Dad was an outdoor pursuits instructor and mum a supply teacher in the same industry.
They skied and tought skiing as part of their jobs. Both had attempted the Haute Route, mum had even completed it of a fashion.
My brother and I were considered big and co-ordinated enough to try skiing (my brother is 1 1/2 years my jounior but I wasn't allowed to do any large/new/special activity unless he was included), so we were duly taken to the 'Brenin' and shouted at by mum for an hour, culminating in us both straightlining the slope
My first snow was is the field behind the village I grew up in, first ski holiday was Chamonix in April '82 - Skied all the valley drag lifts, with Prarion and Contamines being our Big ski days. Valley Blanche in '86
Not many years later we joind the Friday night race club, racing at Rossondale dry slope followed, then national summer race league - most of it on whatever rentals the slopes had. Didn't get my own skis until I paid for them at 16!
Side note.
Years later I descovered not only were both my parents mediocure skiers (even for the time), but dispite being alpine mountaineers (Dad being part of the pioneering british lot inthe late 40's n Early 50's in Cham). Neither had any business being on the haute route on skis. Mum (who managed multipe haute routes) would decend an off piste slope with powder on it by traversing, sitting down to turn her skis and then traversing back the other way. And she was the best skier on many of her trips! Mum finally quit skiing age 78! (Dad had already quit).
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Halifax Ski Centre in winter 1986 when I was 22. Never had any interest in skiing before as it conflicted with the Rugby season. I went because I was due to go on my first ski trip in early 1987 and the girl who I was going with had been before, so i booked on their "Learn to Ski" package of 5 hour long lessons - consecutive Sunday mornings at 10.00am in the fog and rain.
Turned out it was a lad from the Rugby club who was the instructor and I really enjoyed it.
Enjoyed that first trip even more.
I wish I'd started sooner and skied more down the years.
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Started snowboarding at Gloucester Dry Slope when I was 50. Had just come back from visiting son#1 who was cheffing in Schladming.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Learned when I was about 27
Blagged a place in a chalet in Les Gets, and lessons with BASS. And was immediately hooked.
Then took up mountain biking as well at the same time, and promptly moved to the Netherlands.
We did have a ski club at school, but only really once in the 6th form, but I didn't go on any of the lessons there at Capstone / Chatham ski slope.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I was a VERY late starter at the ripe old age of 62. I learnt in the Chillfactore and was totally hooked from the getgo. Within a few weeks I had my own boots and within 3 months I had my own skis. I think I did about 60 hours in the fridge before my first foray onto a mountain; the BirthdayBash in Arabba in 2018. (I was invited to attend a bash by Neddyskigoon and AlastairPink, to whom I will remain forever grateful). Had no choice but to do reds on the first day there; albeit very badly. I have loved every second spent on skis, including all the falls and bruises. I can not wait to get out to the Dolomites again next season for the PreBB/BB double. 
The whole journey and experience has been made all the more enjoyable because I shared it with my best mate -@audfart. We've been best mates for close on 60 years. Long may it continue.
Last edited by And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports. on Thu 11-02-21 17:53; edited 3 times in total
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Local (40 mins away) dry ski slope called Bowles, which I see is still in existence. I think I had 3 2 hour lessons along with my mother as my father had been skiing the year before and determined that was what we were going to do for family holidays (I had never been on a family holiday before then) which we did 2 weeks pretty much every year for 15 years. That was over 40 years ago... Up to last year I was still skiing with my parents every year... Very fond memories. Our first trip was to Soll and I still remember the first lift I went on was a single chair. My fathers instructions were clear, you sit on it and stand at the end. He didn't mention a safety bar, which I only found near the end of the lift... My poor mother was having kittens in the chair behind me, but didn't dare call to me incase I turned round and slipped...
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You know it makes sense.
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A late starter, at 38, skiing was probably always one of those things that seemed as though it would be fun but, the opportunity (friends, family weren’t enthused) wasn’t something that gained any traction in my life.
That all changed when my then brother-in law (keen and mightily handy skier), suggested that we all book a self-catered chalet for a week in Serre Chevalier. So, we duly booked for a week in January in 2002, staying in a charming place with views over the valley of the Luc Alphand piste (a terrifying black) running down into Chantemerle.
Apart from a purchased jacket (Columbia), gloves and goggles, I had borrowed gear (just in case it didn’t catch on  ). Having absolutely no idea what to expect, I probably (no definitely) wasn’t remotely ski fit. Actually, not really even remotely fit, period.
On the afternoon of arrival we all excitedly went to hire skis and boots. At the time, rear entry boots seemed to be the prevalent rentals. Large calves put paid to them, so a new pair of front entry boots were provided. I recall being overheated and mildly bewildered by all the goings on, faffing and getting my head around organising so much paraphernalia. Like a true beginner I staggered out of the hire shop, probably taking out a few displays laden, as I was, with skis, boots and poles with no clue as to how to safely carry so much shoite.
Nothing a few beers didn’t sort out, as I stood on the chalet terrace gazing out at that long, steep and terrifying piste, wondering what it would be like, to feel like, skiing.
The next morning, gear stowed in the car, we drove into Chantemerle, parked up, clumsily gathered equipment, purchased ski pass and then queued for the telecabin up to the mid station. There was (now replaced) an old 4-man chairlift. Not really an option
So, overheated, over excited, I took my first steps onto mountain uplift for the 8 or so minutes it took to get to Serre Ratier, the mid station bowl above Chantemerle. The gentle swaying motion as the cabin passed each pylon, the revealing of a good deal more of the Luc Alphand piste, the views, the landscape. I can recall it like it was yesterday. We reached the telecabin station and disembarked, all the while trying not to stab or chop a limb off someone with my poles or skis.
And then, there we were, gazing down the short run into Serre Ratier proper....a picturesque bowl with restaurant/bars to one side that enjoyed welcoming, sunny terraces.
Under expert tutelage, it was time to put on skis. Toe in and heel down....click, click. And there it was. I was hooked.
I fell twice on the 30m or so to the flat area. But I bloody loved it. And never looked back. Once.
Lots of lessons ensued. It was on my return visit to Chantemerle that I managed, very badly, to ski the Luc Alphand. Big tick. Many, many weeks and lessons later, I was again in Chantemerle and raced a local guy from top to bottom on that piste. He was a border really, but often skied. I had the biggest smile at the end 
I couldn’t imagine then, when first gazing out at this magical, almost mythical ski run that, one day I’d be lucky enough to move to and live somewhere where skiing is almost part of everyday, Winter life. Funny old World.
Last edited by You know it makes sense. on Thu 11-02-21 16:30; edited 1 time in total
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Four school ski trips from 1978 to 1985 in Austria, (then) Yugoslavia, Italy and France, then a couple of Uni trips to France and Andorra, plus a season working in France. That took me up to 1992 by which point I was hooked but couldn't afford to go again until 2006. Ill health put paid to the following two seasons, but since 2009 I have been making up for it. More so since 2018 having successfully emigrated to Austria.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Gilberts Fridge wrote: |
Hillend dry slope, Edinburgh early 80s, when I was 14 in preparation for a School trip to Zell am Ziller. Hooked there and then. My first time abroad and it was fantastic.
We had lessons for two hours in the morning and afternoon. We were allowed to free ski ourselves between lessons, and then with the teachers after lessons in the afternoon. No workbooks, lessons, projects or any bolloux like that, just great fun with great teachers. Bowling, sledging etc in the evening. We were taken to a Tyrolean night and half way through they served us schnapps. You've never seen shots being downed so quickly. Serves the teachers right for standing at the bar. The kids from the English school that were with us were a bit more street wise and each had a half bottle of something stashed away. They quickly became our new best friends.
Great idea for a thread BTW |
Our first ski school to Zell am See was absolute carnage. We were 13, and on the first night me a few mates sneaked out of the hotel, crossed the frozen lake to get to a nightclub that one of the older lads who's been before told us about. We got hammered then wandered back across the lake. Half way across we realised that we'd strayed off the designated paths (i.e. off the safe bits) and were about 100 metres from either path, then we noticed the creaking.... Absolutely bricked it and ran to the nearest path. We ended up about 2 miles away from where we were supposed to be and got back to the hotel at about 2am. 
I do think it's a small miracle none of us died on that trip. The teachers seemed not to give a stuff. In the early evenings we used to sledge down a slope, but were sensible enough to bail from our sledges before the electric fence that led onto a main road.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Started on the Eiger Nordwand then got progressively less rad. OK not quite but visited Jungfraujoch on a summer family camping trip and parents sprung for a 1 hour intro to skiing session for me and my bro on the rope tow up there. Then the glamour of wet Monday nights overlooking the Mersey at Bebington Oval earning our turns herringboning up.
Learnt my snowboarding a fair number of years later between a defunct dryslope in Co Durham and the Silksworth Alps.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@Dave of the Marmottes, ah...the Silksworth alp....only went once I think, possibly twice
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Learn to ski in a day on a small dry ski slope in Tallington near Peterborough. Had already booked a week in Les Menuires in early April. I think I was 29 or 30 maybe. In about 2009 I'd guess.
Failed the course. Failed in the sense that I didn't get signed off. I could not snow plough. No matter how wide I got my plough it didn't stop me. (To this day ploughing is the hardest part of skiing!!)
Had a couple of hours at the snowzone at MK pior to the trip and got the sign off. No looking back ever since. Had plenty of lessons over the years to hone my skills. (Need plenty more!)
Absolutely love it. Skied ever single year since and will continue to do so until something stops us...like a global pandemic. Can't wait to get my kids into it. They'll be learning on the slopes of Sweden so will have far more opportunity than I ever did. Lucky bugs.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Bebington Oval, dry slope. Hooked immediately then the trips to Aviemore. 1983 I think when it all began, it's been a great journey so far.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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1970 ish, planned school trip to the Tyrol, £65. Paid a £5 deposit, and as the next payment loomed, I could see my parents couldn’t afford it, so I lied and said I didn’t want to go, but that I’d lose the deposit. I was a shy kid, so being nervous about going was easy to pull off. I remember the relief, along with faux protest, was palpable.
Forward to 1984, and the now helicopter crewman, Sgt Golf, RAF is sent off to Bad Kholgrub in Bavaria for a 2 week winter survival course. The fitness primer/sweetener was skiing every day, with lectures and practicals early and late. I did ok, and really enjoyed it, but never followed it up after.
Next jump, November 2014 aged 58, when the daughter and her (now ex) husband bluntly challenged, “So, are you putting your money where your mouth is, or what?” Meribel January 15, totally hooked, been twice a year since, ending up with a truncated month in the GM last march in which we managed 15 days.
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| MikeM wrote: |
| Glenshee was a great place to ski if you could avoid the weekends. I still remember the tiger run and its one man creaking chairlift. I may have to take a trip back up there once normality returns. Happy days |
My enduring memory of Glenshee is a very long drag (can't remember but think it might have been a button) up Glas Maol, in sleet and snow, and having to constantly scrape my googles clear so that I could see. And when I got to the top there were huge icicles hanging from the bottom of my goggles. We lapped this lift several times that day, with credit given for the biggest icicles.
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Telford Dry Slope aged 8. Parents had both been on 'Boys' and 'Girls' trips and were suitably hooked - I suspect by the scenery, boozing and lunches more than the skiing! First trip to Sierra Nevada aged 9 in May! Froze first thing and got boiled and sunstroke in the afternoon but completely hooked. I had a mate in my village who also skied and we begged and borrowed old boots and skis and tried skiing on anything with a slope whenever there was snow in the winter. I was lucky enough to ski each year with the family. Went to uni in Scotland and skied Glenshee, Hillend and uni ski races whilst there, then carried on with friends until the last few years when I have started taking my own kids. The wheel has turned a full circle and they are much better than I was at that stage and will, no doubt, overtake me at some point. Best holidays ever!
This is the first year with no skiing in nearly 40 years..... There will be extra weeks next year, oh yes.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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St Lary in the Pyrenees 1980/81 New Years with my girlfriend who had been once before.
We chose it because it was the absolute cheapest ski holiday we could find.
Legendary snow, of course I had no appreciation that this was snow-of-a-lifetime, I just assumed skiing=mega snow (always).
The third day I can still remember have fallen for the Nth+1 time and lying on the ground, pounding the snow with my pole and shouting "Fekkin, Fekkin...FEKKIN HELL!"
The next run I didn't fall and I was hooked!
More hooked than a hooked thing!
The day we got back I signed up for a mini-bus to Italy ski trip from the hospital I worked in.
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At 6th Form College there was 'a ski trip', which I'd heard of and automatically discounted as something other people did. Then a girl in my form class, who I quite fancied, talked me into it by telling me that a girl in the class next door, who I also fancied (I was 17, tbf I fancied most girls) was going.
I'd take in fivers and tenners Mum had saved from the housekeeping until it was paid off.
We went by bus to Maurach in Austria: it was fine for me as I was a noob but I can't imagine it was perfect for those who had skied before as it only had about 3 lifts.
I absolutely loved it from the off: I'd launch myself down the, fairly short beginners slope aiming for the corner at the bottom where there was a bank of soft snow to throw myself into to stop In lessons, I'd try to go first then sneak back up the lift while everyone else took their turn so I could go down last as well. It worked though as our instructor put us up against his mate's beginners group in a slalom on the last day and I won it... by 2 hundredths of a second! 
Once I'd left college, I'd hitch places to ski. I went up to Aviemore a couple of times (once by accident), Garmisch and Chamonix (1 lift from the M25 to the Mont Blanc tunnel! ). I was utterly clueless - the time I got dropped in Chamonix, I booked into the Youth Hostel for 1 night so I could check whether there was anywhere decent to ski nearby 
When I got into the music industry, there wasn't the spare cash for holidays for a few years, although the Mrs did find an unfeasibly cheap deal to Borovets once, which was odd in so many ways, from finding glass in our soup (that was the last time we stayed in to eat!) to 4 of us eating out for 80p total!
After a few years without skiing, I had a decent royalty cheque arrive one February and it occurred to me that it was about the right amount for a ski trip. Never having actually bought a normal ski holiday before, I didn't really know where to start. So one day I was chatting to David @Whitenoise, mentioned skiing and he said, "Oh yes, skiing, that's a good idea - when do you fancy going, this Saturday? I'll have a look at Ceefax."
That was my introduction to the Late Deal!
A few days notice + £2-300 all in = a whole new scope of opportunity! That is, it would if only I knew which deals were cheap because they were bargains and which were cheap because they were crap. So I got on the, still relatively new, internet and started hunting for info. I chanced upon a forum, that was full of the most helpful, friendly, enthusiastic, knowledgeable people U could ever imagine. They helped me understand things like, why Brides Les Bains could be sold as 3Valleys but did not represent the same value as Val Thorens. Some of these people even skied more than once each season  Now there's an idea....
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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1st time skiing was aged around 14 on a school trip to Mount Buller, 2.5 hours out of Melbourne, Victoria. It was a day trip designed to whet appetites. Memory of the day was the carnage 90 odd 14/15 year old students unleashed on the beginner slopes that day. Have memories of a guy (who is now a well known radio host on Melbourne Radio), bowling balling (only way to describe it) a group of skiers. Can away not sure if I would do it again...
2nd time skiing was aged 17 on another school trip to Mount Hotham, 4 hours out of Melbourne, Victoria. This time the trip was 4 days and after a morning lesson 40 or so students were given largely free reign over the mountain. Most of us stuck to the then beginners slopes of "The Summit and "The Big D" for a couple of days, me included. It wasn't till day three of lessons that I ended up in a "Stem Christie" class which presumed you could snow plough. If I couldn't before that class I could after and a little more. I finally made it off the beginner runs and into the heart of Hotham, Slalom GUlly, a fabulous run that back in 1990 was tracked out by lunchtime and full of moguls. Final day of the trip was spent hurling myself down Slalom Gully and back up either the Heavenly Chair or the Blue Ribbon chair.
I skied Hotham, Buller and Falls for the next 10 years with mates until I came to Europe. I was meant to reprise my intro to skiing last year by taking my kids to where it all began (well where it all restarted), but C-19 put paid to that!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Early 1980s, 2nd year - Liberton High School. I have no idea what attracted me to it, but I was hooked from day 1.
School had a pile of skis, old boots and poles, and a 10 yard dry slope, maybe 2 turns ? Also weekly or more lessons up at Hillend dry slope as part of PE.
The school had a few teachers who were absolutely skiing mad - one of whom was on the Ski Patrol at Glenshee, which meant we had many a weekend day trip up there as well.
We also did a few trips to Lagganlia outdoor centre with the school, so did a fair bit up at Cairngorm too.
School trip to Voss in Norway when I was (maybe?) 15 was excellent - a completely bluebird week of fairly easy skiing.
After I started work there was a lot of skiing activity with colleagues - usually bevvied weekends in some awful cottage near Glenshee or Nevis range.
In my early 20s, I hooked up with a girl that didnt really like skiing so had a 10 year hiatus - we split up, I joined some mates on their trip to Tignes (we have a mate that has lived there for years - now Ste Foy) and have been there every year since - so close to 25 years of Alpine trips?
(also a couple of trips to Morgins, and another in Argentiere and a missed season when I got my hip done).
Also do a load of skiing in Scotland now - split between Glencoe and Glenshee.
All the boys are in their 50s now and none of the hard core want to stop. Marvellous !
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@Tom Doc, p.s. great thread, love reading others stories
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You know it makes sense.
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@GreenDay, Gracie Rules!!!!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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1984 or 5, aged perhaps 16, Uxbridge “nailbrush” dry slope in Hillingdon; a few lessons in practice for the school trip to Andalo Italy. Mostly borrowed clothes.
First thoughts on real snow were “damn this stuff is slippery” as most of us failed to make the slight bend in the piste and just went straight and crashed into the metre-high wall of snow at the side.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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1995/6 Sheffield dry slope as part of PE lessons - had a course of 6 lessons and absolutely hated it. Refused to join friends on ski trips and try again as a point of principle...
Until 6 years ago when my partner and I went to see the ski jumping in Poland for his birthday, thought we might as well give skiing a go when we were there, and boom, hooked. I maintain that I didn't like it the first time because there wasn't any vodka.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@GreenDay, pool was always freezing. Its all been pulled down now, including the bike sheds where I got caught smoking, and replaced with a carlos fandango new school I believe.
Anyway, back to Zell am Ziller, we were allowed to ski on our own from a couple of T Bars and a rope two near the top Gondela station. I thought I was the king of the world. Came second in the end of week race too. Forgot about that.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Legend. wrote: |
Learn to ski in a day on a small dry ski slope in Tallington near Peterborough. Had already booked a week in Les Menuires in early April. I think I was 29 or 30 maybe. In about 2009 I'd guess.
Failed the course. Failed in the sense that I didn't get signed off. I could not snow plough. No matter how wide I got my plough it didn't stop me. (To this day ploughing is the hardest part of skiing!!)
Had a couple of hours at the snowzone at MK pior to the trip and got the sign off. No looking back ever since. Had plenty of lessons over the years to hone my skills. (Need plenty more!)
Absolutely love it. Skied ever single year since and will continue to do so until something stops us...like a global pandemic. Can't wait to get my kids into it. They'll be learning on the slopes of Sweden so will have far more opportunity than I ever did. Lucky bugs. |
Yup, my kids don't know their born with what they've had. They've been skiing every year (once twice) since they were 7, 7 and 5. Now 15, 15 and 13 they are far better than me, and have been for a good couple of years now. Their school even does a skiing elective to the Hemel snow centre, so for half a year, after lunch on Wednesday you get to go there. Of course it's "too tame" for them now so they don't bother with that.
The one thing they haven't done is the school ski trip, but that is mainly because I did two and I know what happens on those things
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Early 80's aged 6/7ish - my Dad had just remarried and the previous year him and the then stepmother tried skiing, not sure why but the following year they took me, my little brother and my then stepbrother to Alpbach, we stayed in a little B&B guest house and ate out every night at the same restaurant (my brother had eyes bigger than his belly and was soooooooooo sick one night, I remember that). We were in ski school all day and I hated it, my brother loved it, hated it even more when I managed to get my ski pole caught in the top wheel of the chairlift (no idea how!) and couldn't get off the lift.
Dad dragged us skiing for another few years before I was hooked and bizarrely my brother went off it so it was just Dad and I in my teens. After that first guest house trip, clearly more money was knocking about as we always went to 4 star places - Boglerhof in Alpbach, Madrisa in Gargellen (several times, he liked that one, made my brother and I eat sweetbread that was on the menu one night before telling us what it was!), Saalbacherhof and some in Switzerland. I skied 1-2 weeks a year with Dad, he loved it and so did I.
Did the school ski trips where I thought I was the epitome of cool as skiing with the sixth formers at age 12! Wednesday afternoons up at Rossendale and couple BUSC trips while at uni and then nothing for a good 12 years as in relationships where skiing was not a thing. Then met a boarder and got back into it big time, 2 trips a year for the last 12 years barring the season when son#1 was born.
Bleedin' expensive hobby the Old Man got me into, how I wish he was still alive to see his grandsons bombing down pistes, we should have a blow out 4 star holiday one day to show them how it's done properly, might even feed them sweetbread .
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| admin wrote: |
| , "Oh yes, skiing, that's a good idea - when do you fancy going, this Saturday? I'll have a look at Ceefax." |
Ah... Ceefax and Teletext, the deals I was able to find in the days before t'internet took over. Very first Alpine holiday to Chamonix was a brilliant cheap deal from a Teletext ad. Tell the kids today and they just don't believe you 
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@pieman666, Tonbridge Wells?
That was also where I learnt in approx 1987/8 (I was 12). A course of lessons ahead of
Our first ever week on the snow in Mayrhofen. The whole family (mum, dad and my sister) all started there. We all still go skiing and in Feb last year we had the first all 3 generations together on holiday (as in my sister, her kids, us our kids and Mum and Dad).
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Growing up in south China, I was 22 when I saw real snow first time that's not on TV or photos. I was studying in Michigan. It was February. Snow had been falling since November and people told me it would not stop till April...
I had cabin fever from the 3 months of snowy winter already. And another 3 months the same would have really made my life miserable. More over, I expected to be in Michigan for the next 3-4 years for my degree. So I decided I need a winter sport. Somehow, skating didn't appeal. I thought falling on snow would be preferable than falling on ice. So skiing it was.
Drove to a tiny bump of 200' vertical. They offered a package of lift/skis/lesson. Putting on boots and skis before the lesson had me doubting whether I really want to proceed further. But I already paid. So I proceed despite the doubt. Promptly fell the second I stepped into the binding. Took a bit to figure out how to get up... somehow managed to reach the lesson gathering point without falling over too many times.
A few side step/herringbone up and snowplough down in control. We were introduced to the rope tow. Somehow the instructor neglected to mention we need to mind the direction of our ski tips as the rope drag our body up. And somehow the concept didn't come to me by itself. So I kept falling down. The whole class waits on the top of the rope tow while I repeatedly fell off the tow...
I had been rather sporty all my youth. That humiliation was infuriating! So I marched all the way up the slope by herringbone. Joined the class on learning how to turn on the way down. But the same thing happened on the second trip up the tow. More marching uphill, and I finally got the hang of staying in control on the way down!
The instructor, seeing all of us managed to control our descend, wisely decided the better use of time was to take the class to a chair lift instead of having them stand around waiting for me to duck walk my way up the bunny hill.
I can't say I was "hooked" after the first day. I still didn't know how to use the rope tow. But I could just use the chair lifts. I decided I wanted to erase my humiliation by going at least one more time and signed up for the next level lesson. It wasn't great but at least I wasn't the worst in the class.
Next, I chose cross country skiing. That went well. So it wasn't till the following winter that I resumed downhill skiing. I was never exactly thrilled by downhill skiing. Cross country remain my preferred snow sport. For many years, downhill skiing remain more of a challenge than an enjoyment (ok, I enjoyed the challenge and the improvement of my skiing, less about the skiing itself). Until I was able to ski all over the mountain, blacks included, even in less than ideal conditions. Finally, 'freedom' on skis came and I started enjoying just skiing around and seeing the world. (Went to Austria at some point, in addition to all over the western US). Now, skiing is just the excuse I use to travel to places summer tourist herd don't go.
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First ski trip was 1988 to Alpe d'Huez so OH and I decided to get a head start and booked a beginners course 6 x 30mins at Bebington Oval. AdH was a great trip, mixed group all "beginners". Learning to ski, trying our appalling French, drinking far too much and winning a 5 a side tournament. Masses of snow, blizzards, whiteouts, the lot. Having booked lessons I felt I had to go every day but didn't enjoy whiteout conditions at all (still don't) and was so tired about halfway through the week (wonder why?) that I resolved to never go again.
Peer pressure and a severe case of FOMO meant I went again a couple of years later. Then I was hooked
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