It's not a controlled descent!

I go to dinner every Wednesday night with other foreigners around Uijeongbu. Dayna usually goes to these as well, though she is moving into Seoul this week and probably won't be joining us anymore. This week at dinner, she asked me if I was interested in going skiing with her and Hong, her Korean boyfriend. I had been wanting to try skiing, and I always enjoy hanging out with Dayna, so I said of course! Hong had booked the hotel room, the bus, and the lift tickets ahead of time as a package deal.

We left at 8:15 on Saturday morning (which meant I had to be in Sincheon by 7:45, which meant I had to be on the subway in Uijeongbu by 6:45, which meant I had to be on the bus by 6:15, which meant I had to be out of the house by 6:05, which meant waking up at 5:30. This is why I want to live in Seoul.). The bus took about 4 hours to get to 고한(Gohan), which means "high land". It's waaaay up in the mountains, and very far north - Hong said you could see North Korea from the top of the mountains (but according to my map it's actually east south east of Uijeongbu). We went to a resort called High1 Resort.

We went all the way to the top of the mountain on the bus, and then followed Hong into a gondola, to get back down to the bottom.

A view of a gondola, from a gondola.

The view down to the ski resort

A view of the chalet. I was so impressed that it looked like something out of a movie!

He called the ski rental place, and they sent a van to pick us up and take us to the shop, which was conveniently located next door to our hotel (a result of good planning on Hong's part). There are different kinds of boots for skis and snowboards, so Hong and Dayna got snowboard boots, and Christian, Laura and I got ski boots. Laura was a friend of Dayna's, and Christian is her boyfriend. They're both devout Christians, and want to become missionaries. I normally wear a size 280 shoe in Korea (size 11 women's). I always get funny looks when I ask for this size, as it is abnormally large for women here. I thought the 280 fit ok, until I actually started walking towards the van. My feet scrunched up and felt like they were going to cramp, and I couldn't move my toes at all. So we asked them for a bigger size. They didn't really have any, but they tried and basically just got me a different style of the same size that they slightly adjusted with a screwdriver. These were also a bit small, but they didn't have anything else, so I decided to just grin and bear it.

We decided to go back to the hotel room and get some lunch since it was after 2 and we hadn't eaten since before we got on the bus. We ordered pizza to the room, and the five of us ate on the floor of the room that Dayna, Hong and I were sharing.

A warning label for the escape route from our tenth floor hotel window - you attach yourself to a rope and climb out.

We were satiated and ready to go a bit past three, and by this time it had started snowing. I was fascinated by the snow- this time it was little tiny snowballs, almost like miniature hail, instead of the small snowflakes that I had been seeing. The rental van took us back up to the slopes, and we hustled out to the lifts.

(Author's note: I was forbidden, for obvious reasons, from taking my camera on the slopes with me the first day. All the subsequent pictures, except when noted, are from my second day, but for illustration's sake will be used as if they were taken on the first.)

Seeing as how I'd never even seen a ski up close, let alone used one before, my friends were very patient and helpful with me, showing me how to put on my skis, and how to walk in them to get to the lifts. There were two options when you leave the chalet - both of them beginner's runs. Since we hadn't been on either, we randomly chose the one on the left, the Zeus.

All the runs were named after Greek gods and goddesses.

The Jupiter run turned out to be half as long as the Zeus run.

So you put your lift pass somewhere in your clothes on the left side of your upper torso, since it's a hands-free scanner that reads the card through your clothes to let you onto the lift. Six people fit on each lift seat, and you stand on a ledge of sorts, waiting for the lift to come and hit you from behind to make you sit down. As you go up, your skis and poles are hanging over nothing, which explained the one or two ski poles that we saw under the lift. I went on the first lift with Christian and Laura, and Dayna and Hong went on the one behind us.

Laura's picture of the three of us on the lift

A view from the lift to the ground through my skis. I was fascinated by the footprints, as I could see both human and animal tracks.

I was also impressed by the garbage can they had constructed: a large gated area where you simply dropped your trash from the lift shortly before you reached the end. This way the ski patrol only had to clean one small area instead of under the entire lift.

I love it when people think ahead like this.

As we were going up the lift, we passed the end of the Jupiter line, and we realized we'd gone on the longer of the two runs. I would later come to further realize this seemingly random decision would have an enormous impact on the rest of my day.

The lift exit for Jupiter. Notice the orange pads, in case you fall off the lift a bit too early.

So we continued on up the slope, and I continued to enjoy the view and the pleasant rocking of the lift (not at all concerned about falling, but rather marveling at the engineering and physics that allowed 6 people and their ski equipment to balance on a rope and a pole for hundreds of meters.)

A view of the Zeus run from the lift

When we got to the top, I was forewarned that getting of the lift is actually the hardest part. It requires a bit of skill, coordination, and upper body strength, none of which I seemed to posses at that moment in time, so I fell off immediately upon impact, laughing the whole time. Laura did her best to try to teach me, but I seemed unable to understand how "pizza" and "french fries" were going to be of any use to me (they refer to the shape of your skis, with either the fronts pointing towards each other in a triangular shape, or parallel to each other). It turned out all I ever really used was pizza anyways, since that's the stance you use to brake, or slow yourself down.

Christian, Laura, and me in high spirits before hitting the slopes. And I do mean that literally.

This picture of me was taken by Laura without my knowledge, and gives the false impression that I actually knew what I was doing.

Hong and Dayna arrived, and Hong was a bit better at explaining exactly what I should be doing with my feet and skis, so Christian and Laura said they'd see us later. I didn't see them the rest of the day.

Dayna and Hong with their snowboards

Hong continued to coach me for about 15-20 minutes, explaining in detail what I needed to do, and showing me first how to get my skis off when I'd fallen (it's nigh impossible to stand up with your skis on if you're on the ground), and then, most importantly, how to turn. This was to be my hardest lesson of the day. I picked up rather quickly that I had to point your toes towards each other to slow down, and if my feet were parallel and facing down the mountain, it was going to be a rather uncontrolled decent to the bottom. The hardest part for me was becoming accustomed to the feeling of being on skis, and realizing which of the feelings meant I was going to fall and which of them was simply me learning my balance all over again. This included turning.

Normally when you turn, for instance on a bike or in a car, you slow down. This is because you can lose control more easily on a turn. This is a concept that I became aware of while playing video racing games before I could drive (why do I have to put on my brakes in the turn? you mean I can't make a 90 degree turn at full speed? why?). This is not the case when you ski, at least for a beginner. As a novice, it was my intention to reduce the amount of the slope to a more acceptable level - i.e. completely flat. This meant weaving back and forth across the run so that I was going practically perpendicular to the run, rather than parallel. This also meant, that as I would reach the side of the slope, that I would have to turn to face the other side. It is an inevitability that as you turn to face the other way, that at some point your skis will then be facing directly down the mountain, even if only for a moment. This has the undesired effect of speeding up the novice skier in the process of a turn. This is not an easy feeling to get used to.

So, once I had learned, at least in theory, how to turn, stop, and get up once I'd fallen, I released Hong and Dayna to allow them to have fun, while I proceeded to learn how to ski on my own. At first I was immensely surprised at how physically difficult it was to ski. I had thought that you simply stood on the skis, allowing gravity to do it's thing, and simply enjoying a controlled descent down the mountain. This is not the case. Not even remotely. I found muscles in the backs of my legs I didn't know I had. You have to clinch and tighten just about every muscle in your legs to make the skis go the correct angle, both against each other and against the snow. It takes a bit of practice to figure out how much of an angle will allow how much braking power. I got sore rather quickly, and didn't mind falling down at all, because it allowed me to sit and rest for a while and watch the other skiers and snowboarders.

A view of the Zeus run

I found out that I am a great coach for myself. I began to talk out loud, creating a one-sided dialogue that sounded more like what my dad sounded like when he was teaching me how to ride a bike (and yes, I do attribute learning that to my father, and not that babysitter from way-back-when). Something along the lines of "Ok, you're coming up to a turn. Alright, so if you want to turn left, which you do, you need to lean right. Ok, so here's a clean-looking patch of snow, let's aim for that and try to turn there. Ready? Ok, now lean, that's it, keep going, that's it, you've got it, just a little bit more now, keep leaning, don't panic, it's alright, you got it, you got it, see? There, now just keep your toes together, remember A line, alright, don't worry about that guy that whizzed past you, he can steer and you can't so just keep going. Alright head for that sign over there and we're gonna try to turn again." And so on. It was rather encouraging, actually, and much better company that actually having someone else saying that to me, which eventually I would have found annoying. I had the added bonus of being on a Korean slope, so the likelihood was very high that even if someone could hear me talking, they wouldn't know what I was saying.

By the time I reached the end of the slope I was utterly exhausted. It had felt like a long time, but I had enjoyed the challenge of something new. I had talked with a friend a while back about when people try something for the first time and aren't good at it, they often give up because it's much more pleasant when you're actually good at something. This particular friend hated bowling because he was terrible at it. I remember thinking that I'm not that great at bowling either (despite the fact that I have a varsity letter in the sport), but I love it because it's a chance to hang out with friends and do something fun and constructive, instead of eating or drinking all the time. Life is what you make it (to quote a wise man I know), and I chose to make this a fun weekend. So instead of getting entirely too frustrated with myself for constantly falling down, and not being able to make visible progress down the run, and feeling depressed as I watched the sun go down, the slopes get dark, and the number of people passing me decrease, I simply chose to enjoy myself. I chose to enjoy the alone time that I had, enjoy the snow, enjoy the people around me having fun, enjoy the challenge of something new and exciting, and to just keep going. It took me over three hours to get down that slope, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

I called Dayna when I finally got to the end of the run, and she sounded surprised that I was in such high spirits. They had been worried about me because they hadn't heard from me in so long, and had been wondering if I was ok. I assured them that I was fine, but that I was really thirsty and needed some water. So I stashed my skis outside and headed into the chalet to get some water.

A locker of sorts where you can lock your snowboard or skis if you don't want to drag them inside with you. Yet another smart idea.

We sat down and I pulled by boots off, as my toes had gone numb from lack of circulation, not the cold. While I drank my fill of water, Dayna and I talked for a bit, and took a picture with a Korean guy dressed in a cow ski suit from head to toe (We took it with his camera and he promised to send Dayna the pictures via email since neither of us had our cameras on us). When I was ready to try one more time going down the smaller Jupiter slope, I tried to get my boots back on, but was unable to, I'm guessing because my feet were too swollen and they had been too small to begin with. So I decided to call it a day, and Hong called the rental place for me and Dayna and we headed back to the hotel.

After luxuriating in a 3-inch hot bath (they didn't have drain plugs to save water, but I was gonna be darned if there was a bathtub in my room and I didn't use it. I used a towl to stop up the drain.), Dayna and I hung out in the room until Christian and Laura came back. We waited a bit for Hong, but then when he arrived he said he'd already eaten on the slopes. So we ordered in Korean food (I had mandu, or Korean dumplings), and ate and talked until around 11, when I suggested we go to bed so we could hit the slopes early the following day.

Kids playing in the snow by one of the lifts

We woke up around 9 on Sunday, and were on the slopes by 10. I went on the Jupiter run twice with Dayna.

Dayna and I on day two

At the top of the Zeus run, with the Zeus 2 run behind me.

I'm ready!!

A luge-type setup for snowboarders and skiers.

As we were getting ready to go up to the Zeus, I realized that I had lost my lift pass. I'd put it in my larger gloves since I didn't have a pocket in my jacket, and I'd taken my gloves off on the lift because they were too warm and forgot the pass was in there. We had to call Hong and try to figure something out. At first I thought about just buying another pass for the day, but a half day was almost 50,000won ($50), so I ixnayed that idea. Hong thought of calling the rental place to see if Christian and Laura had picked up their passes for the day, and they hadn't. So we asked them to bring us the passes, and to fix Hong's snowboard (it was set up for a righty, not a lefty). We decided that I'd use the pass until either it was time to go, or they left the hotel room and wanted to go skiing, and then I'd give it back. After getting my new pass, I made it back down the Zeus a few more times, decreasing my time from three hours to 18minutes and 50 seconds.

A view of some of the harder runs from the Zeus lift

I guess the lift attendants got bored and made a 'skiman' next to their snowmobile.

As I was getting ready to head in for the day, I got a text from Christian, saying that I should try the green Hera if I thought I could, and that I would really like it. It turned out that Dayna hurt her knee so she gave her pass to Laura, and Christian got his from Hong and they were on the slopes. I debated for a moment, and then decided I should at least try. So I headed back up the lifts one more time for Hera.



There was a long line to get onto the Hera lift, and I was starting to get antsy. I needed to make sure I was back down the mountain in time for us to leave for the bus. But it was definitely worth it. The lift for Hera goes all the way to the top of the mountain. It turns out that there's actually a Zeus 2 from the top, and even though it goes from the top of the mountain, it's still considered a beginner's slope.

A map of the runs, with the green line from the top showing the Zeus runs

The view from the top of Zeus 2.

This is the point at which I became a bit nervous. Even though I'd managed to make it the whole day without falling down once, and had even gained some confidence in my ability, I was completely unsure about the look of this one. But, I figured I was there, there were plenty of ski patrols everywhere, what could it hurt, right?

I managed to make it about half way down the Zeus 2 with no serious issues. The views were utterly amazing, and aside from having to concentrate extra hard on not falling over, I was having a bit of fun. Then I saw It. It was The Mountain. This was not a slope or steep incline on the run. This was The Mountain. I know this because the nice little yellow' caution' signs that tell you when a particularly challenging area lay ahead had changed into 'danger' signs. Not only this, but the ski patrol was not simply standing in the middle of the run like all the others had been. No. This one was standing behind a three sided, padded mini-fortress to keep people from running into him. I stopped in my tracks and stared in awe as people attempted, only a few successfully, to navigate down this Mountain. I knew I was going to fall. Not fail, just fall. I was ok with that. I was prepared. So, I took a deep breath, and tried to go as perpendicular as possible to The Mountain. I made it to one side ok, though a bit out of breath from the strain. Then I tried to turn. Remember I mentioned that when you turn, you speed up? Yeah, that's not a good thing on The Mountain. I lost the ability to slow down, lost my balance, went tumbling head over heels, and barreled head first into a Korean snowboarder that was also struggling down the mountain, while yelling unintelligible noises to try to warn her I was coming. After a hurried exchange of "I'm sorry, are you ok, I'm fine" in Korean (yes, I said all that in Korean after falling down The Mountain. I can communicate on a basic level now. Yay!), I scooted over to the side of the mountain and tried to figure out what to do.

The patrol was too far back up the mountain for me to try to get up to him. I had just gotten a call from Hong asking where I was, which meant I needed to get down the mountain as fast as possible and get back to the chalet because we needed to get on the bus to go home. So I decided to slide down in my boots the rest of the way down The Mountain, and then ski to the nearest lift and take that back, since that was still faster than me trying to ski down. When I stood up, The Mountain was so steep that all I had to do was keep my feet still, and I slid about 500 feet without doing anything but standing. Once I'd gotten to more level ground, I put my skis back on and hurried my way to the Zeus lift to go back down.

I got to the chalet on time, and since they'd had to check out of the hotel, they brought my bags and things for me. I gave the rental place back their equipment and we hurried towards the buses. Christian and Laura took a different bus home, and I hopped on the one with Dayna and Hong back to Sincheon. I spent most of the ride alternately reading Anansi Boys and resting my eyes, and after a nice meal in Sincheon of steamed fish, I headed back home to Uijeongbu.

A picture of the frosted trees that Laura took on the slopes