Early in January, a large group of my friends went to Breckenridge, Colorado for the Omicron ski trip. I was really excited because I hadn’t been skiing in so long, and I had never been to Breckenridge. When I was younger, it was a tradition in my family to go every year, but we stopped that a while ago. This was the perfect opportunity.
It was such a beautiful city! It looked like something out of a movie, very wintery and wooded. We had a great group, including all my close guy and girl friends. We had a variety of skiers, from really advanced, to those who had never seen snow, like my best friend, Jackie. I wasn’t sure where I would fall, considering I used to ski very well, but that was also various years ago. When we got to the slopes, I knew I had to keep up with the advanced skiers, since all the other people were taking lessons. I was definitely challenged being thrown into a situation where I had to ski blues and black diamonds when I hadn’t been on a mountain in such a long time.
I surprised myself with how well I actually did! I was definitely not the fastest or the most skilled, but I was able to keep up well! I skied blacks for almost the entire trip, and really proved to myself that I could do it. I’m not a daredevil, so sometimes I psych myself out about things like this.
As much as skiing with the more advanced group was fun and great exercise, the best part of the trip for me was when I skied with Jackie on her first run. She was completely new to skiing, so she struggled with balance and coordination. That being said, it was by far the funniest thing I have seen in a while. She was an awesome sport about falling and we laughed the entire way down the run. It may not have been actual skiing, but we always have so much fun together that every time she’d fall, scream because she was going too fast, or even lose so much control she’d ski backwards, we would crack up and have to stop anyways from laughing.
ZLAM
Francesca Herro
PC'12
So I had never been in snow before. I mean I’m from Houston so I had technically seen snow, but nothing that would prepare me for Breckenridge. A last minute decision to join a big group of friends on an UBSki trip had me heading to Colorado in early January. My best friend, Francesca, assured me on the plane ride that she wasn’t a great skier and would hang out with me on the green (bunny) slopes. I’m more of the sun and sand type so arriving in Colorado to a big snowstorm had me terrified-I was sure that I would freeze to death. However, aside from frostbite concerns, I was excited to ski for the first time and have a chance to play in the snow like I had always dreamed of as a little kid.
My first run on the slopes was rough. Francesca tried her best to teach me how to “pizza” and “French fry”… Nope, I literally tumbled/skied backwards down the entire bunny slope. The funny thing about it is that I couldn’t stop laughing the entire time. I could hardly get up on my skis again because I was laughing so hard and so was Fran. I eventually decided to take a ski lesson, which, though it prepared me for absolutely no real life ski situations, helped me regroup and build my confidence back up to try again. After that lesson I was like a different person. For the rest of the trip I couldn’t get enough. I stayed on the slopes as late as I could and even discovered a ski route that led directly back to our cabins just to get that extra 20 minutes of skiing in. Francesca’s “poor” ski skills actually turned out to be her running double black diamond moguls, so we didn’t really spend that much time together on the mountain. However, by the end of the trip I was running blues and keeping up (sort of) with some experienced skiers.
I never thought I would love snow and mountains and skiing the way that I did. I am absolutely obsessed and all I can think about is when I can plan my next ski trip. It was awesome to spend time outside on Breck’s beautiful and massive mountain, refreshing to breath the cold mountain air, and exciting and fulfilling to learn a new sport and see yourself getting better and better. Breckenridge was a blast and I can’t wait to go back!
ZLAM
Jackie Waterland
Jackie Waterland
PC'11
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| Francesca enjoying the snow |
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| Francesca and Jackie |
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