Skiing at Mount Hutt
Brilliant. I thorougly enjoyed myself today. Even forcing myself out of bed at 6am into my thermals, jeans and 4 layers on my upper body. Indeed, I was very determined not to get cold. After a 2 hour drive we begun our ascent of Mount Hutt. Most cars and buses had chains on their wheels for extra grip up the icy road but as we were in a 4WD vehicle we accelerated past the newbies coming perilously close to the edge at most left handed bends.
Once we had arrived at the base station Matt, our bus driver, helped us equip ourselves with ski boots, ski's and poles. After I was ready I went out at messed around a bit on the ski's before my lesson started at 11:30 but after 5 minutes of just standing there too scared to move I sat myself down and watched the professionals at work. Finally, my first lesson begun with Jose, a very small spanish guy. I was in a group of three 10 year olds which made me feel a lot more confident at not being the worst in the group. The first lesson consisted mostly of feeling comfortable walking around on the ski's, being able to control your speed on a slight slope by pointing your ski's inwards, a wedge shape. After a light lunch, we went on to the longer beginner slope, about 100m, which had a lift you grabbed on to pull yourself up. After a number of times of going down the slope at a controlled speed we all began pushing ourselves down hill a little faster which made turning a lot easier. Again, I upped my speed as I started to enjoy the thrill of zipping in and out of other novices but soon realised the wedge-technique for slowing down didn't work at this speed. I ended up careering into the guy at the lift queue and pulling him down to stop with one of my poles just missing a 5 year old's bonce. I thought that would be enough for the day. When you take of the ski boots and put on your usual shoes you feel like your gliding instead of walking.
Kea birds were the local vandals in the carpark. They've got blooming strong beaks that rip the rubber seals from windows, pull your wipers off and generally cause a nuisance. In other parts of the country they have been accused of pecking sheep to death! Nice eh? They are one of the most intelligent birds in the world because of their inquisitive behaivour. Have a read about them here.
Once we had arrived at the base station Matt, our bus driver, helped us equip ourselves with ski boots, ski's and poles. After I was ready I went out at messed around a bit on the ski's before my lesson started at 11:30 but after 5 minutes of just standing there too scared to move I sat myself down and watched the professionals at work. Finally, my first lesson begun with Jose, a very small spanish guy. I was in a group of three 10 year olds which made me feel a lot more confident at not being the worst in the group. The first lesson consisted mostly of feeling comfortable walking around on the ski's, being able to control your speed on a slight slope by pointing your ski's inwards, a wedge shape. After a light lunch, we went on to the longer beginner slope, about 100m, which had a lift you grabbed on to pull yourself up. After a number of times of going down the slope at a controlled speed we all began pushing ourselves down hill a little faster which made turning a lot easier. Again, I upped my speed as I started to enjoy the thrill of zipping in and out of other novices but soon realised the wedge-technique for slowing down didn't work at this speed. I ended up careering into the guy at the lift queue and pulling him down to stop with one of my poles just missing a 5 year old's bonce. I thought that would be enough for the day. When you take of the ski boots and put on your usual shoes you feel like your gliding instead of walking.
Kea birds were the local vandals in the carpark. They've got blooming strong beaks that rip the rubber seals from windows, pull your wipers off and generally cause a nuisance. In other parts of the country they have been accused of pecking sheep to death! Nice eh? They are one of the most intelligent birds in the world because of their inquisitive behaivour. Have a read about them here.
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