Alaska in February: Part 3

Wednesday was my first day on Mt. Alyeska snow skiing.  Though I have spent many weekends on skis, I've never skied for an extended length of time (more than 3 days in a trip)... and looking at Alyeska was QUITE intimidating.  Scott is a ski instructor, an experienced skier, and he spent a large part of Wednesday coaching me!  It took a couple runs to get my legs underneath me, and it started coming back, kind of like riding a bike.  Scott helped me improve my form, and after a couple hours on the greens, we headed over to mid-mountain for the blues.  Um, I have skied out in Beaver Creek, CO, but the top of any run I skied there looked so puny compared to even an easy blue on Alyeska.  I'd be lying if I said I was not totally and completely terrified looking down the mountain (from mid-mountain).  :-) But... I DID IT!  I skied it with a lot of coaching from Scott and a lot of encouragement & patience from Sam (he thought I was so much better than what I thought I was!).  Mid-mountain had a LOT of powder... Coming down a couple of the runs, there were places I couldn't see my ski boots or skis because they were buried under very fluffy snow.  

Getting ready to go down one of the runs from mid-mountain (an easy blue)

Me and Sam... That's the OCEAN in the background... Alyeska is the only resort that you can see the ocean from... Pretty cool (and pretty) if you ask me!

slopes/lifts as the sun is setting

view from the ski lodge

Wednesday evening we had Bible study and again, it was just AWESOME.  Such a great group of people, great discussion... everything a Bible study should be! ;)  Thursday, Sam and I hung out in Girdwood, touched base with Dario and planned to help him and Nic on Saturday, and rested.  We had spent a lot of time going and going and going and definitely needed just a day to rest.  

Friday it was back to the mountain!!  It was fairly cloudy on Friday, if I am remembering correctly... so I think that is why I didn't take any more pictures.  I spent some time on the greens and easy blues, really trying to perfect my form...  Just after lunch, I turned in my skis for my first snowboard lesson.  A friend of Scott's (with Sam as her assistant) taught me, Scott, and a few other friends from Rotary.  That was a trip!  I was the only one "in class" that was not a proficient skier (not sure if that had anything to do with me not picking it up as quickly as the rest) but I was getting pretty comfortable on the bunny slopes!  The rest of the group headed to a green, but I stayed on the bunny slopes until they closed.  After that run, we headed into the Sitz Mark for a cup of coffee to warm up.  We had a lot of fun just hanging out with new friends.  Not too much later, I traded my board in for skis again and we made a couple runs down harder blues.  I got tired.  Very tired.  I'm sure I sounded pretty whiney, but toward the end of the day it got to be so hard just to stay on my feet ...good thing snow makes for a soft place to fall!  I can't be certain, but I am pretty sure I slept REALLY well on Friday night!  Saturday was a big day for us... Part 4 next time. :)