Last Two Days

So I just finished my last two days skiing here in Kimberley, yesterday Friday and today Saturday. Friday morning woke up to a glorious sun rise. Not a cloud in sight and was warm standing outside before the sun rose just in my pyjamas. It was anticipated to be a busy weekend, as it is Winterfest here in Kimberely. Winterfest is just a fancy word for heaps of activities and lots of people converging from all over the place. Fernie had seen alot of rain during the week where Kimberley only had snow, so the transient snow followers were also expected. There was a buzz in the van as we approached. It had snowed Thursday night quite heavily probably about 25-30 cms on top of the 30 centimeters of fresh that fell on Wednesday and Thursday. The line to the chairlift was 50 solid by the time the opening bell rang, and everyone was talking about what a great powder day it was going to be, the first decent one this month. Going up the chairlift it was obvious that the locals were right. There were no tracks anywhere. The trees were covered, and the attempt at what looked like grooming had obviously failed as the snow was quite thick on the main trails. As it was my last two days I said to the gang all I wanted to focus on was my powder skiing and bumps. First run was down Tamarack, a fairly steep, ungroomed black with really impressive fall lines. By my second turn I was in boot to knee high powder. It was soft and impressively dry. However, it had basically been one month since I last skied in these conditions (my second day at camp) and it was hard going, real leg burning material. By the tenth turn we were in knee to mid thigh deep stashes. The turning at the beginning was really tiresome, but my assistant coach gave me a few pointers, including to tighten my stance, get much lower, and open up my upper body more. This prove invaluable as by my twentieth turn I was ripping down Tamarack like there was no tommorrow. The others were all over the shop, one guy was in tears because he had fallen over so much, and the other person, a one legged skier, was already so tired she wanted to go back to the warming hut. So off they went! I was secretly happy, I had the mountain fresh and the assistant coach all to myself. We headed over to a bump run called Full House. This is a notorious leg burner, one of the longest bump runs in Kimberley, and with the overnight powder, it was expected to be quite heavy going. By the time we were at the top we were fearing that it would already be tracked out, but our hearts jumped when we only saw two fresh tracks. We had it to ourselves. We did a couple more easier runs, Notre Damme, a real long cruisy ungroomed green run and another Caper to bottom of Tamarack (one of my favourites). We were tiring pretty quickly so we went back to the front side to check on the others. By the time we got there they were ready to go and we decided to head in the direction of the far front side runs, Moe's and Boundary. Again to our surprise, these runs were hardly tracked up at all. In most places it averaged boot to knee high powder, but in wind blown spots, it was sometimes up to our hips. I found it quite difficult to ski in that much powder. I kept on getting snow in my nose and in really weird places. I now know why the snorkle is a handy powder instrument! I stacked it once and fell into so much powder it took five minutes to get enough of it off to ski onwards. There was just so much it was lunacy! At lunchtime most of the gang were dead, but I was still wanting more. I went back out and just cruised around by myself on some of the easier runs, main, rosa and dreadnaught, all on the frontside and all pretty close to each other. I got five more runs in before calling it quits. At home that night I was absolutely knackered. I sure as hell had skied the best I could have. I was happy with the way I skied in this trying conditions. All in all, I felt that all the training had paid off and I hadnt forgotten anything during my time off sick. The morning's forecast for my last ski was +8. However I was a cold Saturday morning this morning all the way up until about 2pm where the skies opened up and the sun came out. The conditions werent the best, variable in most places, a powder stash turning into hard turning into soft turning into powder again. My coach said these are the best conditions to learn in, as it is a really good test of balance. So I decided that my last skiing day in Kimberley I was going to focus on skiing in different conditions, and suiting my style to these variable conditions. We started off out back again. As it was my last day i was able to choose all the runs. I chose Caper to Easter Chair because that always seems so fresh in the morning. Sure as hell, we zoomed done it, smiles on our faces! At the top of the Easter chair I decided to take everyone down under the Easter chair to Dean's Left. Dean's Left is a picturesque run, a natural bowly halfpipe. It was perfectly groomed and on the sides powder stashes remained. One of my fondest memories is going down this run, the trees are pretty and it is fun skiing in a natural halfpipe without snowboarders! I was skiing really impressively, my style was back baby, and I was looking good! The crowds were thickening so we stuck to Tamarack, down Eureka, down Caper, past Easter, down another natural bowly halfpipe to the bottom of Tamarack. Although this run is heaps fast, you avoid all the crowds. Maximum waiting time was about two minutes whereas on Easter chair it was about fifteen. We did this four times before heading back to the main for lunch. The crowds were insane on the main. About a twenty minute to half hour wait for the chair. So we took an early lunch hoping to get back out when everyone headed in for lunch. Unfortunately there were so many people it didnt make a difference. Everyone was pretty tired and didnt want to wait around for chairs for so long that they just sat in the sun. I wasnt going to let their poor attitude spoil my last day so I took the assistant coach back out the back. We did our little cheat run another four times. I was tiring quickly knew my time was drawing to a close. On the way back to the main I got the guys to do some action shots. By the time I was at the last pitch of the main looking at home I knew my time at Kimberley was over. I was a little sad, a little disappointed at being sick and missing out on so much. Then I decided to ram it home. I finished the run and stopped for a second. How could I be disappointed? My skiing had improved a billion times. I was now a confident, stylish skier. I could go really really fast (by myself, blind as a bat) and not flinch one bit. I could ski all types of snow, all types of pitches, bumps, trees, I could even ski in total fog! A smile came over my face. I had accomplished so much since I had first arrived. The difference between me on my first run and me on my last was dramatic. I was now the skier I had always wanted to be. I was happy with the way I ski now. The smiled remained when I thought about the future. I wanted so much. I wanted to get in the Paralympics and ski for Australia. I wanted to WIN for Australia. I kept on smiling because right at that moment, I was closer to achieving that goal than I ever had been before. And although I was still so far away from achieiving it, I could see the pathway, I could see the light and I wasnt scared, I wanted it all, and I wanted it now!