Two dreams come true!

Yesterday evening was amazing! Rewind 5 or 6 years and we spent New Year skiing in Ruka as a family. It was always so much fun being out on the slopes together. It's one of those sports that the whole family can do together and age and ability don't matter. It's all about learning together, laughing and building memories together. I'm so glad I've got fantastic memories of all our different skiing holidays, because it has been such a long time that we've not been able to go.

Until last night! It was a shame we didn't have my brother Matt with us but that'll come together another time. Maybe we can now look at a proper holiday with him, now that I'm skiing almost independently.

So, two dreams came true:

1. Skiing with my family again.
2. Skiing off-tethers.

Don't get me wrong, those tethers are great in a way. When you are sit-skiing for the first time and it feels really fast and out of control, those tethers give you the sense of independence with the security that if it all goes horribly wrong, someone's got your back. It's a bit like putting reins on a toddler. They think they're running along by themselves but if they trip, you can yank them up before they get hurt. There comes a time though, when those tethers are just not wanted anymore and that time has come. 

So, without further ado, here's a slightly longer than usual video of my lesson. It was an hour's lesson with my new Apeman camera fixed to my front and Dan, in his new green coach coat, videoing on my phone. So I got home with 90 minutes of footage, which I've reluctantly edited down to 10 minutes.

We had originally planned this trip during the Christmas holidays and due to a miscommunication at reception, it didn't happen. But I'm forever telling my staff that customer service is all about what we do when mistakes happen. I have to say, Xscape excelled on this one, mostly thanks to Adam, and it was well worth the wait to feel the way I felt last night. Massive thanks to Xscape for getting their adaptive skiing lessons up and running (when I first enquired a year or so back, they had stopped) and for investing in the kit I use. Thank you to Adam for teaching me how to ski a biski and for believing in my dream of doing it independently. And thank you to Dan for being a regular helper and especially for coming in last night to work an extra late night as a volunteer. 

If anyone's reading this and wondering whether to give adaptive skiing a go at Xscape, Castleford, I have only one thing to say... DO IT! Do it now!