The season has come to a close for me (although I am getting pressure to ski closing day tomorrow) and it was a great year.
I started the season not able to make parallel turns, but got that taken care of in late December.
I was restricted to green runs early, but ended up the season on virtually all blue runs. The previously steep sections of the green runs were laughable at the end of the season when I think back how I had to make turns to limit my speed on the steep green pitches.
At the start of the season my quads would tire quickly due to backseat and defensive skiing and I would have to stop on long runs to rest. The last 2/3’s of the season I just enjoyed ripping runs from top to bottom and this allowed me to get in a lot more runs per day which equates to more fun.
I skied in a lot of varied conditions, and have no problem with crud which scared me senseless until January 6th when we skied in a 13” DUMP that really was a big learning day and allowed me to get over the hurdle of crud.
March saw my first left footed tail following the tips turns with any consistency, so that was possibly my most gratifying accomplishment of the year. I am still not able to do this every turn, but in conditions that allow it is getting pretty easy. I am still sliding my tails in icy conditions, so that will be a goal for next year to learn to carve in firmer snow. God knows I am heavy enough
One thing I know, I hate slushy slow snow. I am sure it is somewhat due to my feeling forward on my skis and the feeling of brakes when the skis hit slow snow. I will have to get over that in the future. I am not a person who likes the unknown in any aspect of my life, so inconsistent snow bothers me. As soon as I get that I tend to get defensive, which is counterintuitive to progressing in varied conditions
I did get my first (and hopefully ONLY sled ride on January 10th) which was the result of a very bad crash the led to an ER visit, crutches and braces. The crash was my fault, I was avoiding a slower skier on a steep for me blue run and got in the backseat. I learned from it for sure. It was far from my only fall, and I had some real beauties! I look back and they were all part of the learning curve, and yes I have a TON more to learn.
Kind of sadly, I did not get any late season videos as we were having too much fun to stop and do videos, it was just a constant top to bottom and repeat.
2018-2019 was a transformational year for me. I still have loads to learn, but isn’t that the fun?
