On Friday, we decide to get to Marmot Basin a little earlier than yesterday so we can get a few more runs in before we head home. Manage to get to the hill too early and have to sit in the lodge for 10 or 15 minutes. Then it is off we go, up to mid mountain.
Even though the temperature is about the same as yesterday, the wind is blowing stronger so it feels colder. We do a few laps of easy runs, sheltered from the wind, trying to get my technique straight. You see, yesterday I started cocking my hip again when turning to the left, so I am working on uncocking it. It works…..mostly.
We take the chair up to the top of the mountain and the wind is howling up there. It is blowing so strong that it actually moves me along without me doing anything! And the skiff of fresh snow that fell last night is blowing away.
We ski down and it is hit and miss with the hip thing. I know that when I get nervous about the terrain, the side slope, other skiers whizzing by, I seem to forget technique and go into semi panic mode. Not good. Mur notices that I stop turning my feet, I throw my shoulder, and a passel of other badness. It’s good skiing with an excellent instructor! Another run up top and it is time for lunch and to thaw out hands and feet indoors.
We spend our time after lunch on the lower, warmer and less windy, green runs trying to fix my skiing. My body is not cooperating and frustration sets in, so I call it a day and send Mur up by himself to ski some runs while I ponder life in the chalet. I watch other skiers coming down, and wonder how my skiing matches up to most of them. I see a certain lack of technique in almost everyone. And I can pick out Murray right away….he’s the guy that is skiing perfectly and looks so smooth and effortless.
We call it a day, pile in the car and start our 4.5 hour drive back home. Next stop, Mistaya Lodge!