Watching downhill skiers on TV gives the impression that it's easy. It looks so natural, unless they take a fall of course. Cross Country was the first skiing sport until the invention of tow lifts which brought Alpine Skiing. The Swiss, Austrians and Italians have dominated the sport. A lot of young kids in the Alps can ski as soon as they can walk and ski to school everyday.
Olympic ambitions are left to the daredevils as most people ski as a leisure pursuit. Snowboarding, particularly popular with the young, has joined Alpine Skiing. It seems a crazy thing to do racing down slopes on planks of wood. Having done it myself, I know how exciting it could be. I have skied in Scotland in the fog and over sheer ice. I hit a sheet of ice one day and couldn't stop myself from crashing into a picket fence. There was this cabin at the top of the mountain where they sold hot chocolate, coffee and snacks. The local herd of reindeer would come up to the cabin and feed from your hand. Yes Alpine Skiing is really amazing!
I had another great skiing experience in Austria. The snow conditions and the weather were ideal there. Nothing can beat Alpine Skiing when the sun shines and the snow glitters in the sunlight. Après Ski was great too and I remember drinking a lot of great wine. I lived in a picture postcard little village in a typical Alpine cottage. In the small village, there was this amazing church, which was adorned with frescoes and gold. One night, my friends and I went to a local bar and I had rather too much schnapps. I suffered the next day and my Alpine Skiing had to be put on hold.
I promised myself to go skiing again and try to improve. A very big dry slope has opened near my place, which would be a good way to get back into it again. I may even try out snowboarding lessons; I don't see why the young should have all the fun. When I was in Austria, we had a trip to Innsbruck and we visited the old Winter Olympics site there. I went to the top and stood where was the ski jump hill, and the incline is amazing. It's impossible to have an idea of what ski jumping is like from television. I am sure it must feel like flying sometimes. The only time that I ever flew was by pure accident!
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