This past weekend I took a tiny break from studying to go skiing up in Vermont. While it wasn't my wisest choice academically, everything worked out in the end. It's always nice to get a break from fast-paced city and just slow things down. It was a great weekend with lots of good food and laughs.
One of the highlights of the weekend combined struggle, fear, and hilarity all in one package. Chloe and I went skiing at Pico mountain on Saturday. We are both intermediatish skiers, but we decided we wanted to do greens/blues because we were just there to have fun and not really to try to prove anything. We skied over to a small lift in order to take a long green. At first we thought the lift was closed because the lift operator was building a snowman (turns out he was just having a good time). We get on the rickety double lift and descended over a mogul field. I took off my gloves to do something much less embarrassing than taking selfies. At first I have Chloe hold my gloves, but I eventually take them back and place them on my lap. A gust of wind comes and takes my glove which lands dead center of the black diamond moguls. I yell a string of swears, followed by a bunch of "I knew its!" because i totally did, I knew that was going to happen and I did it anyway....which was followed by hyped-up encouragement that "we totally got this! We can pizza down the moguls, get my glove and we'll be golden." We were on a small side on the mountain where the 45 degree mogul field was our only option to get my glove. So fast forward about twenty minutes when we've gone down about 100 feet and honestly I'm terrified. There was a much larger chance that I would tumble down the mountain than successfully ski down it. Chloe suggests we take off our skis and carry them down. Even then the path through the woods that this part of the trail went through was too steep and icing to walk down. Chloe gets on her butt and quickly slides through the forest I, of course, join her. The fun didn't last long because soon we had to walk toward the trail before we lost through snow so deep that once in a while your leg would plunge through, but we wouldn't fall because we would still be standing with snow up to your thigh. We teetered down like infants learning to walk - experimental, unsure steps that would sometimes keep you standing and other times knock you on your bum! I was yelling a combination of swears, sorrys and promises that I would do this to Chloe if this ever happened to her! We eventually got to my glove and eventually back to the ski lift were we got our buns out of there (on a green)...fast!
I yelled after to Chloe that I felt more bonded to her, half-kidding and one-hundred percent serious. Though the only thing sore were our egos, it was pretty scary to come to a task where you stop for a moment and say out loud "I don't know what to do, because I can't do THIS." Even though it was a minor situation, in the moment it felt like going down that black diamond was our only option and I was just happy to have my best friend by my side!