Skiing trip

As the car was jumping through the rickety roads leading to Wild mountain, all I could see through the foggy windows were snow, snow and more snow. 6 months earlier, none of the ten of us had even seen snow, but this day we were all en route our first skiing trip organised by the Minnesota International Student Association. Feb 19th is a day etched in the snows of time..

With snow pants, one really heavy boots, ski, gloves , jacket and a cap, I was all set for the excitement.
"Now.. lets see if you can put your skis on and off. Yes... Now you try... ".
Ugh.... Just let me go... I'm all decked up and can't bother to hear these prosaic beginner's instructions.. I'm no 10-year-old !!!

The day proved me wrong..
There are so many things you should do right for you to be a good skier - Be able to walk on a slope up with your skis on, Hold the rope the pulls you up the bunny hill (for beginners), Get off the rope without bumping on to the person holding on to the rope behind you, Setting the right direction to ski down, Braking at the right moment, Getting on the ski lift, Getting off the ski lift, Controlling the speed and turning in the intermediate slopes.

But, There is just one thing that could go wrong.. you fall
Until you ski (or probably see ME skiing) you will never realise that there are so many ways to fall.. Apart from the simple fall there are some special varieties easily categorised by those last minute memories before falling...
"First fall... "
"I'm falling.. I'm falling.. I can't help I'm falling... "
"Can't these skis stop touching each other"
"Hey you... get out of my way... Noooooo... "
"I brake or I fall.. one of them should stop me"
"Right side or left side"
"Not again....... "
"This rope is cast against me"
"The skis better come off.. I have to anyway remove them to get up"
"I'm no good.. I deserve to fall"
"C'mon.. this ski lift can't just dump me like that"
"Let me act like I'm liking it"
"Ok.. I'm doing great.. I'm doing great... ugh.. not really.. THUD"
"Green ?? I thought this fence was black"
"Fall now or end up in the parking lot"
"Dei.. look I'm actually skiing good..... aaah... "
"If I fall here that 10 year old standing 20 feet away would help me get up"
"This time I'm not going to fall"
"Let me try not to fall next time.. "

This, of course, was not the state with people around me. There were a bunch of kids zooming past me in their skis or snow boards often giving me a helping hand to get up. Few of my friends were also skiing like pros suggesting many techniques which helped me realise different ways to fall.

Beyond all this.. after 2.5 hours... When I finally went up the rope holding it in one hand and skied down waving to my friends and slided to a halt exactly where I wanted.. the effort was seriously worth it.
The chill that runs down the spine when you ski down , the cold air striking you on the face, the elegance of braking that makes a pattern in the snow were all worth the effort.

Inspite of the physical exhaustion, cold and aching body, given a chance I would be there again and maybe then I wouldn't fall so much...