Learning to ski
I spent the weekend on the slopes at Snow Summit learning how to ski. I’ve been wanting to do this for the longest time but finally took the plunge along with a friend. We stayed at a Big Bear Hostel mainly to save money, but it’s always an interesting experience when staying at hostel. This time proved no different. The owner turns out to have gone to high school in the town adjacent to my hometown. As if that wasn’t coincidental enough, I asked him where I could buy a beanie since I forgot mine and it turns out he has a side business of importing Nepalese handmade goods. I picked out a hat from his online catalog and he went to find the yak wool beanie from the school bus that was apparently his store room.
Since we arrived on a Friday night, the other guests were already buzzed/drunk. They decided to have a group birthday celebration for anyone who had a winter b-day. Since mine was in Feb they asked what kind of cake I liked. I said German chocolate and thought that would be the end of it. Apparently they went out to Vons after that and bought a carrot cake, a German chocolate cake, Angel food cake, ice cream, and candles. Since they bought the cake, I felt obligated to partake in this alcohol induced bday celebration in all of its randomness. Add to this the stoned Brazilians who had come this winter to work at the ski resort and lived at the hostel in exchange for cleaning and the experience was complete.
The other cool part of the trip was just partaking and observing ski/snowboarding culture. Probably 90% of the people were snowboarding since its the cool thing to do this decade. All the skiers were older. All the people aside from my friend and me were female in the ski classes. I don’t know what all of this means but I have a feeling that skiing is very uncool these days. I chose to ski since it seems to be the more practical of the two. I figure I’d do the snowboarding thing next year. In general people were quite respectful despite the crowded slopes and lodges. It seemed very ritualistic like everybody knew exactly what to do. Everybody changing by their cars in the parking lot in the morning, lift lines with three lines merging without issue, and people un/gracefully weaving around each other on their way down the slope. It was a world away from the intense daily life of LA where you have to fight for every yard on the road yet it was only a few hours drive away. I think I’m hooked.