Our First Ski Camp organized by YMCA in 2007
Location : Daemyung Ski Resort for 5 days 4 nights.
I've skiied a total of 5 times in my life. The experience is one of total exhilaration and extreme terror the first few times. Later, it just became purely exhilaration on my part. I am pretty athletic by nature, having run numerous marathons in the last 25 odd years, trained and achieved some status in Shitoryu karate also in the last 23 years, swam competitively in my youth. I played squash competitively for University and competed in competitions for my swimming club.
When I experienced putting on skis for the first time, I was awestruck, I was in my early 40s and I was dumbfounded how come, I had not tried this wonderful sport earlier in my life ?
My wife and I were trained in skiing and the 2 boys were trained in showboarding.
We went to 2 ski camps, both I believe at Daemyung ski resort in South Korea. The warmth of the Korean people will always stand out in my mind and the hospitality from the Koreans then was second to none. On each occasion, we made new friends and our boys both loved the camaderie made with their Korean counterparts.
In a ski cabin going up to the top
Learning to ski, we had to master balance on moving thin pieces of plywood, we had to learn to turn and move our centre of gravity from left to right and make the S as we went down, first from the bunny slopes then from the intermediate slopes. To be able to stop, we had to learn to make the inverted 'V' and come to a perfect stop.
Not easy for someone in their 40s.
I am lad to have had the ski experience with my family and I really wish to be able to ski a couple more times in my lifetime.
