Ski Utah..

Ever since I chose Salt Lake City, UT for grad school, I have been hearing and reading about the 'Greatest snow on earth'. Half the license plates in the state proudly display this official state slogan below the words 'Ski Utah'. The winter recreational facilities at our 13 resorts are reputed to be among the best in the world. Along with the equipment manufacturers and other allied industries, they contribute almost $700 million to the US economy every year. The 2002 winter Olympics were held here and this is the only thing (if any) that people back in India knew when I said Salt Lake, Utah. In fact, the most common response I got was "What is that?" or "Oh you'll get nice food there :P" (fortunately or unfortunately, 'oota' in Kannada is 'meal', and most people called it 'Oo-ta' or worse 'Oo-thah' rather than 'You-tah'). But I digress. Back to what I was saying. Though I originally dismissed all this 'greatest' stuff as the usual American hype about all things American, I wanted to see for myself what it was like. And so I decided to go skiing! It was a truly amazing experience, thanks K! We went to the Brighton ski resort, a forty minute drive from SLC. The drive itself is beautiful and as you approach the resort, the beauty surrounding you is breathtaking. There are tall majestic mountains, small bubbling brooks and acres of spruces on all sides, everything covered in snow of course.

For a first timer like me, skiing is no walk in the park (ski resort :P). The equipment itself is complex, starting with the ski boots. These are heavy, uncomfortable plastic shoes that come up to your calves and have half a dozen clamps and fasteners all over the place. They are quite difficult to get into and practically impossible to walk normally with. These clamp into the actual skis by some clever mechanism that comes off when you fall but otherwise quite tricky to handle. And then you have the two poles that support you whenever you need. You then put on your jacket(s), head gear and gloves are are ready to go skiing! Well not really. Its not quite that simple. K made us first slide along on a single ski to get a feel for the surface. And then we had to learn how to walk perpendicular to the slope (because this is the only way you can walk without sliding away). Its hard! Believe it or not, the temperature was a few degrees below zero and there I was, sweating profusely; this really surprised me. After many minutes of this, we finally got onto both skis and started moving. That's when you really start to feel awesome. Its like you're gliding on air, there's absolutely no friction! You slide so easily and it feels great :) You only realize this is not such a great thing when you head the wrong way or want to stop :) That's probably the trickiest part of skiing, having to position your legs exactly the right way to reduce your speed and stop! I seemed to get the hang of this pretty quick and was eager to get up the slope.

To do this, you need to use the ski lift, which again is something not very easy for the uninitiated. The lift doesn't stop as you get on or off. You just hop on and go up. The drop, though not very large, was a little scary at first, as the mind imagines what would happen if you were to fall off!! At the other end, there is a small landing area where you have to hop off and immediately get your balance and get into the right position. This is where I had the first of my many falls! Anyway, we proceeded to head downhill and oh that was crazy! I kept veering off track and fell umpteen times, all in really awkward positions in two feet of powdery snow! Your legs are twisted and tangled in unbelievable ways and moving in any direction sends jabs of pain through one muscle or the other! You have to somehow get your hands to your feel and undo the ski clamps. Though it felt really nice to be in the snow, it is hell to retrieve your skis and pole and get back up in standing position. You don't realize how incredibly difficult it can be to just get up and stand until you've tried it on a ski slope! I tumbled and fell my way down the slope and eventually made it down. Second time over, it wasn't so bad though I still fell off the ski lift while getting off. As I did it again and again though, it got progressively better and the last few times, I didn't fall at all, either while getting off the lift or skiing downhill :)

By the end of it, my socks and gloves were wet. My hands and feet were starting to feel cold. My legs were aching all over. I didn't know if my nose and lips existed. But I felt great! I definitely want to do this more often and get better at it! Anyway, I shall stop now. I haven't had this much physical exertion in quite a while and am very very very tired. Its time to hit the sack!