We had the opportunity to go to Ski Dubai again last night. Following our last effort in the Snow Park, Myles and I made a pact to both learn to ski. Unfortunately (or fortunately) we could not go in the same ski school. My session was at 5pm, which gave me an hour’s headstart to get it before he made me look really slow.
The class I joined was very small which is always best. The instructor had maybe a German accent. It sort of matched her personality. She didn’t laugh at our gags, but her descriptions were entertaining.
We started out extremely slowly. At first we learnt to duck walk, then turn when we walked. Soon enough we were struggling like crabs up the slight hill they use for babies who wish to learn to ski. I should mention that one of the guys had already fallen over by this stage, so a great deal of pressure was taken off me.
On the first downhill I thought I was almost professional-like, but maybe with a bit of a wobble. My instructor on the other hand saw a hell of a lot more going on with my body than I could have ever imagined. My upper half was dancing all over, my knees were like chickens, and I was looking all over the roof instead of straight forward.
After a few more snow-ploughs I thought I was almost perfecting it, yet the instructor kept raising her standards and always supplying direct feedback.
Just when I thought it was time to hit the black slope, our time was up and we went back in. The timing was perfect, as I reached the meeting point, Myles was there all suited up for his lesson. He looked so cute! We exchanged hugs and I wished him well – despite my worries that he’d very quickly surpass my efforts.
I met up with a friend in a coffee shop where we had the perfect view of the slopes where I could see the four year olds learning on the same slopes I bravely conquered. I could also see Elle and the others zooming down confidently.
It was hilarious seeing Myles doing the same tasks that I did. There was equal measures of terror and pride when I saw him zoom down the slope without a hint of snow plough (required to maintain speed). I was assured that there would have been an instructor at the bottom of the run to catch him.
All in all it was a great introduction to skiing for both of us. Myles’s boots were in fact too big, so the instructor suggested he do the Discovery session once more. But not me, my Skiing Achievement Passport has six ticks, including
- “I can put my skis on and take them off”
- “I can walk and slide with my skis on the flat”
- “I can walk up hill”
Can’t wait til we go back again.
For the record, ours is on the left with the spare wheel on the back.
It was funny when we returned to our car. We’ve joked several times about the difficulty of finding our car in carparks, cause Silver Toyota Prado VXs are just so popular. Well, on this occasion, our Prado happened to be one of three, side by side.