Ski Happy

I've been thinking a lot recently about my days on the high school ski team. We used to always say that "real skiers ski uphill." My brother had been captain of the downhill ski team while I was captain of my team, so he used to call us "forest fairies." Either way, those were some of my best memories.

2002 Rebels - we're so young!

Captain's practices started around this time of year, so I always get a little reminiscent on these chilly afternoons. Our capt. practices usually consisted of going for a run and playing some intense games of Ultimate Football. Once the real season started, we jumped right into dryland training (which lasted for longer on bad snow years). These practices included pushing cars in the high school parking lot, pliometrics, pulling each other on roller blades, hill-bounding, and my least favorite - running stairs in the lecture halls.

Once the snow came, morning practice of weightlifting started so that we could spend every day after school skiing at Elm Creek. Then race season started - usually two races a week. Every race day started with putting on my lucky teal socks and drinking a red powerade after my race. I had some pretty bad falls, but also some really great accomplishments. Ski team taught me to push myself . . . and that if worked hard enough, everything would pay off. I was lucky to have so many fabulous coaches who would go in to work early just so they could leave in time to get to our practice. I don't know if I could ever thank them enough for everything they did for us.

Ski season also included many trips up to Coach Ward's cabin. This cabin has a great story behind it. The year before I joined the team, all of the skiers and parents helped Joe build this cabin - everything from installing the plumbing to providing the furniture. It really felt like the team's cabin. We used to jam 40 kids, alumni and parents into this cabin and would spend our days skiing, laughing, and playing lots of Mario Kart. The days at ski camp would start with this view:

The cabin had a very unique smell - a combination of melted ski wax, tang, hot chocolate and sweat. Probably because we used to drape all of our wet ski gear all over the cabin like this:

I think I ate more pasta, oatmeal and granola bars than I will the rest of my life. Imagine giant pots and pans of spaghetti covering these counters, with a line of tired and hungry teenagers:

When we weren't in the cabin preparing for a day of training or a big race, we were out skiing the trails of Giant's Ridge. To this day, I still know every hill and turn of the classic race course. The hill right BEFORE the "circle hill," the long downhill that was such a relief after the 3K uphill, the hills that you need to remember to crest. It's one of my favorite places in the world:

Skiing with an old captain and dear friend, Rebecca

Like any team, there are tons of traditions that are carried on year-to-year. Ours included the all-you-can-eat buffet every Tuesday at Godfather's pizza, hanging out at "the balcony," hiking Bigfoot at night every Thanksgiving Camp to bond as a team, and letter jackets galore:

Hiking Bigfoot my senior year in college. I got smart and decided to use snowshoes.

 I realize that hindsight is 20/20. There was often a lot of drama that came with ski team - that's just a part of high school. But I'm thankful that I can look back with a smile and know that whenever I ski, I will ski HAPPY.