Skiing (minus 6C)

I think it was about -6C yesterday when I ventured out for my first day's skiing of the season. I was pretty apprehensive about making the first turns on new skis. I didn't feel very confident walking past the 'no beginners' sign at the bottom of the stagecoach lift and chatted nervously to the snowboarder I shared the first chair with. I figured I should make his aquaintance in case I took him out on leaving the lift!

In the end, a couple of turns and I felt ok. The snow is pleasantly squeeky and the advice from Kevin and Dave from The Sporting Rage outdoor store in Carson City was excellent. The Olympic chair certainly quiet and the run is excellent and potentially extremely fast.

I'm trying to remember how to ski but seem to have some of the basics down, like trying to make sure my body points down the slope and keeping my hands out in front and my knees deeply bent. It feels like quite an aggressive position at times, which is fun, though I'm sure lacks grace and competence. My legs felt good but I quickly realised, from the feeling in my right quad, that I am again favouring my right leg. Must work on that.

The unusually cold temperatures here have caused a little problem this weekend. The pipes to our 8 block condo have all frozen so I've had no water since friday night. Apparently if this sort of thing happens again we have to leave a tap (fawcett) running to ensure the pipes don't freeze. Fortunately the homeowners association has a hot tub and showers so I managed to plod over there last night for a shower - I wasn't feeling socialable enough for the hot tub and forgot my trunks and requiste stack of beer.

More skiing tomorrow. It's a huge mountain and I've only explored a tiny corner so far. I think I'll shoot for Skyline tomorrow after I get my legs warmed up. Who knows, perhaps a black run.