Skiing is Elementary

Last week my 5th grade class was given the opportunity to go skiing to Snowbasin.  Weber School District received a PE grant that bought every school a bunch of PE equipment, and it also allowed the 5th grade to go skiing and the 6th grade to go golfing throughout the district.  So we were going skiing.  The kids were all very excited, but I was not looking forward to it again.  You see, last year we went, and even though I remember having a good time, I had a somewhat scary experience.  You see, I was taking my third trip down "Little Cat" (that's the bunny hill for all of you who don't know).  I had made it down twice before without any major problems, but as I started picking up speed, I found that I wasn't slowing down even though I was "snowplowing" as hard as I could. Obviously, I wasn't doing it properly because it wasn't working.  As I went careening down the hill, I noticed all the lovely people who were waiting in line for the gondola at the bottom of the hill, and I was about to crash into the whole group if I didn't stop NOW!  My mind was going 100 mph trying to decide what in the heck I was going to do.  Finally I came to the conclusion that there was nothing else I could do except fall.  So that's what I did.  I fell to my side and finally came to a stop in front of the whole group.  All I could do was laugh.  All those lovely people just looked at me like I was some kind of idiot.  Obviously I was just a beginner and not worth worrying about, I didn't even hear anyone say anything like "Are you alright?" So anyway, I got up and found the rest of my group.  It was lunch time and our lunch was being served in the ski school, because it was starting to snow a little.  We had to take off our equipment to eat lunch.  Needless to say I never put it back on.  Peper Leigh Dickemore (my friend and fellow teacher) decided to take the gondola to the top instead of facing the ski lift one more time...The same ski lift that we never did successfully exit without falling that day.  I do remember having a lot of fun that day and I still laugh about our adventure, but I did NOT want to go again this year.  I think that the incident had increased in its severity as I thought about it through the year.  The more I thought about it, the more I didn't want to go.
I thought I was going to get out of skiing this year, because while the school district would pay for the teachers' passes, they wouldn't pay for our ski rentals, and none of us were going to ski if we had to pay, but fortunately or not, Mrs. Rassmussen, our principle, was kind enough to pay for our rentals.  So there was no backing out now.  We went.  I put my skis on and we headed up the hill.  This time we had an instructor with us on the ski lift, and he was very helpful about what we should do to get off the ski lift this time, and we were successful. I was already feeling a little more confident. The first time down, I took my time and just went really really slow all the way down, and I did it.  I made it to the bottom without falling even once.  (I guess all of that balance board work on the Wii came in handy).  The hard part was over.  I went down several more times throughout the day. It got easier and easier each time.  The instructor even helped me get the idea about turning to a stop.  I had always got my skis crossed when I tried to turn before, but he told me to point my "little" toe in the direction I wanted to go.  It sounds stupid, but it worked.  I was getting pretty good by the time we had to leave.  I never fell even once.  Someone even crashed into me, we won't name any names :), but I didn't fall even then.  I had a great experience, and I'm excited to go again next year.   I know the kids had a lot of fun too.  For many of the kids in my class this will be the only chance they ever get to go skiing, because it is a rather expensive sport.  What a great adventure!
I have pictures of my class (none of them are of me), but if you would like to see them, I will direct you to my school blog, "Sorenson Sillies" on the sidebar.  It will take you to my school blog's main page, then click on the "Physical Education" link on that sidebar.  It will lead you to the slideshow I put together.  Enjoy.