I should have spoken up when I saw that sign...Go back to the 90's I can't remember the exact year but I'll guess around 1995 Hector and I went to Lake Tahoe for a snowboarding vacation. Back then we could stay in a run down motel for a week with breakfast daily and $7 towards dinner too with discounted lift tickets to any of the ski resorts around Tahoe. It was pretty fun, trying a new place every day.
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| I'm kneeling by the sign because my legs were probably too weak to support me. |
This time we went to Kirkwood. I learned to ski here when I was at UOP so I was familiar with the bunny slopes. By this trip I figured out that I didn't like skiing so I took up snowboarding a year or two before because it looked like so much more fun. Hector was way more advanced than me so I should have been more suspicious when he took me on a new lift. Before we even got on the lift, a big noticeable sign was posted saying, "Experts Only" but silly me pushed that thought out of my mind thinking there must be an intermediate run too. Yeah, that skull and crossbones should have set off my danger alert but hey, I laugh at danger. Not really. As we got higher and higher and the run got steeper and steeper, I got nervous. I get off the lift and there is only one way down and it's not even a run but a drop of 5 ft or more to start the run. YIKES! Oh my, what am I going to do! Hector assures me that I am ready for this and if all else fails, I can slideslip down which is the snowboarding version of a snowplow.
Hector goes down first and gets into position to take all these photos. You can see from the photos that this hill is steep and I manage to stay upright until the photo where my sunglasses are off and I'm squinting, probably some contact lens problem. The main point is that I survived and I didn't break any bones. It's a good story since Hector hoodwinked me and definitely got me out of my comfort zone. Story of my life! ;)
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| So far so good. Note that my board is pointed straight down the mountain which is terrifying especially to a aspiring intermediate boarder. |
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| Ack, you can tell how by my hands that I'm ready to eat the mountain. |
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| I'm sure that Hector's photography skills increased the steepness of the mountain but hey, I look good. |
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