“Are you serious? I cannot ski down this. “Maybe I will ski down the other side, which looks a little better”, I say to Heather who is in front of me.
Heather calls back “Do you remember the people you got killed skiing here last year that is where they went? So you better come down this way.”
“Oh great” I said. "Well I do want to make it down this mountain alive" I said to myself. Therefore, I continued to follow her.
Heather and I have been friends since were little. We grew up in Halifax and skied together at Wentworth, Sugarloaf and Sunday River as teenagers. Ski trails on the East Coast are steep, groomed and at times icy. However, skiing at Kicking Horse in British Columbia is not like any other mountain.
Skiers come from all over to ski this mountain. When you reach the top, some skiers take off their skis and continue to hike up the mountain, so they can ski the untouched powder. Skis are placed over their shoulders and poles in hand, they start to climb. I think to myself, they are crazy and there is no way that I am going to get into that position.
However, here I am after following my friend and traversing over the edge of the mountain, thinking I could trust her because she had been here before. Boy was I wrong. I am now stuck on the edge, thinking what am I going to do now?
I hear my name being called in the distance. I am suddenly brought come back to reality. “Emily, just start turning you can do this.”
“Ya right.” There is a tree stump in front of me.” I call back.
“Once you get past the stump, you will fine” Heather calls.
Oh my god, I cannot believe I got myself into this mess. After a few seconds I start to get myself back together. Alright, you can do this you have been skiing since you were little, just get past the stump.
Ok hear I go. Shutting my eyes for a brief second I push off. I start my first turn around the stump. I no longer can see my skis they are covered in snow, turning once more and I come to a stop. To my relief, I have passed the stump, I have made it.
I hear Heather calling, “Don’t stop, keep going or you will get stuck.” At first I did not know what she meant, how could I get stuck? However, all of a sudden I realize that my skis are buried. The fresh powder has covered my skis and I no longer can see then. They are hard to move, which is going to make it harder to start skiing again.
“Oh great, now what?” I call.
“Just keep going and do not stop” Heather calls.
I take a deep breath, try to lift each ski and shake off the snow. I continue to ski down the cliff. I turn, snow is racing past me and I continue to make short sharp turns. Snow is covering my skis and it is hard skiing, but I am making progress. I am getting closer to the bottom and Heather greets me, with a smile on her face and says “that was not so bad, was it”?
“Ya right” I say with a laugh. However, I have made it down in one piece and I feel as though I have accomplished something. I was able pushed away my fear and focus on attacking the mountain and ski down safely.
After about a 5 minute break, I am ready for some more skiing. Skiing gives me a thrill; this is why I am here to experience skiing in the west. Even if Heather leads me to parts of the mountain that I am not a huge fan of, I can take this experience and know that I can actually ski some of the more challenging hills and survive. As Heather would say "you have never really skied until you have tried the Rockies".
