It was lovely bright sunny morning, but we failed to make an early start as Paul was sending emails to try and organise me a longer stay here. He felt I had lost 2 weeks of skiing because of bronchitis, sinusitis and acute mountain sickness, so I should stay longer. This necessitated a change of accommodation as he had been planning hostel-type accommodation in a 10 bed mixed dorm after I left, and I wasn't thrilled with that. I don't insist on an en-suite bathroom, but I really do prefer my own bedroom. Now he needs to be able to change my flight booking, so I can travel home with him. I am keeping my fingers crossed!
We eventually set out, and as it was such a sunny morning, I decided Paul could take my photograph skiing down the trail. We agreed where Paul would stop, and I would ski down to him. Unfortunately, I set off before he was quite ready. Then, a group of 5 or 6 novice snow boarders descended the slope just as I was doing my turn towards him. They screamed in terror as they saw me turn towards them, and several fell over. So I had to turn away from them and by the time I could turn back towards the other side of the trail, I was well below Paul. So I just skied down to the bottom - about a mile, probably - and we started again. This time we were more careful, and Paul managed to take two pictures. One cut my head off, the other shows me at the top of the slope, where it is almost completely flat. And you can't see me anyway, because I am against the trees.
It got worse after that! We had agreed to go up the 'A' chair, which would take us higher up the mountain, so I stopped at the crossway leading towards the chair, so Paul could catch me up. He didn't see me, and whizzed past. So then I was behind him, and had to wait for a number of people passing down the main trail before I could cross safely. When I got to 'A' chair, Paul had already left, thinking I had gone on further, so I started skiing further down to try to catch him up. Then my phone went, which was him calling me. I had to find a safe place to stop, plant my poles, take off my gloves, undo my ski jacket and get my phone from an inside pocket, by which time the phone had stopped ringing! So I called him back, but he didn't pick up, having presumably put his phone away. So I waited a minute or so, then put my phone away, did up my ski jacket, put on my gloves, turned towards the slope again, when - you guessed it - my phone rang! So I had to start the whole process again. Again I missed his call, but called him back and this time he picked up and we were able to shout at one another - we both wear ski helmets, so you can't get the phone up to your ear unless you take the helmet off too - also the balaclava in his case. I told him where I was, and said I would be down in a few minutes. Then I had to put my phone away, re-dress myself, put on my gloves and pick my poles up, as they had by then fallen to the ground. I had just started to descend the slope when my phone rang.... Paul though he had misheard where I was, as I was taking so long. I didn't bother to go through it all again, I was beginning to feel as if I was in 'Groundhog Day'.
All that grief, just for two completely hopeless photographs! Then Paul had to go into the Restrooms at Beaver Run to warm up and put on some warmer clothes.
After that, went up the slope again and took a completely different route down, finding some steeper slopes, so instead of going up 'A' chair, we went up and down several times so I could practice my parallel turns. The slope was good, but there were a lot of people on it, and I always find heavy traffic difficult as the experts ski so fast they are likely to knock you over, and the beginners fall over in front of you. Once my legs were tired, about 1.30, we caught the bus home to lunch. This is a view of the south part of the village, through the bus windscreen.
There's still quite a bit of snow, but it's melting fast. I imagine the place will be very crowded indeed over the weekend, so I probably won't ski because I don't want to be knocked down. I have some shopping to do anyway, apparently I should be having multi vitamins with iron. I am feeling a bit less breathless, but am still having the oxygen at night.
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