I learned how to ski for 'Eddie the Eagle.' I never skied before. So I had to go out to Germany a couple of weeks early and make sure I could ski.
I started skiing when I was five years old. I grew up on a little 300-foot mountain called Perfect North Slopes. It wasn't a great destination in the world, but it was a good enough place to learn how to do tricks.
Skiing in Whistler was great fun. It's an extreme environment that's very different to my own and I had never skied before, so I had to learn to take on the elements quite bravely. It was nice to try something new.
I now realize that the small hills you see on ski slopes are formed around the bodies of forty-seven-year-olds who tried to learn snowboarding.
I remember skiing being a family recreational thing.
My parents strapped a pair of plastic skis on my boots when I was two years old and sent me down our driveway in Vail. Of course, they were holding on to me the whole time, but that was my first experience 'skiing.'
I didn't start skiing until I was 50. My wife Lois taught me how to ski. I'm proficiently conservative.
I've only skied a couple of times in my life. Any skier would say I stink.
I'd encourage anyone at any level to take lessons, as it really can turn you into a different kind of skier.
