My Passion- Skiing- By Zacharias

My passion is skiing because I have been doing it since I was four years old and now I am apart of a race team. I am very passionate about my ski racing and do the best I can do. Every weekend I go to my ski mountain called Butternut and I train Saturday through Sunday. Sometimes I have a race on one of those days and that is why we train a lot. I am not very competitive about it but I enjoy it and work very hard each weekend to get my skiing skills to a good point. We have a practice course almost every time we go to training so we can practice going into gates and smacking them down.

 I love when I hockey stop and the fresh powder sprayed in my face. When that happens I feel very refreshed and I can keep on doing my training and racing. When I am the start gate I get zoned in on what I am doing and I look around to see how the terrain is because it is important to see in the ground is icy or powdery. I have to do this to see how much on edge in need to be. When they say 5.4.3.2.1….. Go, I take a deep breath and then I push myself with all I have and I tuck halfway down the track and then I tuck for the end. After I stopped, the spectators took the bib that had my number and then I went to the lodge and ate lunch. That is what a race is like in skiing.

 I think that skiing was a passion for me when I first started, but when I joined the race team I felt a totally different feeling about skiing and I wanted to do the best I could do without getting hurt. I have been in the race team for four years so I have improved a lot and for that I am grateful to my coaches for training me the right way. I am always a little nervous for the races because I do not know if I am going to do good or not. I really like skiing and I think that others should enjoy racing even if they do not do good because the way that  I look at it is that is an achievement for me. I really like my skiing and one day I hope to end up in senior ti-state league. Again my passion for skiing is strong. So ski on!!!


Damo with skis crossedCreative Commons License Matt Biddulph via Compfight

My Passion ~ Skiing – By Bella

I’d say that one of my passions is skiing. I know that I have just started, but it has really made an impact on me.

The first time I went skiing I didn’t really think much of it. I got on the bus with my friends and sat down. We talked about skiing and they told me their horror stories. Sure I was scared but I knew I was with experienced skiers and I would be fine. To be honest, I really didn’t think I was going to be good. I’ve been told before that I’m a fast learner and that I would have fun and be fine. The ride on the bus felt very long, but I was excited and so were other people. The bus stopped and everyone piled to the front. I got my things and waited for my friend Olive. Together we walked to the rentals. It was a breeze getting through and gathering our things. We sat down and put our gear on. Now I didn’t think it was THAT hard to get on ski boots. There were so many buckles and my foot was stuck once it was in. Then there was walking. Walking in ski boots is NOT fun. Especially  when you have to carry skis and poles. But I managed. Olive and I finished up in the rentals and headed outside. I walked up to the bunny hill. To Olive the bunny hill was the flattest thing you could go down on, but to me it was like going down a mountain. We met up with more friends. Then I saw my friends taking a lesson. A lesson that I never signed up for. They were surprised when I turned around and told them that I never signed up. Then I went up the magic carpet. I learned stopping and turning fairly easy. By learning this I gained the confidence to go on the lift. I got off at the midway section. My friend Joanie and I went down together. Joanie made me think we went down a green ( a easy trail) But instead we went down a blue (A intermediate trail). The trail was ok. I gained speed and stopped as soon as I did. But then came a drop. I was stopping and my foot gave out on me. I started going down fast. Then I made the mistake of learning forward. By leaning forward I gained even more speed. I couldn’t stop. But while this was happening I felt a type of rush. It was amazing. The time came where I just crashed. Everyone came skiing down behind me to check on me. I was ok. I knew that this would happen in the future.

The second time we went skiing I spent about three runs on the bunny hill. Then I went on the lift. I decided to go down the blue again. Turns out that the trail started as a blue and ends as a green. My friends and I went down until we got to the mid way section of the trail. Here you could go down two different ways. Now one of our friends wasn’t the best at skiing. We waited for him and I snapped this picture below. Our friend came down and we continued. We then went down it again. I didn’t really like going on the ski lift. I always thought that something bad was going to happen to me and I ended up being right. The second time going up the ski lift was fine until we got off. What happen was that because of the way my ski poles were, I couldn’t get them out in time. So I continued going up. I could not go to the top of the mountain, NO WAY!!! So I jumped off. It was a bad decision and I now know never to do it again. I fell down and my friends surrounded me. I was fine.

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The third and last time I’ve been skiing was really when everything set in. I realized that I’m a pretty ok skier. I went on the bunny hill only once or twice. We finally went to the top of the mountain. When we did we went to the terrain park. It was very icy and I fell a lot. But this didn’t stop me from going again. I felt almost unstoppable. I could really go on anything now. My friends were proud of me and so was I. But I realized this whole time that they opened another trail. I took this picture right before we went down( Picture below). 

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I know now that skiing is something I enjoy. I love the rush you get when you’re going down a trail and pleasure skiing. The way my eyes get when I forget to put my goggles on. I’m always looking forward for Friday so we can go skiing. I love everything about it and hope to get better.

Ski House – By Cormac

Ski House

One day, I was sitting on a couch reading a comic book. The couch was surprisingly comfortable, and I was really relaxed.  I was up in Copake, only 10 or 20 minutes from Catamount Mountain.  If you don’t know, Catamount is a wonderful ski area that my family loves.  My family had rented a ski house, so we would be able to ski all the time.

As I was sitting, the fire suddenly started to crackle and pop.  I love the way the air smells faintly of smoke, reminding me strangely of summer!… As I looked up, my dad was eagerly playing on his iPad.  I knew my sister was in the loft, reading as well.  My mom was cooking.  Right then and there it smelled a little bit like charcoal, but it was starting to smell like homemade cooking.

I looked out through the porch towards the pretty immense lake, sitting behind the house.  The lake had been partly drained because people wanted the get the invasive species taking home in the lake out.  So, of course, our dock hovered four feet out in the air.  Which I thought was pretty cool.  My dad looked up as the ladder to the loft creaked.  My sister came down the ladder.  It was warm, and I felt the pillow under my back as I layed back down.  For some reason, I’ve always had a soft spot for pillows.  I really liked this house. It smelled like new house-whatever that actually smells like.

The fire was starting to die, and it was almost time to leave for dinner. My mom had started to cook chili. Unfortunately, we couldn’t eat it, because the house we were staying at had everything other than a can opener.  Otherwise, it was really fun, and I had a good time!  I can’t wait to go this coming weekend.  So yeah, we’re going to Otto’s Hillsdale Country Diner.