Humble Beginnings

A snowHead

This is great, I didn't expect it to generate so much interest.
And best of all, @admin posted on it, and he wasn't telling anyone off! Cool

Some great stories here, there's something about seeing or even just hearing about people falling in love with skiing that I really enjoy.

There are several I was going to mention (incl the other Knockbracken and Craigavon learners) but I can't be ar sed!

Keep them coming.

A snowHead

I, too, am a late starter. As a family, we'd been going to Switzerland most years since 1983, but always in the summer. I'd never been in the winter until I was 52 when some good friends of ours suggested we go for 5 days in the winter. During it we went for a hike and crossed a piste, and was amazed by the sight of a dad skiing at speed down the mountain with his very young child also on skis, between his legs! Anyhow, two years later my eldest son went on his first ski holiday with some friends from his church. He totally raved about it when he came back and said we all need to try it. We had 6 hours at the local fridge, the Chillfactore, and went for our first holiday for a week to the Jungfrau region, with Oak Hall. It was madness, but we loved every minute, despite getting stuck in a whiteout when trying our best to ski back to Wengen at the end of the day! Unfortunately, I really didn't totally get the hang of it at all that week, and so when we returned we took out membership at the Chillfactore and went one or two times a week throughout the year until we thought we were in charge of our skis rather than the other way around. Ever since we've gone at least once a year and some years up to three times, including to La Plagne, Les Arcs, Les Deux Alpes, La Clusaz, Pry-de-lys/Sommand, Wengen and Schaldming. We've even fitted a day in at Zermatt on the glacier during September one year. Now I'm completely hooked on skiing, Bratwurst and Schnitzel. Looking forward to trying out the Sellaronda one day.

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This is a wonderful thread.

I'd learned to skate as a kid but my first time on skis was a trip to the alps when I was 29 in the mid 80s. I was too impatient for the start of my first ever lesson so just pointed the skis down the slope and enjoyed the experience until I realised I was unexpectedly accelerating out of control rolling eyes

A snow plough (I'd been doing some reading) with a lot of back seat eventually brought me to a stop. After a couple more holidays of enjoyable skiing in the back seat, life events took over for 20 years until I had a chance to spend a couple of days at Big Bear at Christmas. I got off the chair at the top and cried with happiness. (If I'm not careful, this can still happen to me now Toofy Grin

)

Another 11 years went by until 2015 when my daughter persuaded me to join her and her friends for a few days at Meribel to draw me out of the doldrums. Lack of technique injured my knee at the end of the first day but with a knee brace and doctor's orders to stay on greens and blues and ice it at regular intervals, I fell in love with skiing in the mountains with a passion over the next two days.

That summer I wore out the carpet at my local SkiPlex, discovering things that were wrong with my skiing "really? you transfer weight from ski to ski?", and in the autumn my life changed when I discovered snowHeads and bashes and Rob and Scott who have since then patiently worked to erode ingrained bad habits.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The dance of fear and desire, the duel of friction and gravity, the deadlock of speed and security.
This is what you paid too much money for, and why.
Skiing. What you do instead of growing up.
- Lito Tejada

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@Richard_Sideways, What makes you think the Moody Blues came from Liverpool? They're Brummies. As for my first skiing experience it was at the age of 31 in 1990. I'd always enjoyed both playing and watching sport including Ski Sunday but never had any notion of actually going skiing. A school friend of mine moved to London after university and got roped into going skiing by someone he knew from work. He asked me if I wanted to go and I thought why not. A couple of other mates went as well and in the end it was, I guess, something akin to a Snowheads bash as the final group number was over forty. TBH it still seems like yesterday. The destination was Ellmau and I can still remember the name of the pension we stayed in, the bars we frequented and even the name of our ski instructor. I loved it despite being pretty crap and it was the beginning of an obsession not just with skiing but also skiing in Austria

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Another late starter aged 32. October 1984 and the guy who organised the office ski trip told me that one of their group had dropped out and to keep the discount for ten people would I like to go? I phoned 'her indoors' and she said why not so I agreed to join. The following week I was at Aldershot dry slope on a beginners course. Lots of practice and an improvers course before the trip to Tignes in March 1985 and I was already hooked. Despite 'flu during the week before, I got out of my sick bed to travel to Gatwick. Been skiing most years since became an ESC club instructor at Aldershot and a member of Thames Valley Ski Club. Hoping for next winter.

After all it is free

You could say I have learnt twice, first time was at Hillend in Edinburgh with the school, 6.00 every Wednesday night, it was the best thing the school ever done for me but as it was 1984 and in the mist of the miners strike there was never going to be a ski trip.
I tried to stick with it on my own but it slid off radar.
Roll forward to 2014 & it was my eldest lads time to learn with his school. No mini bus this time, parents had to get them there. After a couple of weeks of watching I thought I used to enjoy it, let’s give it another bash, I loved it.
Took him to Aviemore that winter, first time on snow for both of us and it’s been a major part of our lives since.
Definitely trying my best to make up for lost time

There’s a lot of mention of C&A ski outfits in here, so here’s my first ever ski outfit, from C&A from (if my calculations are correct) 1990.

https://imgur.com/gallery/1rOx4kE

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@Timmycb5, Ny first ski jacket was C&A 'EVF' - with detachable sleeves Cool

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We live in Edinburgh very near the Hillend dry slope. Sons wanted to ski but you had to be 6 so in 1983 when they were 6 and 9 they had their first lessons. Mr mogulski and I thought it looked fun so we had our first lesson that summer both in our 30s. Had more lessons on plastic then in 1987 heard about the course for school teachers to get qualified to run school ski clubs. Had been skiing in Scotland and went on our first trip abroad to Flaine Easter 1988. We were all completely hooked. Passed our Ski Leader course 1989, got involved running school ski club, buses to take kids and families skiing in Scotland, school ski races. Friends asked me to run trips abroad as well as school trips - ended up with my 'Heinz' trip as I call it as there were 57 of us all levels where we took a whole hotel in Sauze d'Oulx. Sons started competing, alpine, snowboard then moguls (and some speed skiing). Mr mogulski and I learnt to judge moguls on dryslope, I got involved helping with Scottish Freestyle Team then ended up chair of British Freestyle committee which lead to FIS training for international freestyle judging. Retired from that 3 years ago so now just ski for fun. Did 20 years of school ski trips and 20+ years of freestyle judging. This is the first time I have not skied for over a year (since Birthday Bash last February) and we have had over 120 trips abroad between all the various activities. Some wonderful experiences and friendships that I could never have imagined when I started on plastic all those years ago.

Just writing my post above I have thought of my ski stories and experiences. I need to write them down as I can't go skiing at the moment and I am getting bored. Not sure how to record it all - My Skiing Experiences - the places, people, stories, competitions, injuries (I have had a few!).

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

Don't think I had any C+A ski stuff (well not for skiing anyway).

In Only Fools and Horses, when Delboy and Rodders dressed as Batman and Robin broke down in "Peckham" High Street, it was right outside a shop called Sport+Ski. That's the exact shop where I got most of my n00b ski kit from.

After that it was Blacks/Milletts when I actually had some money.

A snowHead

March 1988: 1 hour private lesson for 2 at Silksworth dry slope. Struggled - couldn't snow plough...Ex-wife managed easily, to my consternation rolling eyes

... Culminated in what felt like total humiliation - the instructor skiing backwards while holding my ski tips together - as another instructor was doing with a class of four year olds... Laughing

Fast forward three days: Cairngorm Mountain half day afternoon after a 6 hour drive. Fantastic snow cover top to bottom - which I assumed was always the case... Met brother and sister in law (seasoned skiers of 3 years or so) who provided further instruction. By close of play we'd snowploughed all the way from the Ptarmigan restaurant to the bottom - and proudly considered ourselves 'skiers!' We were hooked!

We made another trip up to Scotland that season (Glencoe) before honing our skills on the dry slopes at Silksworth and Willington through the rest of the year.

Then it was off to Finkenberg in the Austrian Zillertal in mid-December 1988. We had no idea of altitude or early season snow(!) - but the trip was cheap and we were rewarded with snow cover down to the valley and amazing conditions. So funny now (with internet snow reports and webcams everywhere) to think that we arrived with no idea of what snow conditions were like - it was like arriving in Narnia! We were in awe at the mountains and the scale of the skiing and made good use of the Ziller Valley pass and the local transport and skied at Mayrhofen/Finkenberg, Lanersbach, Zell am Ziller and Kaltenbach.

Those first two days completely changed my life Very Happy

Never missed a season since (including this winter, when Mrs MA and I have been lucky enough to ski very locally as well as up at Weardale) and have been fortunate enough to use skiing as a reason to visit some amazing places all over the world. Cool

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School trip to Sauze D'Oulx - Easter 1972. Lovely weather, what I now realise was ok snow but could only get to it by taking the Sportinia chairlift which was a long walk in lace-up leather boots from the village. Skis had cable bindings! The Sportinia lift was a peculiar hybrid single-seat chairlift/t-bar and at that time of the season the t-bar bit wasn't functioning so it was a long wait for the chairlift section to come round. The lift used to stop frequently as the silly beggars in our group used to delight in swinging in the chairs or bouncing to make the cable go up and down!

The following year it was off to Pfunds in Austria with the school at February half-term. Stayed in a hotel called Haus Tyrol and we skied off rope-tows in Pfunds itself then in Nauders and across the Swiss border in Scuol. Vivid memory of Bostik Ballinger - so called because he was an expert at breaking bones - trying to snowplough down a slope in Nauders and crashing straight into the only tree for miles. Inevitable broken bone ensued!

Went to work as a weekend lift attendant/ski hire at Gloucester Ski Centre but was too old for school trips. Luckily my mum spotted a magazine article about an organisation called the Young Skiers Association that took teenagers on ski trips. I went with them to Cairngorm (snow right down to Aviemore) and then Sauze D'Oulx again.

Still working at Gloucester and joined a ski slope trip in around 1977 to, you guessed it, Sauze D'Oulx. Never been back there which probably won't come as a surprise!

Only missed one season since and I sometimes wonder whether any of the others on the school or subsequent trips are still skiing.

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There is a picture of me standing in front of the then new four seasons hotel Aviemore with wooden skis and leather boots on my feet. I can remember it clearly and think it must have been about 1970 ? The saplings in the picture are fully mature pine trees today!

The family went to Soll the year before but I was a little too young to ski (4) so had a sledge most of the week apparently. From 1970 we skied in Austria, Spain and Italy usually going on Thomson ‘square deal’ holidays. The deal was we didn’t know which resort we were going to until we arrived at the airport, usually Luton. We lived north of Manchester ! It always turned out to be some obscure place like Berserburg, Bergenz, Formigal, Bicklebach or Macugnaga, but I think we always got value for money Laughing

By the mid 70s we had started going to Aviemore as well as or instead of trips abroad. We used to ski at Rossendale dry slope and then at the Carlisle slope when we moved up there in 1974. I only really learned to ski parallel from the mid 1970s because of all the weekend skiing we were doing by then using Portable and later permanent rope tows in the Lake District and North Pennines.

I am essentially self taught and learnt just by following the best skier in our club. Eventually their technique rubbed off which is why I still ski old-school feet together but it seems to work for me and I haven’t tried to change style.

In about 2000 I got some telemark kit having become a bit bored with alpine skiing and considered myself too old for snowboarding. I moved back north and immediately started skiing again with my old club although the snow was by then rather less reliable than it had been in the 1970s and 1980s.

It has taken 20 years of self instruction but I can now ski Telemark, after a fashion (feet together Laughing

) and have barely stepped into alpine bindings since. snowHead

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Morzine, January 2003 at the age of 40....
Playing golf in the Summer of 2002, my best mate said he was trying to think of something special to do for his 40th birthday early in 2003 and skiing was one suggestion that came up.
I knew one bloke at work with who was a regular skier so I asked his advice and he suggested we look into the ‘learn to ski’ sessions at the dryslope in Welwyn Garden City. My mate and I spent a couple of afternoons at WGC, enjoyed the, er, challenge and skiing became a topic of conversation at work. The guy I worked with mentioned his annual ‘boys’ ski trip with some of his mates - one of whom owned an appartment in Morzine - and we were invited along.
So, that was my first trip to the snow; borrowed clothing, hired kit and no clue.
While the 4 regulars were off towards Avoriaz, us beginners had morning lessons with BASS on one rather tame (but, at the time, challenging) run at the top of the Pleney slope and spent the afternoons plodding up & down the same slope, practicing. And if that had been it, I might not have gone again but, on the final day, we had no lessons so we all went out together. The regulars led us up to Avoriaz, Lindarets and up to the Swiss border. Actual, proper skiing - travelling from one place to another on snow, in the sunshine! I bloody loved it and was completely hooked.

My mate & I went to Les Arcs in 2004 and I had the best week of my life. Sadly, my mate fell badly after a couple of days and, we think, busted a couple of ribs. That was it for him - he still loved the mountains, the scenery, etc, but he lost his appetite for going downhill. He went on a couple of winter holidays and tried XC and snow-shoes but job changes meant we couldn’t holiday together so he was on his own and enthusiasm waned.
The guy at work left so I again knew nobody who went skiing. I went to Valmeinier on my own in 2005 and dragged the wife to Val Cenis in 2006 (she was never going to ski but I hoped she might appreciate the mountain scenery, etc but as she hates the cold, the snow and almost any unnecessary physical activity, she hated the whole experience).
I had already joined SH and in October 2006, I went on my first bash - to LDA for the pre-season. I’ve been on at least one SH bash almost every year since, with occasional outings with Easiski in LDA and Inside Out Ski in the Dolomites.
I just wish I had discovered skiing earlier in life Mad

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Harlow dry ski slope in about 1986. We went on a school ski trip to Ellmau where the parents were invited as well. Absolutely loved it.

Continued to ski with the school until I went to university when, for some stupid reason, I stopped. Ended up going to Lapland on honeymoon where I though I's ski again. Fell in love with it all over again. I'm very lucky in that we are closer to the Alps here and some family have a chalet that we can use.

Will consider a bash as Mrs H doesn't ski...

After all it is free

Kühtai/Tirol when I was 17 - first day side stepping up slope and making mini turns around ski poles, ski instructor in his 60s (probably) but looked about 95... who started the beginner lesson with telling us that there wasn't a bone in his body he hadn't broken. Things improved significantly when progressing to using the T-Bar and then the chairlift during the week snowHead

as it turns out I am not really into earning my turns.

Things improved even more during the second week of my first trip when I learned how to hockey stop as this reduced incidents of having to side step down from between mini firn trees etc. etc. snowHead

@Hurdy, I'm another who first experienced skiing on that Harlow dry ski slope. My girlfriend (now wife) had been skiing a couple of times with a previous boyfriend and was keen to go again so I rather tentatively agreed to book (La Plagne) and do some preparation. Her hope was that if I mastered the basics we could both go in the same ski school class.

Unfortunately that didn't quite work out. On the last dry slope lesson a toddler wandered on to the slope looking for his Dad just as I was descending. Knowing that my degree of control was poor (I have never felt snow plough a reliable technique) and being unable to tell which way the kid would move, I decided to bail out - but in the process got a finger caught in the mesh material and avulsed a ligament.

We had booked with Thomson Ski (now merged under the Crystal brand) and flew in one of their charter flights via Lyon. There had been a lot of snowfall the previous night, and by the time the coach got us to Albertville the number of vehicles which had skidded on mountain roads and needed to be rescued meant the police stopped all motorway traffic and sent it back down again. Credit to Thomson, the rep got the coach driver to stop at the first services, phoned base, and by the time we got to Lyon there were bookings in a cheap hotel for us. We eventually got to the resort a day late, with my reservations about skiing enhanced.

Anyway we managed to get our rental skis and turned up the next morning to the ski school meeting. The instructors assessed us by getting us to ski down a gentle slope, probably not much more than 5 m length. I was all fired up to put into use my dry slope technique - but then discovered too late that snow is an awful lot faster than bristles and landed ignominiously on my bottom. My girlfriend pleaded for a second chance but that meant using a button lift; I had used one successfully at Harlow but had forgotten about my injured finger and the pain as I grabbed the pole meant I let go and ended up on the deck again. I was in the bottom class.

Actually it was quite a fun group, I think we all bonded due to our common adversity. And a zany instructor. They were morning and afternoon lessons, and with a girlfriend anxious to get the best possible value from the holiday I couldn't relax over lunch but had to quickly eat a sandwich and then ski some more. Similarly at the beginning and end of the day. Given the mental concentration I needed just to stay upright, plus the physical energy used in skiing when you haven't mastered rhythm and balance, I was completely shattered by the end of the day. I did have a certain perverse masochistic pleasure in getting through each day, and genuinely enjoyed the mountains, so agreed to another trip the next year.

That was in Val Thorens, with lessons just in the morning. Inevitably girlfriend wanted to me to ski to more interesting places with her in the afternoon but getting over to Meribel involved a scary red. I had found a reliable if unstylish way of negotiating any blue run, but this one always involved half a dozen falls. (Unsurprisingly, it seemed quite benign when revisited a few years later). But that was when I decided there really was a pleasure in skiing, as much as anything from the daily adventure of deciding with my companion to head for some distant spot where the piste map showed a knife and fork, and then making our way there by one route and returning by another. Until this year we have done a skiing holiday each year, usually to somewhere with a big area to explore, and sometimes two trips once we had a daughter who got the bug. And little by little my technique has become a little more stylish.

Oh, and for those first holidays I too relied on the low price C&A gear, buying a pair of cheap salopettes further discounted in a sale. And some ski gloves. I didn't get a ski jacket, I decided to wear my normal waterproof anorak with a fleece underneath because I wasn't convinced I would ever go skiing again. Those salopettes fell apart after the first couple of trips so they were replaced by somewhat more durable ones, but I have continued skiing in an anorak. I finally bought my first purpose-made ski jacket last summer in the Ellis Brigham sale but have yet to use it in anger, though it is handy at the moment for keeping warm in the cold weather here.

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My Skiing career began when my parents and some friends went to Soll a couple of times around the time I was 'thought of'.

Fast forward to my teenage years and possibly because I relayed tales from my school classmates who had been on a school trip, we went to Obergurgl as a family. My father taught my brother, sister and I all I know about skiing (plus many seasons of self teaching and some strategic ski coaching).

I had ten years of no-skiing between the family holidays and turning approx 30. It was then that I rediscovered skiing on a trip I booked for myself to Zell Am See. been every season since...except this one.

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@Peter S, I visited Macugnaga a few years ago as part of a Swiss multi-week ski road trip.

It is an interesting place. good snow cover when we where there. I loved the minimal chilled feel. The locals had (as would be expected for Italians) recently purchased some excellent piste-bashers and used them expertly. Our group of six were about the only skiers in the whole valley (it was a week day - I expect it is better used on the weekend). We drove over the Simplon pass and came back through the Simplon rail tunnel on the car train to Brig.

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Humble Beginnings

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