Thursday, August 30, 2012

My first BLACK slope.




This story takes place a long time ago. In fact I don't really remember when it happened . . .
I was almost 10 years old. It was a sunny February day. My dad brought me to Courchevel to see some friends of him. 
Courchevel is a well famous ski resort in France. It's famous because it's where the rich guys go to spend their money.  In fact the resorts is awesome, with luxury shops, expensive restaurants, nightclubs . . . but ski sucks. 
Everything is made to be confortable and easy. So if you are looking for really good ski don’t go there. 

Well, for the young kid I was, the resorts didn’t matter.  At this time a slope was a slope and I wasn’t really taking care about something else. I’ve been enjoying ski since the first time my dad put me on when I was 4. 

But this day had been the first time I didn’t enjoy ski. Everything was perfect. I was skiing on blue and red slopes as fast as I was able to go. In fact, the slope’s ranking had always been a mind barrier. When I was 6, I tried to ski on my first blue slope and then at 8 on my first red one. Each time I was a little bit scared to go to the next level, but each time it was a success and I was just enjoying my progression. 

This time my dad and his friends decided it was time for me to go to the black level. The black level . . . The hardest level ever. I started to be really scared. When I went to the top of the slope all my body was shaking. It was like if the slope just went down vertically in front of me.  I knew that it wouldn't be as successfull as usual. 

I just fell a first time 20 yards after the beginning of the slope, and a second time 15 yards after. Then I had to finish the slope on my butt because my skis token off from my shoes on a third fall, and went down without me . . . 

It really wasn’t a success.