One of my basic rules of skiing is that if the mountain gets in my head, my skiing turns to shit. Well, it was one of those days. I had an ambitious plan--to complete the White Ring, which connects Zurs to Zug to Lech to Stubenbach and then back to Zurs. The map below is incredibly deceptive. It makes it seem like the longest route was through Lech. Pretty sure it was not.
This sign showed that a) I was on the right path--the white ring b) the path was hard--a red diamond (see yesterday's post about Euro signs) |
traverses. I let the mountain get in my head, so I lost my form and skied mostly in survival mode--lots of sliding and turning to keep my speed down. It wasn't harder than trails I have done elsewhere, but it really did feel like I was doing down the mountain side, which made me nervous about my speed and control. And it went on and on and on, and down and down. So, I sweated a lot, my legs didn't tire, but my lungs did. I fell maybe once or twice, mostly trying to stop. Nothing traumatic.
Near the top of the endless decline is a spot where one can climb to the right to get a great view. Um, no thanks. The round thing on the right is the Ring |
View of the run down to Zug from the gondola on the opposite side. I skied from that notch at the top all the way down |
And then I got to Zug. I sat on a spare chairlift bench and rested for about ten minutes and then took the lift to the top. There, I was greated by a rope tow---a horizontal one to get from the lift to the top of Lech. It was fine although different from any rope tow I had done before--and I have mostly avoided any kind of lift that involves dragging (until today x 2). Once there, I was able to take a very long (but not as long as the map suggests) ride down from the top of Lech to nearly the bottom. I took a break at the first sign of cafeteria where I embraced my addictions:
The strudel was pretty good. Not life changing but definitely much needed after the exertion to get there.
The luxurious heated/leather seated lift to start the adventure had a pictogram to explain when the safety bar and the protective hood would automatically lift. |
My hotel has the BEST ski lockers-- the things holding up the boots and mittens are air dryers. So, my boots, helmet, and gloves should be dry tomorrow. My coat? We shall see. |
The good news is that the visibility problems today (unlike yesterday) were due to fresh snow. So, the conditions should be good for my last day here. The big question is whether I go back to Lech (by bus) and ski some terrain their or just use the accumulated local knowledge to ski Zurs.
Oh, back to the psychology of skiing, having so much time alone while doing all of this and sitting on the lifts had me thinking about and being frustrated by letting this stuff get into my head. I didn't have that problem playing ultimate--I never really choked, as I was always pretty confident in my throws and my ability to see the field.
I did remember a notable moment long ago--the finals for my weight class in the middle school/high school inter-scholastic tourney. I choked, losing to a guy I had beaten earlier in the season. That was the only time that happened, as I won pretty much all of the tourneys at camp despite usually (always?) being the underdog.
I did remember a notable moment long ago--the finals for my weight class in the middle school/high school inter-scholastic tourney. I choked, losing to a guy I had beaten earlier in the season. That was the only time that happened, as I won pretty much all of the tourneys at camp despite usually (always?) being the underdog.
I think the combo of unfamiliar equipment (the rental helmet in particular didn't fit well), very mixed snow conditions, limited visibility at times, and the aforementioned steep narrow traverses all caused me to think rather than just ski. I never did any mindfulness or meditation stuff, so I have no skills to push this stuff out. I will try tomorrow to just focus on getting into rhythm.
Even so, I had a great time, and am enjoying this completely different ski experience.
1 comment:
Looking forward to skiing with you again next year. It is always easier to explore new slopes with a partner.
Post a Comment