Skiing at Naples, New York.

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After having experienced the cruel winter of New York and seeing snow almost everyday for so many weeks, it only made sense for me to experience it a bit more, by going for a ski trip. I had been having a crazy schedule for a long time and this trip was going to be a good break. The place was the hollow Hunt Hollow Ski Club at Naples, NY.

We left the university by bus. There was snow on the way, a lot of it and all the trees except the pine trees had shed their leaves. A little more than an hour later when I started to see mountains at a distance; I knew that we were getting close to our ski resort.

Once we were there, we signed in and rented our skis and snow shoes.

What I didn't know before was that skiing involves a lot of technique. People make it look easy in the movies; but there's got to be a whole lot of practice that goes into reaching that level of expertise.

We had food and drinks and got ready to take our lessons.

Everything, from staying upright on the snow, to braking while your speed goes out of control, to turning and changing direction while you come down, had a technique to it. You feel like a child who's learning to walk for the first time.

It wasn't easy. There were several times when I fell. One time I bumped into someone and another time someone bumped into me. But after around an hour and a half, I began to get a feel of it.

With an increase in my confidence, I went uphill and once I had covered some distance, I looked down and started to ski. I did pretty well. The next time I tried it, I tried to change my direction while coming down. I continued this for a while, until it started to feel easy.

Since I didn't fall while doing this, my confidence got a boost. I then took the rope-way and reached the top of the mountain. The slope was steep.

When I started to ski down I picked up a tremendous amount of speed in a matter of seconds. I tried to brake, but lost my balance while doing so and fell down. I had to detach my shoes from the skis in order to get up. Putting the shoes back into the ski after getting up was a challenge; I kept losing balance and slipped several times. It was already cold, at minus 10 degrees celcius; but all of a sudden a wind started to blow, making things worse for me.

Seeing me struggle, an instructor came to my help. He gave me a few tips and suggested that I slide sideways. I did, but I didn't have much control and after a few seconds I was back to skiing straight downhill. It was good and speedy but it ended with me taking another fall.

I rested for a while and went up again. This time there were fewer mishaps and I enjoyed my ride.

Later in the evening we had barbecue and drinks on the house. I also interacted with some members and instructors of the ski club, by the firelight. An hour later, it was time to head back.

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