The great adventure of jon jon

The weekend of 27th to 28th of January was the best weekend yet so far. That is because we headed up to Ski Beech in North Carolina to ski. We were anticipating the fun that we would be having over there through the entire week. Come Friday, right after lessons, we went straight from school to the town called Johnson city in North Carolina to stay a night. Early morning the next day, we took an one hour drive up to the ski resort. Ski Beech is one of the many ski places in the US but it is less common to have such ski places in the south east. This is because the weather here is not as ideal for snowing. The experience of touching and playing with the snow is a first for me. We had a fun time playing with the snow even before skiing.

The resort was packed with people in for some fun time skiing and boarding. The wait for the equipment and gears took us a while but everyone didn't mind because we were occupied with snow fights that broke out from time to time.

After we were all geared up, we went up to the ski slope and give it a try. The journey up to the ski slope is a challenge in itself. This is because the ski boots are rigid around the ankle and it is hard to climb the stairs leading up to the slope. We had to walk like ducks as if we were having cast on our legs!

It was worth the trouble to get all suit up and walking the arduous journey up to the slope. Because after that there is only one way to go and that is down! It was a lot of falling and butt ache before we got a hang of the simple movements like stopping and turning. The technique of skiing has a lot to do with the ankle. The weight should be balance around the ankle and that is why the best posture is to have the knees bent. This way, the center of gravity is kept low and close to the ankle. This allows the skier to change direction by twisting the ankles. This makes it easier to manoeuvre. The snowboard is also a very challenging equipment to handle. It is like wakeboarding on ice. The board is controlled solely by the direction of the board to the direction of travel. To slow down, the board should be perpendicular to the direction of motion. At least that is the theory, we still had many hard falls before we could pass off as skiers and snowboarders! Check out the video!

We spent the entire day there up to the last minute before the resort closed for maintenance. Everybody left the place exhausted but yet we wanted more. The process of learning was really enjoyable as we were in it altogether and had a great laugh at each others spectacular stunts of falling. The day ended with more poses for pictures for remembrance sake.