Ski Lesson 4

Lesson #4 (2-12-15):
Instructor: Katrine, endearing, some type of European accent, 40-something Katrine
John and I are feeling more confident. Rachel is still shaken up from lesson #3. Katrine does a quick assessment of our level 4 skills and, though she's polite, I feel as if she may be wondering how the three of us will ever actually graduate from this program. We venture out to the lift and spend the duration of our lesson with Katrine fine-tuning our skills. We joke and giggle like school-aged kids as Katrine teaches us how to "embrace" our turns (OK, John and I joked... I don't think Rachel was up for joking.) I did a few of what Rachel referred to as my "hamstring stretches" wherein I ended up turning too far, facing up hill, wedging my skis and bending forward to keep from going downhill backwards. But I always recovered and never actually fell. I was finally enjoying myself and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Katrine was sweet and funny and pushed us but not too far (though maybe that's what we needed at that point.) We had yet to do anything beyond our now comfortable green Marshmallow run but fear was holding us back. I was amazed at Rachel's ability to pull herself through it and she once again stayed upright for the entire 2-hour lesson. I was no longer watching the time, wondering when the torture would end. Graduation was approaching, I'd finally be able to call myself a skier.