Jumping off a bridge...

...and other ill-advised things to do on skis at my age:

Being of some Nordic descent and living in a Nordic climate, I grew up cross country skiing.  Which is now called Nordic Skiing, either Skating or Classic.  I am a classic kind of Mama.  I got my first skis when I was 2 and spent a decent portion of every winter on them until I went to college.  Last week I found my old skis while looking for my hockey skates and took them out for a spin.  

There is a lovely nature preserve near our house with curvy, narrow trails.  Rolling hills, lots of trees.  Nothing groomed.  You are somewhat at the mercy of the track quality laid down before you got there.  It is worth the risk, though, to be the only person on the acreage, leaving your trail in the snow with the wildlife.  The rabbits mostly just cross the trails, mice too, trying to stay under cover of the trees with all the hawks and owls about.  The deer seem to wander wherever they like, often following next to the trails.  The coyote like to poop on the trails but leave few paw prints otherwise.  At least I hope it's the coyote.  If not it means my fellow skiers are leaving behind more than sloppy trails.

There are a couple of creeks running through the park and they are spanned by narrow, wooden bridges.  They are flat with no edge to them.  Very simple.  My first time out last week I got on the first bridge and noticed the slight drop at the other side of it.  Feeling all Alpha and whatnot for not having fallen down yet, I was filling my own head with stories of the fast return of my prowess.  So I decide to get a couple of hard pushes and take a tiny jump off the end of it.  That would be Thing #1 Not To Do your first time on skis in over 15 years as a 36 year old mother of three who has spent the past couple of years trying to recover from a bad running injury.  At take off, prior to landing, I felt a slight tear above my pubic bone.  Not a hernia, just a good old fashioned pulled muscle.  But not anything that would keep me off my feet.  

I went out again Saturday just before dusk.  I watched the full moon rise through the branches of the oak savanna.  The sky was perfectly clear and I had a very good view of it all from my position flat on my back in the snow.  You see, when I got to that bridge again I thought if I just focus on pushing off from a more tucked position and contracting my abs then I could take that little hop without injury.  Turns out I was right as far as the take off went.  I neglected to work through a plan for landing, however, and my skis shot out from under me.  Thus the stellar view of the darkening night sky.  And thus the dancing stars I was seeing and the throbbing pain in my head where I bounced it off of the edge of the bridge.  Once I was breathing again, I got up and continued on, though perhaps a little more slowly than before.  So it seems that Thing #2 is really just a reminder to learn from Thing #1 and stop trying to jump off the bridge.

I went out again this afternoon.  New snow was falling heavily from a grey winter sky and I was looking forward to being out in it.  I decided to take the trails in reverse, and venture up onto the east hill.  At some level I am sure I was removing the temptation to try the jump again.  Just before the top of a bigger hill, the strap on my pole broke!  It slipped out of some factory installed crevice and there was no way I was going to get it back in there.  So I improvised an alternative which did not hold, I discovered, when I left one pole behind on top of the hill as I was yelling (chtshan!) my way down the hill.  Thing #3 Not To Do is ski with faulty equipment.  So I herringboned my way up with one pole, tried another way to make the strap hold, tested it this time, and then went down the hill again without the cussing.  

Thing #4 Not To Do is to not know what is around the sharp turn at the bottom of a hill.  These trails are literally one-ass wide.  And since I was approaching them from a different direction I was not thinking that there was anything dangerous ahead.  But as I was cruising along in my Alpha Miss Fix It kind of mood, tucked down and enjoying the turns on this long hill, I came around a bend and saw it: that damned bridge.  But this time I was coming at the other side of it.  The one that is a 9 inch step up and I was coming at it with some speed behind me.  Did I mention these trails are narrow?  There were trees on either side of me so I looked ahead and saw an open space to the right of the bridge and I aimed for it.  I took a graceful side slide/fall on purpose and as I was getting up I realized that my skis are sticking out over a 2 foot drop into the rocky creek bed.  Close one.

Moose has asked that I go skiing somewhere with witnesses who can call for help in the event that I should require assistance.  I'll think about it.  This is the closest I am ever going to get to the X-games!