To take Ski lessons or to not is the question?!

Have you ever skied?

What did you think? Were you slightly sh**ing yourself beforehand?

Well I hope that gives you an overview of my thoughts before attempting to ski for the first time…

But lets begin at the beginning of my ski journey….

Alex and I were invited on a ski holiday by his family, and we couldn’t be more excited! As you would have read in our previous post we were on our way to Austria for a week of snow.

We arrived midday and immediately went to hire ski’s and snowboards, and for me also a pair of ski boots, a helmet, sticks etc etc. Essentially I would look like a stuffed bear waddling with all my gear…

Which brings us to day one of lessons, the reason for this story.

You see this was not our first ski trip, I mean for Alex, he and his family had been going for years but Alex and I had also been on two trips in the past together, with both of our families.

I had attempted snowboarding on both of those occasions, and although it looks amazing and the feeling when you get it right is indescribable, it just wasn’t for me.

So it was time to try skiing, and what better way to begin than in a group where everyone sucks just as much as you!

On the first day of class I was extremely nervous, the whole sh**ing myself comment makes a reappearance. Alex was wonderful, he walked me down to the meeting area, which was filled with millions of tiny children and then a group of adults like me over to the side.

Once we all met, the nerves slightly dropped. We all followed our teacher, quite cutely like the little kiddies next to us, all in a line to a very flat piece of snow. The only difference was that we continually dropped our gear and the kids didn’t….

The first half of our lesson in all honesty was quite slow. We spent the time learning how to walk, shimmy sideways and very slowly slide down a slightly inclined slope.

I was a little bored but it was because the day before when we had arrived early, Alex had taken me on the slopes to practice and see how I went. So these very very very flat slopes were a little less exhilarating than what I was expecting, and even crazier, I was excited by the steeper slopes, not something I thought would happen right away!

But after the first half of day 1, every exercise our teacher taught us gave me a little more confidence. And as a group we began chatting, finding similar interests and cheering each other on when something went right!

That alone was the main reason that I loved the idea of taking lessons. Alex had always tried to convince me to take lessons with snowboarding, and I had tried it but never enjoyed it honestly. So the realisation that I was enjoying these lessons was pretty cool.

On the second day of lessons, second day right! Our teacher took us in the lifts all the way to the top of the mountain and believe it or not we as a team made it down to the middle.

I enjoyed myself so damn much that even after class finished, a few others and I decided to go down the mountain, to the middle by ourselves. Eeeek on day two and already we were skiing unsupervised, I mean that’s got to be good right?!

The rest of the week’s lessons just got better and better. Our group changed a couple of times with some people wanting to practice more on the lower slopes, but every day we ventured a little further and on even steeper slopes.

What was even more exciting was after class the slopes were still open for a bit, Alex would pick me up and go skiing/snowboarding together. I mean I had never pictured myself being able to skiing alongside or on the same slope with Alex, this really felt so fantastic!

Not only had I gotten over my fear of being on a mountain and skiing, I had in fact learnt how to ski, had an awesome time meeting fellow learners and seeing the most amazing mountain views.

I mean what an awesome way to spend a week!

Definitely taking lessons again and hope this at least encourages others who have never been to give them a try!