Ski High, Ski Low Ski Fast, Ski Slow By: Adrian Smith 4MS
Ski High, Ski Low Ski Fast, Ski Slow I couldn’t believe it! I was going skiing! I had always wanted to ski. I had heard that it was hard, but once you got it, it was really fun. Once we arrived in Tokyo, Japan, we still had a lot to do before we could go skiing. We waited for the monorail to T2. We got crammed on the train. 1 minute later, we arrived at T2. There was a minivan waiting for us. There was also another couple on the bus. We were on the bus for about 1 ½ hours. First we drove through the town (HakubaMura), then to our lodge. It was a skiinskiout lodge, which means that you ski up to the door, take them off, hang them up, and then you can go inside. The next day, at Ski School, I knew it was going to be tough. My first challenge was trying to balance with skis on my feet. 2 mins later, I was standing without slipping. My heart sank when the ski instructor asked, “Who has skied before?”, and more than half of the group raised their hands. After that,we headed towards the ski lifts. Aw man! , I thought, this is going to suck SOOOOOOOO much!! I felt like I was the only one who couldn’t ski. It was my first time on a ski lift, and I was absolutely terrified! There wasn’t even a seatbelt! Halfway up, it just stopped. I stifled a scream. We were stuck! All the seats were swaying back and forth. An announcement came over the loudspeakers. It sounded like this to me, “Blobdegobchinkan, chull;orlan.” Then we started again. I guess that was Japanese for,”Sorry for the misunderstanding, we will be starting again soon.” Finally w e reached the top. Phew. I wasn’t dead.
This was the hardest part. As we neared the top, I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, louder and louder. When I got off, I fell over almost immediately, just clearing the ski lift. My brother helped me up. The ski group gathered at the top. We learnt how to move on flat ground without poles, as well as how to turn. After that, the instructor said,”Right. Time to go down the hill. everyone know how to turn?” “Yes.” We said in unison. “You know how to stop?” he asked. “Yes” we answered excitedly. This would be SUPER difficult. We pushed off. I balanced for about 4 seconds. I got up, and continued down the hill. My first time down the hill kind of went like this: Ski for about 2 10 metres, then fall down, and then get up. Eventually, after what seemed like 10 million hours, we got to the bottom. I did a little fist bump in the air, silently congratulating myself. The next day, I was crisscrossing down the hill. I’ll never forget the great feeling as I skied down the hill, with the wind rushing past me, snow spraying up behind me. It felt awesome, all those hours I spent trying to learn how to ski, and I had finally got it! I hoped that one day, I would be able to ski down a hill without falling down (which I can do now). You can be sure I won’t give up skiing.
Image (above): www.nationalgeographic.com Image (above): www.gjmt.com Cover image: www.worldmarketing.com.au Special Thanks To: My Friends Hien, Akash, Kevin, and August.