Determination

On those rare slow days it's easy to forget that you're actually working at the mountain. Thanks to some rainy weather the day before, I had a few slow days in a row with little to no actual classes. One class in particular sticks out in my mind as an example of just sheer determination.

She was in her late 60s and returning to skiing after having had reconstructive knee surgery this past summer. She was nervous about putting weight on it, but a quick test on the bunny slope showed she still retained a lot of the skills needed. We talked a little about how it felt and then headed up the chair lift.

Getting off the chair she slipped, fell, wiped both of us out, and tried to get up quickly. The liftee wasn't pay attention and she was clipped by the next chair coming around the bull horn. This second hit tweaked her knee just wrong and sent huge amounts of pain through her body, asking for help.

Normally on any kind of injury we are told specifically not to move the rider until told to do so by Ski Patrol, but in this case she specifically asked that I take off her ski. I did and the pain disappeared immediately. I went to call for a sled and was stopped by her getting back on her skis ready to go asking if we could take it slow.

We took it slow down the hill. At half an hour into the lesson, we weren't a 1/4 of the way down, but she had her turns looking great. Then another fall and a bit more pain. I asked how she was to find she was more upset with herself than anything else. It was clear after this fall though she had become more timid on pressuring her new knee. A little while later, another fall.

The one hour mark passed and we were half way down. We worked on drills to encourage her to put a little more pressure on that leg, to keep a constant pressure on the ski through the turn, and to smooth out the turns. This means we did a lot of garlands to one side of the run. We worked on side slipping as a means to getting down the mountain.

At the two hour point we were 3/4s of the way down and I realized this had to end. Then her glasses fogged up. Using a tactic I find to work on little kids, I skied backwards in front of her, using our poles as a handle to keep space between us. I had her pressure to start turns and use me to finish them. We got down the mountain rather quickly. Her a bit frustrated, me tired. I left to go home and enjoyed a break for a few days.

I ran into her in the lodge a little later just exhausted. She said she wasn't giving up just yet, but needed a break. I gave her a few pointers to try and told her to have a great evening.

After the break, I had an envelope waiting for me in the office. Inside was a little card that said thanks and the largest tip received this year for anyone, $30. Thanks!