Reverse Snowplow

I didn’t ski today.   My best friend has what is most likely a torn calf muscle.  She and I stayed back with one of her four children who hadn’t been feeling well while the five men and five children went to Solitude to ski.

Our children coincidentally had lessons together based on skill levels.   My daughter had an instructor who worked with her specifically with expertise in visual impairment.   They worked for half the day and then my husband picked her up for lunch with the guys.     Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Eleanor had signed me up for some hot yoga pilates class that I went to with a minimum of grumbling.

I’ve never done “hot yoga” before.   It is indeed hot.   But it wasn’t too taxing physically.   The most challenging part was trying to keep up with the instructor as she shouted out named yoga positions in rapid succession that neither of us knew.   We caught up eventually and left after an hour a pound lighter due to water weight loss I would venture to guess.

Back on the mountain my husband caught up with my son and videoed him going down the mountain.   He was doing well and seemed to be enjoying himself.   My husband went off to find my daughter at the end of her session and after saying farewell to the instructor, he asked my daughter if she wanted to ski with him?

Yes, she did, but she wanted to take the ski lift up—the bigger one—because she had been doing the small ski lift on the bunny slopes all day.    And up they went on the Moonbeam lift.    The top drop-off was blue and green trails down, but the overall experience was a much bigger one for my daughter.   And my daughter was handling it very well for the first half.  

Then, suddenly, there was a much steeper and faster section of the course that was even faster given that the day was almost over.   My husband had to ski backwards doing a reverse snowplow for about four-hundred yards, holding my daughter back.    While my husband’s legs burned, my daughter sang to him, nonplussed by the whole experience.  

When they were at the bottom she said to my husband, “without daddy I wouldn’t survive”.

The Big Boy Update:  My son loved skiing, but he seems to hit an endurance wall at which point he isn’t willing to push on.   This happened twice today and once on Sunday.   The instructor said today after a break and some hot chocolate he was ready to go again just like he wasn’t tired.    But at the end of the day he had tapped out his endurance again and was ready to go home, falling asleep in the car.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter’s instructor said she did very well all day long.   He said he liked how she sang to him all sorts of songs all day long.