Double Black

Finally, I got the pleasure to understand what ski on powder means. Well, not waist-deep powder, but still powder. Lake Louise received 17 cm overnight and we were hitting the slopes at 11 am today. It was windy and snowy, a bit uncomfortable on the top but very good conditions overall. We were 4 kids, 4 adults and we all had a blast!

Slowly, I am getting used to my new boots. It is amazing the difference it makes in my confidence level and my ski. Not sure about the style just yet but I may be changing it soon, with the beginning of the Ladies Program next week. Today, I had a peek on a double black and, although very steep, it didn’t scare me as I was expecting it was going to.

This reminds me my process more than 23 years ago, when I couldn’t cross a corner on a trail in Itatiaia, Rio de Janeiro. High mountains and exposed trails are common in the oldest national park in Brazil. Itatiaia was where I started my love life with the mountains and its activities, being it hiking or climbing. I spent many weekends on its mountains including one during my rock climbing course, in 1991.

Before that, I was hiking there with friends and we were on a big rock plateau. The trail continued around big boulders and Itatiaia is full of them, with big voids between them, below them, around them. I just couldn’t keep going. The fear was so gigantic that paralyzed me. But I didn’t give up. Well, I did give up at that time but went home and couldn’t stop thinking about this passage.

Every time I thought about it, I convinced myself that I could do it. For many days, weeks, maybe months I convinced myself that it WAS possible until I went back there and, voilà, I did it! So today the corner on the trail was a double black. I can do it. I can do it. If I just repeat this mantra enough time to convince myself, I know I can do it…