Fall down, go boom.

I went skiing this past Sunday with my brother, my niece, and my coworker, Emily.  We decided to go to Appalachian Ski Mountain in Blowing Rock, NC.  We chose AppSki because it's close to us, it's cheaper, and to me, it's comforting.   When I was a student at ASU, I took the ski class offered by the University through AppSki Mountain.  I have to say, it was one of the best choices I've made.  It was only five classes, and it cost $100 extra, but it was worth it.  Learning to ski was a great triumph for me, as I am a)clumsy and b)lazy.

The point is, I was supposed to have a great time on Sunday with my family and friend, but then I had to go and be cheap.  I hate the fact that you have to rent skis and boots on top of paying for a lift ticket.  So when another coworker offered to loan me her skis, I took her up on it.  Bad mistake.  See, I tried on the boots at her house, but didn't bother with buckling them.  Turns out, when I put them on Sunday, they wouldn't buckle. Would. Not. Buckle.  They were still semi-tight, so I skied with them anyways.  About 2 hours in I was ready to die from the pain of having non-buckled skis.  So, at lunchtime I went and rented boots (only $5.00, whee).

Now, in a normal person's life, this one little fix would have worked, and their day would have returned to normal.  But have you met me???  Shit doesn't work for me.

With my fancy rental boots and my borrowed skis, I went back up to the big mountain for a good, long run.  About 1/4 of the way down, my skis pop off and I fall.  I put them back on and they immediately pop off again.  And again.  Turns out the boots are smaller than the ones I was wearing earlier.  So, I picked up my skis and walked ALLLLL the way back down the mountain.  Here's where you say, "well I'm sure you could just get them adjusted in the lodge".  Sure, in a normal person's life.

All of the cute little ski lodge boys tried to adjust the ski bindings.  Turns out, they are a brand most used out west (where my coworker bought them) and they can not adjust them.  So, cute ski lodge boy is generous enough to give me some rental skis.  He grabs some that are the same length as the ones I already had.

Again, this right here would fix it for normal people.

The skis I had borrowed from my friend were extra-long skis.  I hadn't noticed before because the boots I had borrowed were longer, and then the rental boots didn't work at all.  Turns out, extra-long skis are for people who are advanced and want to go faster.  Not for people like me, who prefer to glide slowly, back and forth.

In the end, I have realized, it would do me good to stop being a cheap asshole.  Next time, I'm just going to rent it all up front. Dammit.

Overall it was still a good time, and a helluva work out.

Here are Emily and I on top of a ski hill:

Can you tell which one is me?