Skiing with Florence and me

A few years back there was a movie titled "Florence Foster Jenkins." The subject of the film was a New York socialite from the 1920s up to her death in 1944. She was a patron of the arts who was herself an amateur soprano. Florence fancied herself an opera singer and she occasionally performed for friends and even gave private recitals. However, Florence Foster Jenkins couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. She had many friends in the music world who actually were talented musicians, but no one told her she was terrible because so many of them were dependent upon her patronage. Eventually, after a public performance that received honest and terrible reviews, she came to realize the truth, resulting in this famous quote from her: "People may say I can't sing, but no one can ever say that I didn't sing." It was a great movie starring Meryl Streep in the title role and an inspiration for people trying to do something they enjoy without being afraid of failure.

Replace the word "sing" with "ski" and it pretty much sums up my recent experience learning to ski in Montana this past week.

I went out to visit my sister who lives near Helena, MT. She and her family all ski and it's something I've wanted to try. I'm not sure how many people take up skiing at age 65, and I should have done it sooner, but I've been busy. Skiing isn't just a winter sport, it's part of the culture of Montana. It's actually one of the better parts of the culture of Montana. There's also casinos, weed, and trumpers, to name just a few. I got a lesson on the first day and that was very helpful, but it's one of those things you just have to keep doing until you can. Falling isn't hard, getting up is hard. But it is fun once you develop enough skill that's it's not just terrifying. We did lots of other things with family and friends during the week as well and I had a really good time.

Would I do it again? Oh yes, but I'd really like to do it on hills rather than a mountain. However, they don't seem to build ski slopes like that. Did I learn? I learned what I need to do to get better. It wasn't pretty and I was exhausted at the end of each day that I skied, but I did it. And I'm confident that I'll be better the next time, whenever it may be.

This is Lone Peak, over 11,000 feet in elevation, the center piece of the ski world at Big Sky, Montana. There are actually ski runs on the steep face of that mountain, which just seems absurd. I didn't go anywhere near there.

This is me at my ski lesson, my instructor, Dave, is in front. This was actually at a different ski resort called Great Divide. Notice that I have no ski poles, they aren't for beginners. Apparently they are a "crutch."

This is me, second from the bottom, being pulled up the small beginners hill.

 And this is me coming down the hill, weaving around the cones, at the conclusion of my lesson.

A resident Bernese Mountain Dog in the bar after my lesson. He was hustling french frys.

The long blue tube encloses a conveyor belt (the magic carpet) that you stand on to be transported up the hill at Big Sky. The magic carpet is just for the beginners' slope, there is a network of ski lifts that conveys skiers all over the 5,800 acres of the resort.

This is me emerging from the magic carpet for the first time. The guy on the left was operating it. He was very friendly and encouraging to beginners. Good customer relations skills. I have to assume he was stoned.

I made many trips up the hill on this the first day and then skied back down to the beginning. I learned that my left leg is stronger and much more confident than my right. Consequently, making left turns was much more difficult for me. Also, the walking that you have to do to move about on skis is much more difficult that you'd think. I got overheated and exhausted after a while and had to take a break.

This is the second magic carpet, it had two tracks and takes you further up the hill. However, I found the slope of the hill was easier at the top of this one.

This is the umbrella bar, an outdoor but enclosed space that provided water and sold drinks. It was a welcome respite but I did go back for a couple more runs after I cooled off and rested up for a while.

People leave their skis on these outdoor racks, and leave their non-ski gear in open, unsecured "lockers" and no one steals them. 

It clouded up and began to snow in the afternoon.

I took that as a sign that it was time to quit and retired to the bar, but many people continued to ski even in very low visibility conditions.

The second day was a snow day on the mountain so we didn't sky and instead walked around the village. This is a brewery, of course, with a nice mastiff customer.

This is my sister Paula and I in the village.

There was a few inches of fresh snow on everything the next day.

My sister took me up on one of the ski lifts the next day. It was still a beginner level slope but it was much longer and seemed much steeper than the one I had been practicing on. But the views were better too.

My sister skied behind me to so she could show up if (when) I fell. I made a couple runs down this long hill before calling it a day. I had finally learned to be able to turn when I needed to, but the effort you have to put out to slow yourself down to a reasonable speed wore me out. 

This is a picture of a dog in the seat in front of me on the trip home. That's it for my first experience on skis. It may seem odd, but I thought of Florence Foster Jenkins often during the week and took inspiration from her. People may say I can't ski, but no one can ever say that I didn't ski.