January 20, 2007

The temperature swings have been wider and faster than I have seen since moving here. Minus 15 to plus 38 to single digits and back to 30 in about a week. On Monday I stopped for gas on the way to the ski resort. About half way there, I realized that I had filled the tank while wearing a light jacket and no gloves while the temperature was in the teens. I burst out laughing. Kris thought I was insane. Oddly, I have stopped being able to really sense a difference in temperature. I can tell it is really cold when the snow begins to squeak, but the dry air tends to feel no worse than the damp air at warmer temperatures. I guess it is just winter in Alaska.

We skied all three days of the holiday weekend. It was a nice mix. On Sunday, we skied with an internet friend of Kris. A relative of this friend came along and apparently they had some communication gap. So I hopped in and gave a total beginner lesson. It was fun. I like teaching adult beginners. After teaching for awhile, I skied with Kris and her friend and her friend’s daughter. We spent the time trying to help the daughter . Once we wore all of them out, Kris and I took a couple runs for ourselves. It was actually nice to spend most of the day on easy terrain, playing and teaching.

Monday took us to the other end of the spectrum. After a few good runs, Kris and I stopped for lunch. A coworker of mine saw us and after lunch, we skied together. He is a racer so he skis everything fast. Kris and I tend to savor every turn, but it was a good experience to pick up the pace and let things fly a little. We took turns leading our favorite runs so we saw some parts of the resort that we don’t usually ski and skied some of our regular runs at a much faster pace. We were exhausted when we finally called its quits.

Today started with a surprise. The website indicated that about two inches of snow had fallen overnight. We headed to the top only to find that the snow on North Face was more like two inches above the knee. We had a fun run even though I took a disturbing spill. I don‘t like falling on that terrain as I am very focused on staying in control. Falls just hurt my confidence. After this unexpected run, Kris and I teamed up to teach another beginner lesson, this one for another of my coworkers and her roommate. It was fun and challenging as they each had different issues. I forgot how fun it was to solve problems and apply my knowledge of skiing. I think we all had fun. Kris and I finished the day with one more run from up high. The conditions were still amazing.