Ski Fun with Swiss Miss (Part 1)

I have just returned from my second weekend in only three weeks of skiing in Switzerland. Both times have been in the most enjoyable company of one of my closest friends from Australia, Swiss Miss. We started work together four years ago and started work in Europe within weeks of each other. So here is part one of a two part series of ski fun … and ski lessons!

Ski Lesson #1: It’s a Fast Trip to a Ski Resort from Zurich

Each weekend we have visited a different ski resort. The first: Flims, the second Flumserberg (often shortened to Flums, making it sound far to similar to Flims!) After my twelve hour drive from Amsterdam to Bad Gastein as part of my only previous skiing endeavor, I was delighted to find our trip to Flims would take us only two and a half hours by train and bus! And our second weekend at Flumserberg offered an even shorter journey of only two hours! And a very pleasant journey it was, both times, with views ranging from the picturesque Lake to colourful little Swiss houses with shutters and to the spectacular alps.

Ski Lesson #2: Switzerland is Not Amsterdam … And Therefore Not Everyone Speaks English

When we arrived in Flims, we headed to the ski rental place.  I must have seemed like a typical arrogant tourist walking in and demanding in English, “I would like to hire some ski equipment.” Clearly I have become complacent in Amsterdam about language! One girl looked at me blankly before turning to a colleague panic stricken, and reeling off something rapidly in german. Her colleague slowly managed to put together a sentence in English about there being a long wait if I wished to hire ski equipment… Suddenly my language dramas in Amsterdam from a few weeks ago seemed less … dramatic.

Ski Lesson #3: Precise Instructions Are Important

As you may recall, my efforts to learn how to ski in Bad Gastein Austria were hampered by an instructor who spoke only limited English. With this my only experience under my belt, Swiss Miss and I headed up for our first run. The first part of the run was a gentle downward slope, which I handled just fine (pizza, pizza, pizza!). As soon as the slope got steeper though, the trouble began. I started racing down the mountain, making turns in an effort to slow down, but only picking up speed, losing control further. And then it came to a point where a had a choice: take a massive fall to stop, or fly off the side of the mountain. I went with massive fall. 

Swiss Miss helped me up. “Before we go any further, let’s figure out what’s going wrong. You seem to have good technique- you look like you’re skiing well. But you’re going very, very fast and you don’t seem to be able to stop. When you make a turn, which leg are you putting your weight on?”
“The downward leg closer to the bottom of the mountain,” I replied. This was what that Dutch teacher had taught me in her basic, short English translations of extensive Dutch tutelage: weight on the bottom leg.

“Right,” said Swiss Miss, “but are you putting the pressure on the inside or outside of your leg?”

And herein lay the difficulty of imprecise instructions…
What I heard: put your weight/pressure on your downward leg
What I did: put my weight on the outside of my downward leg
What I should have been told: put the pressure on the INSIDE of your downward leg to slow you down
What that one tiny missing word led to: me speeding up instead of slowing down!

Under Swiss Miss’s patient tutelage (and constant shouting) I managed to learn how to ski – I’m no pro, but there only a few falls all day! That’s real progress. Check out my video on facebook…

Next up, in episodes 4-7, read about “ski rage”, GAPERs, and a more extreme tumble…