SKIING DOWNHILL WITH GRADE FIVES ON MONT HABITANT

bunny hill

It was a series of ski days organized by the school phys. ed teacher, and it was the only one I was able to make. I scrambled last minute but found the time to buy a pair of much needed new parabolic skis and a used pair of poles to outfit my boots, helmet and googles the afternoon before the event. It was a raucous energetic bus ride to Mont Habitant, and only when we got there did I realize that I had left my helmet and its black cover in the back of the car with balaclava and googles! Luckily it was easy to rent a helmet, and with the sun, quite comfortable.

The kids in my daughter's group were taught by a man named Sergio. He had been a casualty of a GM factory closure, and moved near the hill at 50 to spend his weekends skiing and teaching, and he loved it! He was a really enthusiastic teacher, and it was fun to see them go down after him, zigzagging after him in a row. My control was not good enough to follow at anything but a generous distance, but I must have been bad enough, because Sergio even took the time to give me a few pointers!

Whenever I ski downhill, I think of a friend who tried so hard to help me point downhill. He would say, "Imagine your bellybutton is a camera, and keep it pointed downhill". I don't think I ever succeeded to his liking, but I do try and spend less time looking sideways and more downhill. Sergio felt the same way I think, but he did something helpful. He stole my poles! So I just let my skis point downhill and did my best to soften my knees and lean downhill in a way I had never done before. The poles kept me from committing to downhill like I needed to!

What a pleasure to spend the morning with my daughter and her classmates, hustling onto the ski lifts and slaloming down the hills in the sunshine.