This was something I was not looking forward to. I had been ill during the week. Luckily, Doctors in Korea hand out antibiotics (and religious advice equally) really easily so within half an hour, I was medicated up for the weekend – 9 pills a day for 3 days!
Even though the 4am start wasn’t exactly what I needed (let alone a weekend in the snow), I managed to pull myself out of bed to join my boyfriend and the bus load of people headed to High 1 Ski Resort, a mere 5 hours from Gwangju. I was so nervous. I kept thinking ‘I shouldn’t have come’, ‘I’m not well enough for this’, ‘I’m going to break something!’ and finally, ‘what about avalanches!?’ Evidently, my brain is incapable of positive thinking at 4am.
After kitting up, which took ages, we headed for the slopes. In the Gondola up the mountain, I was amazed by the view and the skill of the skiers. It was a glorious view across the mountains and in the Korean Winter sun, the snow gleamed. The tiny skiers and snowboarders zipped past each other, some sitting, some whizzing by and some stumbling in the white snow. It was a gripping site but I couldn’t ignore my terror. We were travelling so far up the mountain and I knew the only way down was to ski. We weren’t having any lessons and I’d never skied before, this could not be a good idea, could it?
The beginners’ slopes were at the peak of the mountain. Really?! Who came up with that?! After the obligatory poses at the top in our ski outfits – which were all horrendous (the outfits, not the poses, they were fab naturally) – we began. Our friends, my boyfriend and I threw ourselves down the gate of the beginner slope, which I thought was actually pretty steep. Turns out, only one of our friends knew how to ski! Within the first two or three metres, all the rest of us had all fallen over and were unable to get up. Skis were flailing around in the air, bottoms were writhing in the snow trying to push themselves up and poles were sliding down the mountain. It must have looked ridiculous to those around us who had had the foresight to have some lessons before hitting the slopes. Our friend (now impromptu ski-instructor), very patiently gathered us together (which took a while as he had to scrape us off the mountain first). Gathering us into a teetering huddle, he gave us some more information regarding how to ski. Apparently, we had to move from side to side to get down, we couldn’t just go straight down with our skis in the pizza position as we had all assumed. We had to zig zag. This was news to all of us. After successfully, putting our skis back on whilst vertical on a mountain side, we started to chaotically zig zag down the hill. Cue more falls, more wallowing in the snow and finally, very slowly, more success.
By the end of that first day, we could all successfully ski down the beginner slopes with minimal falling. I myself did 5 beginner slopes and by the end, I did some without falling at all! I was getting pretty good and speedy at my small S turns. I was even starting to enjoy it, something I really hadn’t done in the first hour. Unfortunately my confidence got the better of me and I had quite a big trip, falling flat on my face forward jarring my neck. I literally ‘ate’ snow. Unsurprisingly, I decided at this point that skiing probably wasn’t for me and eagerly awaited the decision to turn in. Looking back, I should have given it more of a chance. The fall along with the illness made me shaky and tired. With more energy, I’d like to try again!
At the end of the day, we were all exhausted. After realising that on our particular part of the resort we had few dining options and Mr Pizza wouldn’t deliver for hours, we wolfed down a sub-standard Korean meal with something that resembled gratitude for anything we could get. We headed to the hot tub and although busy, it was just what we needed to soak our bones. After running from the tub to the condo bare-foot and dripping wet, we dried off, changed and joined the Ski party/office party that was part of the trip. Man, did we drink to our success!
I chose not to ski the second day. I joined some friends who also opted out. We walked down the mountain through snowy woods, met the boys for lunch and had a great day chatting and exploring. It was nice to have time to really enjoy the mesmerizing view of the mountains surrounding us.
The boys in our group did ski the second day and they conquered the mountain, amazing as two of them were newbies too (my boyfriend included!). I feel I missed out on a chance to consolidate what I had learnt as well as the chance to try some other slopes whilst we were there. The trip we were on organized through ‘Enjoy Korea’, was an incredible deal and was really well organized so whilst I plan to return to do more, it will be more difficult. Nonetheless, I am proud of myself for managing to ski! I am excited to do more and I think this trip really boosted my energy and positivity for trying new things in Korea.