Here is an exerpt from an e-mail I sent my squaddies from Toronto when I returned from Mt. Tremblant Quebec.
So - skiing was an absolute BLAST. I'll do a write up
on it for the O'club because there were a few funny
incidents. The one that stands out for me was the
first time I strapped on skis in over 12 years on the
first day...Monday. (and keep in mind that I have
been skiing about 10 times in my entire life...mostly
as a small child). The condo we stayed at had
requested that the guests tell them their level of
skiing ability. My buddy told them intermediate. The
condo they gave us was about 80 feet from the trail
leading down to the chair lifts. All morning,since we
had gotten up that day, I had told my roomate that I
was really hoping that trail to the lifts was a gentle
slope and not outragiously difficult so that I could
at least get my "ski legs" before tackling the
mountain. Well, you can imagine what happened next.
My roomate, who skis regularly goes bombing off down
the trail, which was very flat to start with...leaving
me huffing and puffing trying to get going on the flat
part. I take the first sharp corner..only to face a
REALLY REALLY steep narrow hill that goes down a LONG
way and curves at the bottom. No exaggeration..this
slope was black diamond rated..and it was just the
condo path...and really really narrow. The first
slope was one of many I was to face as I could see the
trail curve and go down anopther steep hill in the
distance. I stood there for about 5 minutes trying to
get up the courage to go down...my efforts to that
point had only shown me that I was NOT ready to face
anything like what was in front of me...my tips had
been crossing and I didn't feel comfortable on the
skis...and my roomate was nowhere to be seen.
I had to do it...I could have taken off my skis and
walked, but honestly even that would have been deadly.
So..I went slowly, basically sliding sideways all the
way down. FINALLY I made it to where my buddy
was..absolutely exhausted and pissed off. I cursed
his family, his girlfriend, even his dog!! Then I
turned my cursing to the condo people and cursed the
day we had even thought about a condo on the hill. I
cursed silly French people who had tried to break my
legs on the first day. It took about ten minutes for
me to cool down emotionally and I was actually
sweating my bag off after the physical exursion of
struggling to get to the bottom of the slope. Anyone
watching my efforts trying to get down or my tirade
afterwards would have howled with laughter. Once I
calmed down my roomate looked up at me after staying
very quiet during the outburst and said "Okay..ready
now?" I said yes..and off we went.
So..we go up the chair lift which took us to a slope
that led to the gondola. On that slope I very quickly
regained my ski legs and by the time we reached the
gondola I was turning properly and had "remembered"
how to ski. We took the gondola up and as there was
only one "non" Black Diamond run from the summit we
just went for it. The only time we were off the Black
Diamonds were either by accident or when we were
trying to get to another run. My buddy did some off
trail stuff, but I wasn't quite ready for that..a
couple more days and I would have been able to
though..no sweat.
One of the most fun trips I have ever been on.
The workouts we got from skiing all day everyday for
four days was unreal...my legs are so sore it is quite
funny to watch me get up from sitting for a while now
that we have stopped. I really wish I could ski
more...I'd be in great shape in no time. Living on a
semi-tropical island makes that tough though.
So...that was a taste of my trip to Quebec...
I have discovered that "Mt. Tremblant" is a French translation of the Native Indian expression meaning "Tremble from the cold and the wind".
We experienced some seriously cold days...and one day of unbelieveable snow..started at about 7.30am and ended late that night...big fluffy flakes too. Fortunately my friend has some awesome equipment and we only took the gondola to the summit twice...it was just too damn hot on that thing! (and it was -27 degrees centigrade). The rest of the time we enjoyed the view from the chair lifts. When I put my equipment on the first day I really thought I was going to die from the cold...the stuff wasn't bulky at all and I only had three light layers on. But I could have gone to the North Pole with this stuff. I suffered more from heat than cold the whole time.
I am extremely jealous of Wlfgng, Puck and anyone else who lives in ski country. I would love to own a condo on a mountain in the future....and I just might, if the price is right.
