Queenstown Skiing - surviving your first ski trip

With this sudden burst of cold weather, thoughts turn to snow and a newly found favourite ‘pastime’… skiing. I never thought that I would look forward with so much anticipation to my next ski trip, but with Queenstown still fresh in my mind, I can’t wait for winter to really set in and those fresh layers of snow to coat the landscape so picturesquely.

I have always loved the snow, but until recently, it has been purely as a spectator. I had never skied, or tried my hand at snowboarding and even my attempt at tobogganing was fraught with misadventure. I can clearly still recall, as a four year old, an epic toboggan calamity on the scantily snow clad slopes of Mount Donna Buang (Victoria).

Being ever-so-prepared in my pink gumboots my toboggan managed to glide somewhere akin to the middle of nowhere after ploughing through an advanced ski trail, narrowly missing skiers as I failed to give way. Distressingly I spent the next hour separated from the rest of my family trying to find my way back to the car… all of which looked very much the same under a fresh layer of snow. Meanwhile in my pink gumboots, my toes almost dropped off, which was in retrospect, possibly the last stage before frostbite.

Ok, so I may be exaggerating slightly but I do remember it to be very cold and quite harrowing from a four year old’s perspective, consequently seeing myself become more of a spectator than a participant on the snow in latter years.

Then enter kamikaze super skier cherry babe and suddenly I was faced with a ‘winter ski holiday’ in Queenstown, New Zealand. Well, I was keen. In recent years I have actually become quite adventurous, and thought that this too might be a box I might like to tick. With my cherry babe loving Queenstown skiing as much as he did, I knew it was either embrace this, or be prepared to spend a lot of time in my room by myself while he did.

So I decided to prepare myself… which meant shopping… for lots of REALLY warm clothes… of which I had none… at all. I have never been the most practical of shoppers, the allure of a pair of 5inch strappy heels having a much sounder place in my wardrobe than something that might have some sort of function other than look good. Unfortunately these same 5inch strappy heels, pretty much have no place on a ski slope unless of course you planned to use them as an ice pick to help you scale the Mt Tukoto Glacier… my skiing capabilities are however not quite ready for that incline just yet…

Fully outfitted, and looking what I hoped was ‘snow bunny stylish’, we hired equipment and made the hair-raising, wildly curving, quite thrilling drive to The Remarkables which on this occasion had the best snowfall and incidentally, truly is remarkable.

Now let me just state here, that I am used to being reasonably good at things, so imagine my disdain to discover that it looked like that I was really UN-good at this.

My cherry babe was eager for me to have a good time, and I was just as eager to be able to stay upright, which I immediately discovered, was not actually that easy, when attempting to do something that you have never actually ever done before. It was literally as slippery as… um… ice…

So we hopped on the conveyor belt that transported everyone ‘safely’ to the top of the beginners run and I managed to ‘ski’ off without causing a major incident (or a minor one) and thus avoiding being the safety issue to avoid.

My cherry babe’s training was then something along the lines of ‘follow me’… which I did, and this is where disaster almost ensued. I didn’t have a great deal of trouble getting the skis in motion, but that was kind of the problem… once I got in motion, I quite without warning picked up such abundance of motion that I was essentially, absolutely and utterly out of control, and I was moving fast.

I admit it – I am a bit of a control freak – so hurtling (and I felt like I was hurtling) down the slope (um… gentle slope) at a speed I had absolutely no control over, unable to stop, with masses of people – and not just people, children and ‘advanced’ toddlers as well – in my path, is not my idea of control… or fun. The only option that I felt was open to me was to throw myself down… which I did… snow plough springs to mind…

Just as an aside… it is a sad fact that the aforementioned ‘advanced’ toddlers in my path, astoundingly had markedly more control over their skis than I did, a fact that didn’t go unnoticed as I ‘screeched’ past doing my best Hills Hoist Clothesline impression, limbs flaying riotously.

At this point the expression on my cherry babe’s face pretty much spelled ‘Disaster’, and the ‘DISASTER’ became capitalised and unlined as he watched me grapple my way back to my feet… unsuccessfully.

After a good few minutes of quite uncontrolled ‘posturing’, I did manage to find myself back on my feet, but my game plan had changed. To be quite honest, I was actually relatively scared. I am not good with pain or injury, so the prospect that this might be the final outcome of the day if I didn’t achieve something that resembled an element of control, was not something that was inspiring me to continue.

Fortunately, I think my cherry babe had come to the same conclusion, and the word ‘DISASTER’ had been replaced with the words ‘EXTREME DISAPPOINTMENT’. So I decided that the best course of action was to do things in my own time. I really wanted to experience skiing, but I also knew that I didn’t want to injure myself, or scare myself to a point, that I was never going to ski again, so logical decisions were made, the first one of which was to get some lessons.

But before I got some lessons I had to make my way back up to the top of the beginners slope and my performance so far was not exactly encouraging.

I think my cherry babe’s expression turned from that of anticipation to extreme relief, when I said that he should just go off by himself and do the Kamikaze runs and have some fun, while I perfected the finer arts of simply remaining upright. By the fact that it took him 2.2 seconds to disappear from sight, I suspect that he thought this was an extremely good idea.

It was actually the best thing I could have done as it gave me time to refocus, relax and just do things in my own time… my own time being some 45 minutes of standing frozen at the top of the beginners slope trying to build up the courage to go again.

The turning point was when one of those ‘advanced toddlers’ that I had managed to avoid previously actually impacted with me while I stood there (I promise, it was not my fault). For a fleeting moment I actually felt useful while I helped this little cutie, that barely passed my knees, back onto her feet, and then she quite astoundingly just zipped off down the slope… no hesitation, no fear, and disappointingly (for me) with surprising skill, which made think that, ‘Sure, if a child of that age can do it, then so too can I’. And I did.

Imagine my surprise when I actually reached the bottom without dredging the slope of all of its snow with my left side, and then even better, I almost, kind of stopped without taking anybody out or repeating the Hills Hoist impression. I was excited!

However, everything changed when I had my first lesson; my instructor’s first major directive allowing me to discover that stopping could actually be achieved without all or any of my previous theatrics… thus my sought after ‘control’, was redeemed.

Learning how to stop (the way you are supposed to stop) changed everything for me, and it is probably the most valuable lesson that anyone can learn and was worth the lesson alone. It was literally uphill from there. Within moments I lost my fear, gained confidence, and attained such exhilarating enjoyment, that I couldn’t wait to refine the next skill.

Admittedly (*read thankfully) I picked up skiing really quickly, and while I knew my new found skills still needed refining I was well on my way to becoming the ski bunny I had previously envisioned.

At the point where I was ready to try out the ski-lift for the first time, my cherry babe had rejoined us and my maiden voyage down the slope was accompanied by him trailing close behind… him graceful and poised, the gazelle of the ski field; me, clunky and clumsy, the baby elephant, but I am confident that the improvement in my performance did not go unnoticed.

So if you are thinking that you might like to try skiing, do it. I wish I had been introduced to it years ago. I really had no idea on what I am missing out on, and while it may be some time yet, before I turn into the gazelle, I am well on my way to at least shedding the baby elephant skin.

Here are a few tips for you if you are a first timer… or possible a several timer that didn’t learn anything the first few times.

See you on the slopes!

BTW… While Australia has some fantastic ski fields, Queenstown skiing is SPECTACULAR, so if you don’t make it this year, make sure it is at least on the bucket list one year!

7 Tips for Surviving Your First Ski Trip

Be prepared
While I am all for looking good, having the right clothing makes such a difference. My memories of snow visits were in most instances overshadowed by how cold or uncomfortable I was, because I simply wasn’t prepared. This time I went all out and invested in thermal underwear, ski jackets, pants and gloves, a nice warm jumper, woollen socks and scarves as well as goggles, and boy, does it make a difference. I could have stayed out there for hours, whereas previously visits were cut short by numbing hands and feet, in order to defrost. Purchasing all of these items can be an expensive exercise, but a worthwhile investment if you plan to visit the snow frequently, however you can hire jackets and pants along with any other equipment at most ski fields and it’s a great alternative.

Hire good quality equipment
I actually spent a little more on my hire equipment , by my cherry babe’s advice and got the more advanced kit; skis, ski boots, poles. They look much cooler (just sayin’) but they also make the whole learning to ski process a lot easier. I had several instructors point out to me that this was allowing me to pick up skills a lot quicker and easily.

Get lessons
I cannot stress this enough. I got private lessons, and started every visit with a lesson. If you can afford private lessons, do, as it allows you to pick up skills so quickly, with instructors being able to tailor their classes to your skills and give you that one-to-one instrcution. But even a group lesson is worthwhile, and essential if you have never skied before.

Be aware
Be aware of your surrounds. Seriously, ski slopes can be like mine fields; dozens of out-of-control beginners ready to sweep you off your feet… trust me, I was one of them. Have a look around as you are taking off, see if anyone is coming down the slope and leave them room if they don’t look like they are in control. There is nothing worse then being collected up when it can so easily be avoided.

Be predictable
One of the main points that my ski instructor drummed into me was to be predictable, especially while you are learning. This allows more advanced skiers, that you are sharing the slope with, to anticipate what route you might be taking so that they can avoid you when the rocket past. If you are all over the place and then suddenly, without warning, turn hard left into the path of someone who thought you were going hard right, then in the least you are going to get a barrage of expletives, that is assuming they mange to avoid you and you both go home in the capacity you came.

Know your limitations
While we all would like to be the ‘slope stars’ of the ski fields, know your limitations and capabilities. Get lessons if you need them, and don’t do the kamikaze run just because everyone else is. A little bit of common sense can go a long way, and avoid what was supposed to be a fun day out, ending in tragedy or injury.
Have an awesome time!