Very first run on skis?

I was too young to remember, but my first run was at Mt. Kato, MN, on the run lookers left of the huge radio tower on the left.

http://elizabethrs.smugmug.com/photos/4598932-S.jpg

My first actual memory of being on skis was nordic skiing- my parents both raced and we were up in Cable, WI for my dad to ski the Birkebeiner. We always went up a week ahead so my parents could skate part of the course and so we could ski for a few days as a family. I remember skating along behind my dad who had me attached to a cord so he could feel if I fell. Half the time he made me ride in one of those kiddie packs on his back so they could go faster, and I guess I didn't like that quite as much. I don't remember how old I was, maybe 5 or 6? I skied nordic a lot when I was younger and raced in the Kortelopet (1/2 birkie) when I was 13 and 14. Then it was all downhill from there. :cool:

http://www.skinashoba.com/images/tra...il_Map_Map.gif

240 vertical feet of pure adrenaline! (which I hated the first few times)

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Originally Posted by wookalar

castle run at Ober Gatlinburg...no time for the greens, I rawked onto the blues on my maiden voyage

http://www.obergatlinburg.com/skimap.gif

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Wookalar,Don't feel bad those where Teledave's and my first runs too.When I was reading this thread I about cracked up thinking that I wasn't the only one to experience such a everlasting impression of the sport we love,skiing.Thanks that's made my day! See Ya, Mr. Stinky

First run on the red plastic skis like the ones Dex mentioned in the ditch slope at my grandparents cottage. I used to climb up the biggest hill by my house and go down with my cross country skis. Couldn't really turn well, but the speed was the greatest feeling. First lift served hill was Navarino Hill in Navarino, WI, which has since closed.

The Cub Chair at Bear Valley. Good times.

stinky - did you ever rock the turf skiing in the summer at ober?

nothing like astroturf, silicon, and a billion little plastic beads...do they still have that? Do they still have the alpine slide?

It's pretty funny how, after Intrawest bought Vernon Valley /Great Gorge and turned it into Mountain Creek, the same set of trails no longer fits on one trail map... so here is Vernon Peak only (actually, I don't think I discovered then-named Great Gorge North and Great Gorge South until I was 11 or 12 years old anyways..)

...anywho... Vernon Twp. Public Schools ski club - one night a week of free babysitting for the parents. Every Wednesday the bus would drop us off at the mountain after school and the parents would pick us up at 8 PM from 3rd grade on.

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Originally Posted by wookalar

castle run at Ober Gatlinburg...no time for the greens, I rawked onto the blues on my maiden voyage

http://www.obergatlinburg.com/skimap.gif

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Same here, my first run was on a rainy January night on the turf with no other than Rolf Lanz himself as my teacher. He showed us the wedge and we eased down to the hump as a group. He asked for volunteers to go first and said to make a right turn off the flat and then just keep doing it. I made one turn and straightlined it to the bottom. :D

Edit: Turf has been gone for about 10 years or so now, but I'm still finding those beads in my house, I don't know where they come from. Wish I could find an old map that had Bear Run named as the "Bowling Alley", I don't know of any run that could ever be more appropriately named.

Grouse Mountain, Vancouver. Went up skiing with my grade 4 class on a school trip. Sessioned the Paradise rope tow on the first day. Second day finally got the courage to try the Cut.

Funny how much bigger and steeper things look when you're a kid.

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Originally Posted by The AD

http://www.skiswissvalley.com/images/slope-map2.jpg

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Ditto.

678910

I can't remember the name of the ski area, but it is now the north section of Kissing Bridge ski area, which is in the Lake Erie snow belt south of Buffalo, New York. (Baconzoo might know someone who would remember the name of the ski area.)

My best friend in junior high school and his family introduced me. It must have been seventh grade, back in 1966. They illustrated snow plow turns and snow plow stop and explained how to use the rope tow on the bunny hill. And then they did the greatest thing: They left me alone for the rest of the morning so I didn't feel embarrassed.

It has been an absolute rush since that first time down the bunny hill.

http://www.kissing-bridge.com/IMAGES/MAP3REV.JPG

Timberline for me too. It was our millinium(sp) celebration. Although I was on Salamander wondering why everyone else was going so slow....then I found out. Changed my life forever.

http://www.skifourlakes.com/sfl/images/map.jpg
My first run at skis was at Four Lakes in Illinois. One of my high school gymnastics team mates gave me these instructions for skiing: "Rent the equipment, it's easy."
On my first ride up the rope tow I noticed people skiing parallel. So when I got to the top I put my skis together and pointed them downhill. I went straight down, picking up speed, and continued past the bottom of the rope tow into the parking lot (you can see on the above map.) I stopped by catching myself up against a parked car. On my second ride up the rope tow I noticed that people were turning their skis. On my second run I managed to do a series of right turns until I was all the way across the hill at the bottom. I pushed my way back to the rope tow. On my third run I could turn both right and left. By the time I took my fourth run I could also stop if needed. I don't even recall falling that day. Direct to parallel without a real lesson. I have been correcting bad habits ever since. I didn't really start skiing often until ten years later when I moved out west. I'll never forget that first run.

Firstime on skis - Age 1, XC skiing in the backyard (my parents have the pictures to prove it).

Downhill - 7th grade, Canaan Valley WV.

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Originally Posted by bad_roo

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall.../hohesalve.jpg
From summit of Hohe Salve in Soll, Austria. Thrown in at the deep end. Lost a ski half way down and didn't understand how bindings worked. Spent twenty minutes trying to step into a binding with the tail up.

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Roo, I have been there, and done that run, single chair to the top etc .

Was on a contiki tour 3 years ago.

3 or 4 years old...


all i remember is crying cause my mom forced me to take a short half day group lesson......the rest is history
http://www.jfbb.com/images/big-boulder-map.jpg

I use to go around on Dads back, until I spewed on him., then I was on skis from 3.

My back yard, Glen Lake MN. Age: 3.
Herringboned up the hill in the back, slipping backwards. Fought my way to the top and promply crashed my way down. Parent were relieved since at least I wasn't standing up on the sleds or toboggans anymore.

Skied every day in the winter until I was 11.

First lift served day: rope tows at Cedar Hills MN. HELP! played on the loudpeakers, now always brings it back.

age: 1.5 yrs
location: devils head
trail: "0" aka devils playground
radness: high

3 yrs old, in the front yard of the Halings house. they were some friends of my parents who's teenage sons had turned a vw beetle into a rope tow. I cant believe my mom let her 3 year old try and ride that thing. their front yard was pretty long and had a decent pitch to it, i couldnt hold on through the steep part so only skied the bottom.

then moved on to good old Bousquet
http://www.bousquets.com/images/trailmap.jpg

At the tender age of 35 the rope tow whipped me to the top of the beginner slope of Mt Southington where I proceeded to rip the shit out of it. Did I mention I was wearing a periwinkle blue one-piece? (Hey, a girl's gotta have sum style!)

http://www.mountsouthington.com/imag...a_Map_blue.jpg

Sprite

6yo. Parents decided that since the neighbors skied, so would we. We were living in Munich at the time, and they asked one of those neighbors where their kids learned to ski. The answer: Steinberg am Rofan. A tiny little hamlet in a dead-end valley in Tirol.
http://www.tiscover.at/at/images/RGN.../Steinberg.jpg
The meadows inthe front were the grazing grounds of the farmers' livestock, and they built t-bars and pomas on them to use in the winter. The next year we upgraded a bit:
http://www.unisport.at/images/St._Anton.jpg
but we always returned to Steinberg for at least a week every year until I was 11. It was a great place to fall in love with a sport.

I learned on the beginner slope at Mount Snow, or so I'm told as I was 3 years old. Most of my early skiing was done at Ascutney though.
http://www.mountsnow.com/images/trai...inMountain.jpg

Not my first run, per se...but a lot of my early skiing was my mom taking me to the top of this and letting her 3 year old son go, where I would absolutely straightline it into my dad's arms at the bottom.

http://www.skiward.com/images/map.gif