Based on the picture to the right, you had to believe there were more than a few parents pulling their kids aside as Carhartt rider with the el gringo facemask was coming through! I am happy to report my ski experience at Mt. Brighton yesterday was much more pleasing than my previous two times on the downhill ski slopes.
It's 1976 and I was a tough 3rd grader (ha). The elementary school had a deal for discounted skiing, including lessons, up at Alpine Valley. With that, my brother and I gave it a try. So there we are in the tow rope line with no idea on the process of said tow rope. Or maybe they told us the process and I wasn't listening, which is no surprise. Anyway, my brother is in front of me in line and I grab that rope for all she had and.....wam!!!! Right into my brother and down we fell. The two King Dons in my pocket were toast. A great start to the ski world. After freezing my rear end off while watching the first lesson, I walked away from the sport for roughly two decades.
Experience number two takes us to Harbor Springs at Boyne Highlands. It's 1990-something. Rob and Katie C.'s relatives had a place up there so Doke and I hitched onto that wagon. There was some freezing rain/sleet/snow the day before so the slopes were close to a sheet of ice. Rather than taking baby steps and starting with the bunny/easy hill like I should have, I jumped on the intermediate hill and fell quite a few times. The first time I made it down without falling wasn't the prettiest of scenes. I was a runaway train you could say. I get down the hill and this ranger approaches me advising that if I ski like that again, they'll have to ask me to leave. I was trying to tell him that it wasn't intentional but he wouldn't have any of it. I took the chair lift to the top and watched the football game in the lodge for the duration of that day.
(queue to present day)
So now you know my apprehension when the offer to go skiing was presented. Jim advised he was giving mono-ski lessons up at Mt. Brighton so off I went. Based on the above-mentioned experiences, I utilized the lessons learned and started on the tow rope/easy hills, went down a few times and found my bearings. With no falls to report as of yet, it was time to take it up a notch to the chair lift hills. Not the advanced ones, just somewhere in between. My only fall of the day was getting off the chair lift my first time. I just didn't nail the landing on that one. So down the hill I went, looking like some ax murderer but feeling like I'm in a Dittrich Fur commercial. A great time it was.
Trail Head
