Well, you need to sun if you are going to be snow blind...

I went skiing for the first time on Saturday. I have a friend who skates. His son has traditional cross country skis. I borrowed a classic set from a colleague, tossed the boy in the back seat and headed into the mountains with them. It was about an hour drive. It was also raining. I had some sunglasses with me to help keep my eyes right. I left them in the car. Not a lot of snow blindness to be had in a steady drizzle.

We rented skis for the boy. A whopping €7. Trail fees were€5. Nice.

Vojta and his boy clipped in and took off. A and I had to fumble around with getting him clipped in (he had different bindings than I did). Then we scooted off. We did ok for the first 100 meters or so. Then we had to cross the bottom of a ski slope. I found my self sliding sideways down the slope. I got that fixed. Barely. Aiden lost it on the far side of the slope. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to get my skis around him and stay upright while lifting him onto his feet. We got across the slope next to that one, and we were golden. From there on, it was groomed cross country track. And downhill for a couple of kilometers. At the bottom we turned around. About 200 meters from the turn around, A decided he was done. That carried on for the next kilometers and involved me carrying his poles for a while and him walking and carrying his skis. That part only lasted about 15 feet. He put the skis back on at that point, and starting "jogging" like he should have been doing and did great. 800 meters from the end of the trial, he took his poles back (after being scolded for being surley and not listening to advice) and put it all together. He did great.

The verdict this morning was "...half boring, half ok. I want to try it again, but I want to ride those things instead." That would translate to, it was ok, but I want to try skiing downhill next time and then riding the lifts uphill.