I still remember my first day of skiing I could not tell you the exact date or month. I know it was January or February of 1988. I was in 7th grade and my parents sighed me up for the ski program. I was excited to learn, it met you got to miss half a day of school one day a week for 4 weeks. My mom had skied but my dad had not, my mothers favorite memory of skiing was being in the lodge with some friends and getting to meet Robert Redford. Needless to say most of my friends had skied before and I knew I would not be in lessons with them. The buss ride I remember well I sat next to Mike King and behind us were two of the best looking girls in 7th grade we showed them how to put there passes on the metal wire and we talked to them. I thought this was going to be great. As the bus pulled in to Park West (its now The Canyons) we unloaded and I got my rental skis and met up with my class. We practiced getting our skis on and then hiked up the small hill to try to ski. I thought this looks easy no problem. I sucked I was the only one in my class that first day that could not do it. It was two hours of pure frustration. I remember going to the lodge and feeling defeated. I went home very upset I even cried because I could skate board better than all my friends but I could not ski. My parents gave me a pep talk and I want back the next week and was able to start skiing. The next few lesson were great and I piked it up and got better each time. The next two years of Jr High I did the ski program it was great and I loved it. I remember asking for skis and getting told no and being told skiing was to expensive.
After 9th grade was over so was the ski program there was not high school equivalent and I want two years with out skiing. I heard other kids talk about skiing but in the back of my mind I believed it was to expensive and it would never really be something I would do. It was the early 90's I spent a lot of time rollerblading I grew up on the East side of Salt Lake. In my parents neighborhood there are a lot of hills. So we would go ride hills and just have fun. In some ways it felt a bit like skiing so that's what I did for the next few years. On week of my Sr Year some friends invited me night skiing. I borrowed skis from a neighbor and some ski pants. It was awesome I skied better than I ever had. As my Sr year ended and I began college I ended up in South Eastern Idaho at Ricks College the kids I became friends with some skiers and snowboarders. My first experience looking at skis was driving my friend Jesse around to every ski shop between Rexburg and Idaho Falls. You would think I would have skied but I did not I left Ricks in December and went home to Utah to finish the year.
As winter moved on and spring broke I got ready to serve a LDS Mission I was going to Scotland. Needless to say I was excited for the opportunity. My parents bought me a journal and in the front I wrote down things I wanted to do when I got home not to be distracted on my mission but just to remember some after mission goals. Some of those were learn to Fly fish, play the guitar and skiing. I will say I have tried fly fishing once and never learned to play the guitar but the goal of skiing was accomplished and to this day is a part of who I am.
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