Hello again!
Here we are, back with another week’s recap of my time working at a ski lodge in California.
Three major things happened this week:
- I went to ski school
- I got a hang of using the chairlift buttons
- I celebrated my birthday with some great new friends
So here’s a little about all of that:
Ski Schooled
This was part of my master plan from the very beginning.
My parents were not huge fans of skiing, and so I’d never even seen pair of skis in-person before coming to work here. So boy oh boy was I surprised when I saw the prices for every little thing to do at the ski lodge. This is a sport for rich people I guess! Since I don’t have hundreds of dollars just lying around, using my employee pass to go to ski school for free was the only way I could learn to ski here. It would be crazy not to at least give it a try.
So I went to the rental shop and rented gear for the day- a birthday gift from my lovely parents. Then I just walked up to the adult ski lessons area. I am beyond relieved that adults have their own ski school, because imagine what skiing with 5 year olds who also just started lapping you on the slopes would do to my silly little ego. It would hurt, probably.
All jokes aside, if you’re 5 years old and can shred the slopes like I’ve seen some kids do- rock on! Be the child protege I could never be!
I certainly am not an adult protege at skiing.
We starting with shuffling and little steps, which I could do, but when it came time to ride the chair and ski the actual, albeit green-circle/bunny slopes, I floundered every time I reached a speed of more than 2 miles per hour. My over-cautiousness really seemed to come to a head when the instructor wanted us to ski through some woods. I was so afraid of breaking my leg that I just took them off and walked through the woods instead.
Kind of pathetic, I know!
But our instructor was very patient despite my antics, and all four of us newbies were learning slowly but surely.
What I can say with confidence is that skiing is so much fun!
It’s exhilarating, whipping down the side of a mountain and knowing that it could end in catastrophe. (or in my case, gently sliding) It is the closest you can feel to flying, I think.
I even managed to try the two small ramps they have, and caught about two inches of air. That didn’t keep me from feeling like an Alpine Tony Hawk!
Since school, a coworker generously gave me her old skis, so I’ll be able to gradually practice and get better. Here’s to hoping I can conquer the slope called sesame street!
Competently pushing buttons
Despite being insanely nervous about figuring out the buttons required to operate the chairlift, it gets intuitive with practice.
Being about a week and a half in, here’s how I would describe my job: It’s not difficult, most of the time it’s just chatting with the guests, which I absolutely adore! It’s refreshing to get to know people when they’re on their vacation high, whether that’s being drunk, excited, or just happy to be on vacation.
But at any given moment, chaos can erupt.
Usually that is because someone takes a tumble getting on and off the lift. When that happens, you have to think fast. Stopping or slowing the lift, helping someone get off the ramp, or calling ski patrol- it’s a situation you’ve got to analyze in a second.
It’s good practice, though for my future career in medicine.
My Birthday!
I actually had to work on my birthday, but it ended up being a ton of fun anyways since I really like working at the lifts. My coworkers were so sweet and gave me tons of sweets, which I ate all at once like a toddler and made myself sick. Rock on!
I had the following day off, so the next night, I hosted a party in our dorm building’s front yard since we have a fire pit and some picnic tables. We invited some coworkers and our neighbors and we just had a fun, relaxing time by the fire.
A lot of random things happened during this party though, it seems like Bishop, CA became the twilight zone for a night. It honestly kind of reminds me of that night we got dinner in Florence. I know I’m being annoyingly vague, but I promise, this will be getting its own post.
That’s All!
Yep, this was a short post.
Even so, it is one week late because it was just sitting in my drafts. I’ve only been here 3 weeks and am already falling behind!
Believe me, though, I am going to try and catch up this week, so expect a new post regaling my adventures of working at a ski lodge very soon!
I’m also trying to be more active on instagram, so check that out if you dare 😉
Love yall
~WTB