Today was the start of Sundance Ladies Day and I can’t say enough about what an amazing day it was! The snow is SO much better than last year and skiing on snow instead of ice is really amazing.
But, I get ahead of myself. I checked my kids out of school and we headed up the mountain. Living 20 minutes from Sundance is really a blessing. When we got there, we found that my neighbor had come up for her very first time on skis in her life! We had not expected to see her there, but it was fabulous that she is starting–and can I tell you–she did way better than moi on my first day. I did not get off the bunny hill and she made it to the first stop (and down safely)!
The excitement continued to build as we headed for Ski School. My kids went to meet their teachers and I greeted my friends Cody and Linda Hale and saw a few familiar faces from last season. But, I did not see Lindsay, our co-host, who was supposed to be at the class and learning to ski for the first time (she snowboards so I was hoping she would be in the same group as me).
We took the lift up to the first stop so the instructors could see our skiing levels and divide us into groups by abilities and desires. Of course, I knew I would be in the beginning group (not the new skier group, but one step up). I did not embarrass myself, but I could see that the other ladies were much better than me. But that is OK because this is my second season!
I was so excited to find out that Linda Hale would be my instructor for Ladies Day. We were joined by Rachel, a mom from Australia who had not skied in 10 years and wanted to get her technique better. We started our class by discussing what our goals were for the season and where we feel we were at. I wanted to get myself out of the wedge and into parallel skiing with more ease.
Linda is an Amazing instructor (as they all are) and she quickly knew what skill drills we needed to start with. At first, it was a bit difficult, but soon all those skills I tried to learn last year came back to me and they were actually working on REAL snow.
I can’t say enough about the day. It really was my best skiing day EVER so far. I started out hoping that by the end of the 4 weeks, I would be parallel skiing to actually being able to parallel ski on the first day! Working with other women is fabulous because we all support each other. I could see what Rachel was doing that I had done previously and I could quickly give her a pointer that I had learned. She could help me and was patient when I was having issues. Of course working with Linda made it so easy too because she knows how to teach other women to ski. Like she told me 6 years ago–she has never lost a student!
Closer to the end of the day, we found Lindsay and my friend skiing with their instructor. Since Lindsay had snowboarded before, she was more comfortable with skiing and she joined us in our beginner class. It was so much fun to ski with her. Something about skiing together with other women makes skiing more fun and easier to learn–I am not sure why but it is better than a 1 on 1 lesson by far.
I was able to see my kids enjoying themselves and I even saw Alex skiing backwards! He really rocked the mountain! The kids had a fabulous day and loved everything. Their instructors were both fabulous and I am excited to get them up on the mountain again!
LOVED LOVED LOVED everything about today’s Ladies Day! It feels so good to conqueror the mountain! I promise to post a video next week. I was so nervous that I forgot. But I did get a picture! Check our smiles out!
For more information on my experience this year and last, check out my Sundance Ladies Day page.