I was 27 when I first discovered snow skiing. I always said it was a good thing I didn’t discover it when I was 18. I’d probably still be a ski bum! I loved being in the mountains, breathing the crisp wintertime air and being the first person to leave tracks in the fresh powdery snow.
I took a couple of lessons but what made me excel at skiing was joining a single’s ski club. They had races in the league (USRSA) and they encouraged me to join the race team. Following others down the slopes slalom racing improved my skills faster than anything else I could have done.
The second race I won a third place in the beginners and by the end of the first season I had three medals. The next season I moved up a class and was skiing intermediate by the third year. I even won a first place medal that year.
That was the year my girlfriend and I decided to go on a two week ski trip withe the USRSA group. For two weeks we could fly from Los Angeles to Paris, take a bus to Vald’Isère, ski Tignes, Montreux, Chamonix and Mount Blanc where the Matterhorn is. You couldn’t ask for a better trip! And all for under $2,000, even in 1987 dollars!