| First I was a cross country skiier, then a downhill skiier, and finally a snowboarder. I started cross country skiing at when I was quite young. When I was in kindergarten, my family went up to Lutsen in northern Minnesota to ski. Unfortunately I had the chicken pox and had to stay inside most of the time, but my brother (who was already over the chicken pox) got his first taste of downhill skiing. I can't even remember the first time I went downhill skiing, but we started going a lot, mostly to Mt. Kato (vertical drop 240 feet). When I was in 10th grade we took our first trip out west (Big Sky Montana) and loved it. My brother and I also made a couple of trips out to Salt Lake City to visit my cousin Laurie and go skiing. Of course, skiing out west pretty much ruined us for skiing in Minnesota. Besides MN, MT, and UT, I've also skied in Colorado and Austria (on tour with the Gustavus Band) and in NH and VT (while at MIT). Steve was a skier, too, until he won a free snowboarding lesson from a Pepsi bottlecap. I definitely didn't want to be a (punk!) snowboarder, but I eventually agreed to give it a try. Despite the pain of falling on icy New England slopes, I stuck with it long enough to realize the fun. |
