A tale of two skis

OR... the SKI is the limit :D

Amit is an avid skier. When we got married, Amit introduced me to skiing in the second month. My first ski experience was my worst - I was neither in shape, nor had the energy required to sustain the learning phase of this activity. Over time, and slow cajoling, and repeated ski trips, I learnt how to ski. The important thing was the desire to ski has been kindled, and it was something Amit had maybe not-so-innocently slipped in - honey, I want to be on top of that snow-laden mountain, with you!

Amit is a good teacher - he has lots of patience, and lots of motivation or cunningness ready to be doled out at any point. Through the next few years we both began enjoying skiing as our winter activity. It became our thing to do when the temperatures dipped and the body just wanted to curl up in bed with masala chai and pakode! Instead we were out there, on top of the mountain, together. He inspiring me to try the next tough slope, every time.

In fall 2007, we were not "planning" to get pregnant, and in fact looking forward to a full season of skiing. Our plan was to start trying after skiing season got over in May 2008. But nature has its ways, and I was pregnant with Rian in Nov 2007. We took a trip to Sierra-at-Tahoe with our friends Vidyut and Sarika, and I decided to sit it out, spend time with my Sudoku book, and possibly snow-shoe. Around lunch, I couldn't just sit anymore, I just HAD TO SKI. I pleaded with Amit and he was more than supportive. I got rentals and off we went, skiing, less than 2 months pregnant :-) I think that's the start of Rian's skiing, to be correct! That's where this story started.

When Rian was little, Amit and I would take a bus to Lake Tahoe ski resorts - leave at 4am and come back the same day by 9pm. The nanny used to stay over 3-4 times in the ski season. We had our ski fix. There were few years when I just could not make it. After WW and losing weight, I realized it is important to have outdoor physical activities that we love and enjoy and are good at. Specially in winters, it is hard to motivate oneself to go the gym or go outdoors for a run or a hike. Slowly we stocked up on better gear - outerwear which was ski appropriate, thermals, ski goggles, ear covers, you name it. Then I had to buy some of it all over again for my new size ;-) It was all fun, but we were PREPARED!

We used to see lots of small kids on the slopes, and we had started to cultivate that dream of having Rian with us on top of that mountain. Rian was first introduced to skiing last year in 2012. Our neighbor friends were planning to put their son Ansh in a full day skiing class. Rian really looks up to Ansh, and was getting excited about skiing with him. We reached on a Saturday afternoon and just put skis on our little guy, with his best teacher - Daddy! Rian seemed very comfortable with the skis on, and was clearly enjoying Daddy's one-on-one attention. Amit realized to handle Rian on the slopes, he would need to cultivate some more skills himself, but Amit is a guy who's always up for a challenge and gets excited by a new one every time!

Capitalizing on the buddy chance, we enrolled little Rian (3yr 9mo then) into a full day ski school next day from 8:30am to 3:30pm. He was very excited in the morning. There were hiccups though - Rian came back out at 11am and refused to go in. A big bribe helped him go back in again - The Lego

7939 City Train, with tracks and the works. It was a long weekend, and on the third day, we bought a harness for Rian. This helped Rian to maintain a correct stance going downhill, and helped Daddy slow Rian down in case we had a runaway skier. Rian skied with us, with the help of the harness, and we were surprised how well he had picked up the art!! The harness helped, and so did the train bribe.

Encouraged by Rian's progress, and wanting to capitalize on the momentum again, we went the next weekend again - back to back. Just one day, Rian and us on the slopes, with the harness. Rian's train craze helped him sustain the harness adventure as a train engine Rian towed his carriage which was mostly Daddy. April 15, 2012 goes down in history as the first day Rian got into a ski lift, at 3yrs and 9mo :-) Proud parent moment! Rian skied the "Sugar n Spice" green run at Sierra-At-Tahoe resort. We took quite a few breaks, but made it down those 2.5mi in an hr. Most importantly we had that picture - all 3 of us on the top of the mountain, together, having fun, and happy!

This year we decided to continue his ski training. We've made 4 trips to Lake Tahoe so far, 3 of them on back-to-back weekends. 2 weeks after coming back from India, we made it to Tahoe on Sunday 20 Jan. On the first day, we just warmed up Rian and skied for an hr on the bunny slopes with his harness. Ansh and Rian had some snow fun together. On the second day of the same weekend, Rian was enrolled in an all day ski class - this was a not-so-fun class for Rian, without Ansh. He feigned tiredness and sleep, and pretty much didn't ski. After some prompting from us, he skied again in class. We next went on 17 and 18 Feb. On both days, Rian and Ansh had private instructors from 8:30am to 10am. This made a big big difference. After the first lesson, Rian started skiing ON HIS OWN, with no harness, no hoola hoop, and NO FEAR! He got the skiing rush, and would keep saying "Mumma wooooeeee, look at meeeeee". We were on top of the world!! Just before lunch, Rian, Amit, me, Parikshit and Ansh we all went to Sugar n Spice, a long 2.5mi green run, and Rian was a happy camper coming down it, ALL ON HIS OWN. On the second private lesson, Rian learnt how to make his turns, and practised on the half pike. Teacher Phoenix Hunter made a big impression. After the second lesson, Ansh and Rian went to big ski school and were on the slopes with the big kids.

There were some hiccups - not all a smooth journey :-) Rian likes attention and given his relatively young age, the ski school instructor had a hard time with Rian on Sugar-n-Spice after a small meltdown. Luckily Parikshit let me know, and there's nothing that a few Skittles don't solve for Rian! Rian gets tired pretty quickly, 1.5-2hrs is the tops, then he needs a good one hr break! From what I've heard from other parents, this is pretty standard. The good part, as I found out, once Rian gets his break, he's keen and eager to go back out there. I think a little bit of this rubs off from Daddy. I know it rubs off from Daddy for me :-) When a tired Amit comes in, finishes his lunch, and beams "I'm going back out there!" there's something magnetic about his spirits and it rubs off on me, edges me to go out there, have fun with him, like him!

Our third trip was a solo adventure - single parent me and Rian. We hitched a ride with Shayona, Mausami and Gunjan to make a day trip to Dodge Ridge. Rian had a 2hr private lesson signed up with Ms. Maggi. I think Rian was smiling ear to ear after hearing her name, and they hit it off pretty well. Rian mostly practised turns. At the end of the lesson, he was doing almost parallel turns! Unfortunately she spent all 2hrs on a small beginner slope, and Rian was a bit bored at the end of those 2hrs. Meanwhile I scouted out the rest of the small mountain to look for good slopes to take Rian on. His classmate Zoya was there too, and the fact that Zoya was doing blue ski runs was encouraging Rian. After an hr of lunch break, we were off to chase Zoya and her mom to the other slopes. Rian wanted to go faster and faster and just didn't want to slow down!! He fell down twice, and both were my faults - at the beginning to get onto the lift, and while getting off. We were trying to chase a blue run. Unfortunately falling twice didn't help him physically and he was just down. We took a good hr break again. After that, Rian and Mumma skied again for an hr+ till the lifts shut down at 4pm. Now that's the kind of skiing Amit taught me - taala lagaake nikalna!!

Rian at Dodge Ridge ski resort

Our fourth trip was the most fun - Rian saw the big buses at the ski resorts and really wanted to go in them. On a third consecutive weekend on 2 March, we woke up at 3am, and were out of the door at 4am to catch a 4:30am bus. We reached Sierra-At-Tahoe at 8:30am and totally enjoyed skiing till 3. Rian and me did 4 runs of Sugar-n-Spice. Daddy did some awesome black ski runs. Rian also did a short blue run. He was very fast and very scared, but the experience really helped him to gain confidence. The bus journey was super convenient, with no overnight packing required. Rian was also free to move around in the bus. He was a very good boy and didn't scream and shout in the

bus. He was the only kid in the bus!

We are hoping to go one or maybe two more times this season. We are super happy with Rian's skiing progress, and more so with the fact that Rian's face lights up when we talk about going skiing. He wakes up at 4am and 5am to go to the slopes with us, and most importantly enjoys the whole activity :-)