Harder than it looks!! First time Skiing.

The gang all suited up right before our lesson. In hindsight we should have got a group shot of us afterwards all looking rather pooped.

The slopes and skilift.

Between Christmas and New Year we all decided to try our hands at skiing. All bar one of us have never been skiing before and so it was a new experience for us to all try together. We were all super excited and got up extra early to get ourselves ready and to drop Emmy off at daycare for the day. We headed out and had ourselves a quick brekky and coffee at Tim Hortons on the way out. We arrived at the slopes and had ourselves fitted for ski boots, skis and poles. Riley was most upset about not being allowed to have poles but it was explained that he was low enough to the ground that balance wouldn't be such an issue. We headed out with our instructor, Lindsay, for our lesson. First she taught us how to put our skis on and how to move slowly down a very small slope. We all did pretty well but I managed to have my poles confiscated on my first try because Lindsay feared I would impale myself. Riley of course was happy with this as he was now not the only one without poles.  Not long into the lesson my right foot started to really ache and I was seriously considering packing it in and becoming the official photographer. I sat down and worked out that my boots were too tight and restricting so I loosened them and problem solved I was back in the game. We headed up the skilift and all of a sudden it stopped. We knew (seeing as how it wasn't me that fell off the lift) that it must have been either Riley or Dave and Mandy. It was Dave & Mandy, they had somehow slipped off the lift and could not get back on. They ended up having to take their skis off and walk up the slope. A very long and hard trek up. They eventually made it up, quite pooped and a little pissed (the stupid skilift operator, not realising that they were first timers and obviously either unable to hear Brad & I yelling it at him or just ignoring us, was yelling at them to get out of the way because they were holding everyone up.) So we took off down the slope, well some of us took off and some of us started our journey of skiing, falling and flailing about down the slope. Mandy and I spent considerable time on our butts laughing til it hurt and having an awesome time doing it. I think the whole lean foward whilst you are careering down the slope thing was not sinking in for us. Luckily one of the other skiers took pity on us and managed to always be not too far away when we needed a hand back up and he helped us down the slope. At the bottom was the end of our lesson and so we broke for lunch before hitting the slope again to try out what we had learned. The boys got straight back  into it going up and down and trying out different runs. Mandy, Riley and I hung out around the bottom where we had our lesson and tried to perfect the little things, like stopping. At one point I was reminding Rilely of how to stop using your legs without falling over. Seems I was a little too green to be instructing just yet and before I knew it my legs were sliding fast in different directions, I leant forward and had both my hands on the ground, my feet were still running away from me in different directions and my butt was sticking straight up in the air. I was almost breathless from laughing and so was my sympathetic sister-in-law. Mandy thought for a minute about pulling out the camera but decided against it, she says out of sympathy but I think she was just laughing too hard to have been able to get a good shot. We managed eventually to get me off my skis and back upright when Brad came down telling us that Dave had just had a spill. We waited at the bottom of the slope for what seemed like ages (really was only about 10mins) when Dave finally reappeared. Turns out he was going a little fast and when he tried to slow down he lost his balance and took a tumble, he was lucky though kindly tree broke his fall. A ski patrol was not far behind him and he came and assessed Dave and helped him get back on track and Dave (after just one more tumble) made it to the bottom in one piece. We were all feeling pretty exhausted and so decided to make our way home. All in all it was a very fun day and one that I am sure we are all keen to try again. Although I think Mandy and I both agree we would probably be better snowboarders than skiers.......I wonder.......

Me coming down the hill the same way most people do...............upright and not the way I mostly made it down.......................on my butt!!

Our littlest skiing star! Riley had a blast and was really getting the hang of it too. I think even he beat Mummy and Aunty Mandy down the hill but to be fair (to Mummy & Aunty Mandy) he DID have the help of the instructor to get him there.

Dave giving a thumbs up! As I expected Dave picked up skiing rather quickly and was racing down the slopes in no time. I believe he was also the first of all of us to experience crash landing into a tree.....

Brad the Pro coming down the slope. Drawing on his experiences skiing in New Zealand many years ago.

BIG thanks to Mandy for the use of her pics, once again she was the official photographer and so there are no pics of Mandy to post. If only I had the hang of staying upright earlier I would have been able to take a few shots of my fellow awesome skier.....