Back

Yep, I'm back from an absolutely awesome holiday at the slopes. It kinda sucks to be back in the real world, with all its stresses and worries and blahness. *sigh* I miss skiing. At least I'm not quite "back in the grind" (ie. at work), as I've taken Mon and Tues off. :)

Skiing was great! Though the snow was pretty mediocre on Fri and Sat at Perisher Blue (due to the huge rain event the Wed before last). Still, I got to ski some of my fave runs - such as Zalis and Excelerator (though the Ridge was patchy as.. the middle third being all brown snow and rocks showing through.. shockers). Mt Perisher & Sun Valley was in fairly good form though, which was great! And Olympic was open - probably the hardest run at Perisher. I did it not once but twice! I'm so proud of myself... heheh.. its pretty scary up the top as you're looking down these huge moguls on a 60/70 degree slope. I think the trick is to not stay up there too long (though the view is fantastic) looking at the run, or you'll end up getting too scared. As the Nike ad says, just do it! Anyway, I was glad to have "conquered my fear" up there. Tis a good feeling.

I also took a lesson on Fri afternoon.. I was the only one in my level 5 class, so it ended up being a private lesson, which was fantastic! It was great to just refresh and improve my parallel skiing technique (I hadn't done a lesson for like 5 years), I felt much more confident after the lesson, and my parallel turns definitely felt smoother.

Anyway, sorry for those who've never skied before and have no idea what I'm on about. Just needed to rant about it! You should definitely give skiing a go - you'll be hooked! :)

So on Sunday, conditions were very different - it basically dumped big time over Sat night and all Sunday. It was practically blizzard conditions up the top, visibility very limited. Someone would ski a few metres and then just disappear.... it was a complete white-out! We were actually at Thredbo on Sunday, but half the mountain was closed due to almost no visibility and wind. Still, we found some really nice fresh ungroomed powder along Ballroom and Dream Run (prob coz that way was closed, but you could still ski it down to Friday Flat). I took a few photos along the snowy tree-lined path of Dream Run - it was just beautiful. Skiing on fresh powder is pretty hard on the thighs.. you gotta keep moving and working hard to keep your skies from getting stuck. But, its awesome.. and so soft if you fall. Unfortunately with all that snow coming down, my ski suit and gloves were soaked by the end of the day with the snow melting through. :( On the last run of the day, I had to stop coz I couldn't feel my fingers at all - I was afraid I was gonna get frostbite or something.

I also made a few friends during the trip. I went only knowing 3 out of 29 people, and even then I wasn't close to them. Oh, and they were also all a bunch of honks. I felt a bit apprehensive when I arrived, coz they were ALL speaking in cantonese to each other. I mean, I understood probably about 95% of what they were saying, but still, I can't really speak canto very well. However, skiing tends to bond people together, and I made some good friends over the weekend. I rarely get to meet new people and make new friends anymore, since finishing uni, so I really valued the experience.

So, that was my weekend. And I'm not even that sore! Very happy about this one. Guess all that working out and going to dance classes paid off eh. :)

Current listening :: "Eyes On Me" - Faye Wong
'I kind of liked it your way
How you shyly placed your eyes on me
Did you ever know
That I had mine on you' ..... such a beautiful song... *sigh*