A Ski Trip

Around twenty of us drove up to Ski Brule, Iron River Michigan, on Thursday and stayed at Buckhorn Chalet right in front of the slopes. The slopes looked so beautiful and scary at the same time. I was excited to ski for the first time the very next day.

When we reached there, there was a free lessons for first timers (should register beforehand). The faculty was nice enough to allow me to join even-though I had not registered. They had first-timers-ski-free offer as well which I missed! Anyway, the faculty was helping the inexperienced on the bunny hills in using the ropes, sliding, stopping, turning. They answered my questions, helped me get up, skied down the slope along with me, helped me tremendously in getting used to the rope (this was so difficult at first, I couldn’t go more than two feet) and were very cheerful. Now when I think of it, I liked the skiing experience because of their good faculty as well. Thumbs up for them. 👍

I was asked to be on the bunny hills for some more time but I took off as my friends were waiting for me to go to the next level - the maple syrup. It didn’t go quite well - I dropped my skis trying to get on the lift and had one of the faculty attach it to the shoes, I fell down getting off the lift, fell down at the first turn as I picked up speed. I fell down again before coming down. I tried that slope a couple of times and kept dropping the skis! I pity the lift operator who had to put it back on. 😟 He wasn’t complaining; he understood and kept giving me tips each time. I like Ski Brule. 😃

Next slope was Homestead. Just looking at it scared the hell out of me. It was steep and had a sharp turn right after. I just turned left and stayed on maple the whole time. I declined the offer to join on other hills.

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Next day, after a couple of rounds of maple syrup, I graduated to homestead. Guess, I don’t have to tell you about how it went for a few times. But by noon, I was confident. I had to push myself to the limit to go on Timber Doodle when other group of friends called me. Thank god I did that because I loved it so much; it was awesome going down that terrain trail. I didn’t fall even once on that slippery surface, I even zigzagged between others (okay, I had to because I couldn’t control the speed!). I tried it again before moving on to other slopes. I tried all slopes except White Water and Double Doodle.

On last few slopes, I got company of Cynthia who kinda gave me the confidence to push the limit a bit more. Looking back now, I think, I wouldn’t have even tried them if it wasn’t for her! On the last slope Big Bear, I caught some air on the small edge. Voila, I didn’t fall and got excited and a bit over confident too and picked up speed. BAM! Fell down so hard and my friend John stopped to check if I was ok. How was he supposed to know that I was only testing my helmet. 😁

That was the end of skiing; it left me wanting for more. The best of it all was that I walked into the chalet with approx. 15 strangers and walked out knowing how wonderful they all are. It was a trip filled with memories and will be one the most memorable among many to come.

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Total cost (including food, stay, ski etc) was was around $150 - advantage of going in groups.
Slope levels - (easy) Green, Blue, Black