Less than 2.5 years ago, I had never skied before, so when when I expressed concern about rolling down the mountain and Brian replied, "That's what you have an ice axe for," I believed him.  "Really?!" I asked, my eyes wide.  "No, not really," he admitted, grinning.

I've now been skiing 13 times: twice during the 2005-06 season, four times last season, and seven times so far this season.  Given the exponential growth, it looks as though we might have a serious instability on our hands . . .

1. Bogus Basin, Boise (December 2005): After the bindings clicked into place on my second boot, I laughed.  "What?" asked Brian, who has skied since he was three years old.  "I have skis attached to my feet!" I exclaimed, amused at the vast increase in my contact with the ground.  He taught me how to wedge, then we headed for Coach, the beginner lift.

I was OK getting off the lift, but then Brian called from some distance away, "Come over here!"  I was dubious and, sure enough, picked up too much speed on the way over.  That was the first fall of only about a half dozen to a dozen that day (which I thought was pretty good, to be honest).

Within a run or two, I discovered that I hate wedging; I'm naturally somewhat duck-footed, so turning the tips of my skis in was not enjoyable.  So I switched to doing parallel turns, imitating Brian.  By the end of the day, I was fairly capable of doing Showcase (the blue square on which one showcases that one is no longer restricted to green circles).  Neighboring Alpine (also a blue square) was still rather hard, though, due to its concavity.  I started on one side (since that's where the cat track we'd been taking left us off), skied down into the U and up the other.  Then I stopped, "windmilled" around, and repeated.  Eventually I did try to make a turn closer to the bottom of the U . . . after which Brian helped me put my skis back on again.

My knees did get a bit sore (I think I was dragging my tails when turning), but no matter.  Skiing was great!

2. Mammoth (June 2006): Summer conditions, and my first time on a black diamond, as described previously.

After skiing twice, I was ready to get my own gear.  Fortunately, between eBay and being able to wear children's sizes, it was actually pretty affordable.

3. Mammoth (Super Bowl weekend 2007): Our first annual potluck ski trip.  Although we weren't able to get everyone on top of the mountain (in fact, none of us made it, since the gondola closed earlier than we thought), everyone seemed to have a good time.  Brian and I spent the morning teaching Christine and Neil, but got some higher level runs in at the end of the day.  And we even got Matthew home in time to watch the Super Bowl.

4. Baldy (23 February 2007):  There wasn't a whole lot of snow, but the one run down from the top seemed like it would be able to occupy us for awhile . . . until the lift broke as we were on our way up to it for only the second time.  They tried to restart it a couple times, but in the end had to hook up a back-up motor, with which they slowly got us up to the top.

This left only the little lift open, and hence not much to do . . . except learn to go off jumps.  I started on the small ones, with mixed results, but eventually worked my way up!  Brian said afterward that he was surprised that I was willing to go off the big jump.  I explained that that is how gymnastics works: you do drills until you know you're capable of doing the new skill, and then you go for it.

5. Mammoth (5 April 2007): "Last" ski trip of the season.  Many black diamonds were involved:

Our favorite was Dave's Run, which was probably a bit above my ability, judging by the number of times I tumbled partway down it.  But I got some consecutive turns completed in between!  I must have been feeling ambitious, since I also decided to try the large halfpipe.  I didn't actually get any air, but I did manage to go back and forth a few times before I crashed.  I put up with the resulting not-so-linear ski pole for about 10 months before John Paul was kind enough to bend it back for me.

When we were done, we spent an hour lounging in the Crab Cooker, a nearby outdoor hot tub fed by the area's natural hot springs.  'Twas a lovely way to end the day.

6. Mammoth (23 April 2007):

As reported afterward: "Remember the 'last ski trip of the season' that Brian and I went on a few weeks ago?  Well, Mammoth got a bunch of snow over the weekend, so it became the 'second last ski trip of the season.'  After potluck Sunday night, we went in to lab for awhile, got some work done, and then left around 3.  We got to Mammoth right before the lifts opened, skied all day, and drove home that night.  Lift tickets were $15 cheaper than they are during the winter, and we didn't have to pay for a hotel.  And I got to ski in powder for the first time ever!  It was really hard, but really fun."

My favorite part was when we were going down a run on the backside of the mountain, and I managed to  put a few good-looking turns together before my skis got stuck in the deep slow.  By then, I was going pretty fast, so I went heels over head a few times before I came to a stop.  I heard Brian exclaim, "That was AWESOME!"  But he wasn't talking about my successful turns.  He was talking about the way my ski flew 10 feet up into the air . . .