Glancing downward atop the snow covered hill, a calm and
relaxing felling came over me as I started to slowly move forward. Wait, my legs were not moving, as were locked
into my skis, and I was not 100% prepared to begin the spiraling journey to the
bottom. While I was still going through
the instructions in my head from my first lesson two years ago, I had little
time to think, and I could only let gravity run its course as I tried to weave
around people on my way down. On my
first run, I of course mixed up the shifting of my weight to each leg while
turning, and fell a couple times. But
after an unconventional ride up the slope on the surface lift, complete with a
fall because I held the platter rather than putting it between my legs, I was
ready to make another run. I ended up
not falling again the rest of the night, and spent a couple hours on the slope,
each time gaining more confidence and speed, while also properly using the
lift.
Donovaly is a part of Low Tatras National Park, located in
central Slovakia and about 3 hours drive from Bratislava. While it is a popular ski resort in Slovakia,
it is better known for dog sledding, or mushing, which we had arranged to do on
Saturday. While most of the US is under
a blanket of snow and deep freeze, the winter in Europe has been very mild, to
the point where there was very little snow just a short distance from
Donovaly. Half of the ski slopes were
closed due to lack of snow, however, this weekend, we were in luck, as it had
just snowed a few days earlier. The dogs
excitement grew as we approached the pack, each group seemingly calling out
pick me, which is odd because I would not be the one raising my hand to pull people
up numerous hills. But they loved the
chance to get out and run, and right upon sitting down, the musher yelled “Hike”,
and we were on our away. The number of
dogs, mostly huskies, typically can range from 6 to 12. The lead dogs are in the front of the line,
responding to the calls of “Gee” (turn right) and “Haw” (turn left). The swing dogs are next, and are there to
help turn the sled. The team dogs
follow, and are used to pull the sled, and finally the wheel dogs helping again
to steer. Our trip takes us through the
hills, and the dogs excitement really grows as they approach the downhill part
of the run, sprinting through the snow-covered field. Eager to return to base, I thought they would
be receiving treats upon arrival, however, as we exited, they were up and ready
to run again after a short rest.
The rest of the afternoon was spent on the ice, where it had
been more than 12 years since I last skated.
My solid A from a college semester in ice skating class seemed like a
distant memory. It took me some time to
get back to the basics, however, I would need to practice much more to return
to form. The evening was spent again on
the slopes, and only fell once because I was moving too fast and almost ran
into another downhill skier. I actually
twisted my knee but I was not ready to call it a night and continued, however,
later that evening and the next day, it was very painful to walk but all is
fine now. Overall it was a really
wonderful weekend, and I am prepared in case team USA gives me the call-up for
Sochi, as it is only a short 1.5 hour flight.
Finally, while it was not this weekend, I also brushed up on
my curling skills with the team. Similar
to shuffle board, the game requires you to slide a 40 lb block of granite across
a sheet of ice 150 feet into a designated target, or house, with sweepers on
each slide adjusting the speed and direction by reducing friction underneath
the stone, and to decreasing the amount of curl. It is definitely very hard to
land a point, however, on my file throw, I was able to score.
Today, the mens hockey team hits the ice, and our first
opponent is Slovakia. As I am one of the
couple Americans in the office, I am hoping we have a good first showing, or
else it will be a long day in the office tomorrow.
