Ski Sunday

Back in the swing of things this weekend! Boozin' with the lads in Noah’s Ark and JD’s on Friday night. Out til 4am. Haven’t done that in a while. I was coerced by some Japanese people into playing the guitar and singing in Noah’s/ So, I let it rip. Good sing-song, so it was!

Today I went “on the piste” as opposed to on the piss, which was Friday night. Went skiing to a place called Ming Hu, about an hour from Dalian. This was my first experience of skiing, and also skiing in China! I had a great time! The set-up was really good. No problem getting the cloches, proper sized boots and skis that we wanted. Some people got snowboards. Also no problem. I heard that it was a pain in the ass in some places.

Since I never skied before, I decided to get a lesson. There was myself and 2 girls, who were to be taught by this teacher guy. He was more interested in chatting up the women than teaching. So, I only half learned how to stop and turn. After lunch, I just headed onto the other slopes, graduating from the baby one.

I was getting the hang of it at this stage, although I was still a bit crap at stopping. Then for some unknown reason, I decided to hit the biggest slope, which was 3 times as high and 3 times as long as the other ones! I figured that I probably wouldn’t get to ski for a while, so why not! There was a proper ski lift up to this one, not the pissy little seat-pole things that drag you up the smaller slopes.

I got to the top and said. Oh shit, how am I gonna do this. It looked like it went straight down! So, off I went. Man, it was a bit different. Just started accelerating like mad. No control whatsoever, so, 5 seconds into it, I went flying! Next I knew, one ski was 20 feet behind, next was one pole, my hat and then the other pole! It was such a mad rush flying down that slope. I eventually got my ski back and tried again. Went flying again. The snow had turned to slush at this stage, so conditions weren’t great. I got to the bend in the ski run. Maybe half way down. Before the bend, the course had levelled out but after the bend, it took another almighty dip downwards! I went for it. I found myself falling backwards, but instead of falling over I found myself in a crouching position, still flying down the hill! Great craic it was!! That was the biggest buzz of the day!

It’s a shame that the ski season is over. Today, the snow wasn’t great and the temperature was above zero. We were all sweating after the skiing! I’d love to try it again and maybe learn how to do it properly!