Sugar sweet defeat

Saturday, February 11th, 2006

I have to admit, we really didn’t plan to stay in the US as long as we did, but one thing led to another and between taxes, website, blog writing and family events (two birthdays and a double bat mitzvah), we sort of got a bit stuck. Nevertheless, this didn’t stop us from having fun! Boris, Shurik’s brother in law, invited us to go skiing with him and his friends to North Carolina, and if anyone knows Shurik, it’s like asking a bear if he would like some honey, so of course we went. Sugar Mountain in North Carolina was pretty nice. The weather was just right — cold enough to ski, but not too cold to arrive at the end of the lift as a popsicle. We were supposed to ski for four days, but of course our newly acquired adventurous spirit could not let it end at that. Anna, our fourteen year old niece, got bored of skiing by the end of the second day and spent the third one snowboarding her butt off (literally) which looked like a lot of fun. And even though the next day she was saying every bone in her body was sore, and she could not move her neck, me and Shurik were determined to try it out.

Well, what can I say, it didn’t end well. Two runs down the bunny slope and Shurik was ready to try a green hill. “We don’t even know how to turn or stop without breaking the fall with our own bones,” I pleaded. “Neah,” Shurik replied, “the green slope is the same as the bunny hill, just a bit longer, and it has a lift”. Well, what could I say to that? We took the lift to the green hill, and to my surprise I didn’t break my neck getting off it! With new found confidence, we began sliding down taking turns to watch each other fall on the knees or butt. We almost went half way through the slope and Shurik was watching me go down a not particularly steep hill, when a beginner skier who I though would get out of my way by the time I reach her, stopped dead in her treks. Before I could think of anything to do, my board wrapped around the front of her legs, and I slammed my knees into the backs of her boots. Actually, this could have been not as bad as it turned out to be, if only consequently the woman skier would not have fallen on me throwing her skies up in the air and then landing their edges once again on my knee. Man, did that hurt. In broad day light I saw stars all around me. And just like that, my snowboarding experience for that day was over. No worries though, my knees didn’t break; however, walking using my left leg was not an option either. The rest of the slope I did on my butt, sitting on the board and braking with my hands. From there, Shurik gave me a piggyback ride to the cafeteria where I was spotted by a ski patrol dude who insisted I go to their First Aid cabin to dress the gash in my knee and fill out a report. Such is life. Although it is pretty pathetic of me to travel through South America for the past two month, climbing mountains, riding bikes, and sliding dunes, only to hurt myself on the easiest mountain I ever skied on.

Tags: health, skiing, us
Posted in Places»North America»USA | No Comments »