After about 8 times of learning and practicing with a professional coach and some assistant coaches, I can ski quite at ease now. Of course, it will take 10 years to ski really very well…???
Accidents are normal in all the sports we do. In Ski, we fall down, on our butts, on the sides, on the face, on the back, and face up and head down the slope, all kinds of ways of falls, you can just go on and on…but one kind of accident we are seldom aware is not because of us, it is because of others who are behind! You have no idea and for sure no fear till you are seriously hurt or never feel nothing if you are dead because of the accident…
I am a no shit woman, falls? nah, no big deal, get up and continue! A few times, my falls were quite hilarious! First one was not really a fall, it was a volunteer sitting down because the steep slope really got on my nerves and I had to sit down on the slope to prevent the real one! Ayoyo, being a chicken a few times, yet that was a way to prevent accident and danger.
I keep telling my family and friends that it is great fun to ski, much more fun than to skate. There is speed, slope, situations that challenge us, and it doesn’t hurt even though we fall on the puffy gentle snow. It is really a perfect sport that a person could ever dream of…I had no idea it could be dangerous till I was body flat on the end of the slope with a big man on top of my back…
Obviously, I didn’t fall down myself! I just knew that I was on the snow long, 2, 4, maybe 6 minutes without the ability to move…my face was covered with snow, hair came out from the cap and mixed with snow; tears were running down the right side of my face, steams from my gasping mouth were misting my face and frozen up with the temperature…My skis were off my feet and poles were under my body… I had even no chance to say AOW, AOW…just hearing Yvette calling with her special swiss french: “Ca va, toi? Hai Bo? Olala, Mmmm, Olala…” The man who dived onto me from behind with his ski board was trying to get me up, but I chose to stay longer on the snow trying to feel if my organs were still there and bones were still well assembled…
Yvette went down the slope and got the Ski Patrol up with a rescue sled. What were they going to do with me? Whatever would be a brand new experience for me who had never a bone broken, nor had anybody’s special attention! There I go, me, a complete victim, a vulnerable strong woman now incapable of anything, was wondering how my life had gone in control of others and how I became so tame in front of these 2 red coated sexy Canadian Ski Patrolmen…That was a very good feeling when once a while becoming a needy, being taking care of and looked after in such a great details…a feeling that I before never had…
They put a neck brace to hold my head, even though it seemed not necessary! They stood up the sled against my back and bound it with my body. Then they held me down on the sled and covered me up with blankets and pads. Buckled up like that was funny and I felt like a mummy alive! I had my hands in gloves held up in front of my chest like a boxer, but unfortunately a boxer down and out with probably hidden bruises and broken bones! Before they started hauling me down the slope, they asked me all sorts of questions for medical reasons, including my age. Then the older gentleman said to me in French accented English and English accented French: ” we are going to slide you out down, ma cherre charmante jeune dame…”, “and let me disappear in the woods…?” I replied with some hehe…knowing that he was joking. We had fun…
The older man was in the front leading the sled and the younger at the rear making sure that the upper end of the sled didn’t slide down when breaking. My head was towards the downhill and that was hell of a feeling…but they went gently down. But the weirdo thing was to look at the beautiful sky head down with 45 degree body angle, hearing the slushy sound made by the sled, the younger man at the rear position sliding in and out of my limited view…That was a precious moment, a moment of purity, sincerity and simplicity, a moment of after-drama release, a moment when I felt like an injured swan floating on a lake lead by 2 princes who were going to espouse me in their dreamily wonderful palace…
I said there was nothing serious about the unknown injuries, but I was feeling pain in the chest and head when the sled passed over the bigger bumps..I cried AOW a few times…
Danger is a true one when we are not aware of it. Becoming less ignorant or becoming more knowledgeable is an important way to reduce danger in life. To learn to listen when skiing or doing anything else which invloves danger such as driving is one very important skill in keeping safe. Of course, we sometimes get hurt by pure chance, for which we can only say hard luck! My wipe out was half because of bad luck and half of newbie skier. Nontheless, I got wonderful people around me, my boyfriend, his parents and the 2 great ski patrolmen who turned magically my bad luck and the behind-danger into a wonderful experience ever!
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