Top to Bottom on my Bottom

Justin and I went to Tahoe last week to do some skiing. Upon arriving at Sugarbowl, I was stoked to learn that they were giving free lessons which I took full advantage. It was only my second time skiing. Justin is a great teacher, but he always wants to push me past my limits.

After day one and two Justin was so impressed by my new ski skills that on day 3 he decided to ski with me. He took me all around the mountain. I was feeling so confident and having such a good time. But, then Justin seemed to forget that I was on day 3 and took me up to the top of the mountain. When the chairlift went over some cliffs I began to think to myself, "Great! Justin is trying to push me past my limits again. When will he learn what is fun for him is terrifying for me."

When I got off the chair and saw how high I was, I started to freak out. I felt my legs starting to shake and feel like jello. I felt like I was about to go number 2 in my pants.

I tried to think positively in my head "I can do this! I can go down. Everything will be fine." Despite my incantation, I couldn't stop thinking about how steep it was and all the possibilities of breaking my neck.

So Justin went half way down the ski run and signaled me to follow. I felt paralyzed and tried to slide down side ways. After 5 feet I started to beg Justin to let me go down on my bum. He would look at me saying "no! you can do it! Come down side ways." At this point I was so mad at Justin for making me do this that all I wanted to do was punch him in the gut.

Since going down sideways was not working, Justin had wrap my arms around his waste, guiding me down slowly, but that only worked for 30 seconds before we fell on top each other.

After 30 minutes we were only half way down. I got past the steepest and bumpiest part of the hill. The 2nd half of the hill didn't seem as bad which gave me more confidence. I started my incantation again, "I can do this, I am in control." 20 crashes later, I made it all the way down. Even though I hated going through that experience, I was proud that I was able to ski from top to bottom on my third day.