After taking a day of skiing lessons yesterday at Pocono skiing resort, my sisters and I realized that skiing wasn't what we expected it to be. Don't get us wrong, it was still fun skiing but there were a lot of things my sister and I didn't see coming before taking the ski lessons.
1. Skiing boots are uncomfortable to wear
After getting my skiing boots in my proper shoe size, I never expected the boots to be so heavy and tight to wear. Even taking the boots with a bigger shoe size, I still ended up with the same result. When meeting up with the ski instructor, the ski instructor asked us if our boots are comfortable to wear. Of course, my sisters and I exchanged looks and said with an uncertain tone that the boots were fine. The funny thing was, our ski instructor knew right away that we were lying and told us that the boots were meant to be uncomfortable. And sadly, he said this was something we must get used to when skiing.
2. Putting the boots onto the skis can become very frustrating to do
Before you go skiing, you must attach the skis to your boots. All you have to do is align your foot to the binding of the ski and slam your heel onto the ski, so that way the ski gets attached to the heel. Sounds very simple to do, right? I got this on my first try but this had proven to be difficult the next times I did it. The most troublesome thing is aligning your foot straight because if you don't align your foot correctly, the ski won't be attaching to your boot at all. This can get very frustrating because you might lose your mood for skiing after unsuccessful attempts and you might even lose your balance and fall while doing this. If this happens to you, my best advice for you is to stay patient when attaching boots to your skis and keep trying, otherwise, you will ruin your mood for skiing.
3. Skis are very heavy to carry
At first glimpse, the skis look light to carry. But in fact, they are not. When walking towards Bunny hill (where the ski lessons take place) with your uncomfortable boots and the ski poles, the skis are a heavy burden and most of the time, you might be complaining how heavy these skis are. Unlike the ski poles (which are very light to carry), you will be bothered by the heaviness of the skis and you will find yourself very happy after dropping all that heavy weight of the skis onto the snowy ground when you have the chance.
4. Your legs will ache
From what our ski instructor taught us, all the power of skiing came from our knees. We had to assert all our weight in our knees otherwise you won't skiing at all. In other words, you won't move at all. After when the lessons were over, I found that walking back to the rentals is a struggle. Not only do you have to carry all your equipment, but you will have to carry them on weak legs that are sore from the skiing.
5. Falling is fun
I can't believe I'm saying this but falling is actually the fun part of skiing! To be honest, I was very nervous about skiing because I know that I might fall a bunch of times. But I didn't because I only fell once! I fell into the mud on my first attempt of skiing on my own. What is fun about this is seeing other people ending up in the mud right next to you. It just shows that there is nothing to be embarrassed about at all and everyone is struggling as much as you. Although my gloves got dirty, I still wanted to ski. Not to mention, falling is such a relief because you can finally stretch out your legs after all that work on your knees.
But more importantly, have a positive and optimistic attitude! This will ensure the ski instructor that you are enjoying skiing and you are having fun! If you are thinking of taking ski lessons, I hope this is indeed helpful!
