[Professional Blog] It's a slippery slope

If you havent skied Marble Mountain in 10 or 15 years, check the trail map before hitting the hill. This is the voice of experience relating a lesson learned the hard way. Last week, while in Corner Brook visiting family, my wife and I went skiing. I havent graced (or wiped out on) Marbles slopes in over 10 years. My wife has never hit the west coast hill, and hasnt been on skis in years either. We agreed a run or three down the bunny slope was a necessary refresher. Being a cocky Corner Brooker, I never even glanced at the trail map. Cmon, they couldnt move a hill. But en route, it was obvious there was no T-bar or lift to the rabbit run. So, I put us on the nearest chair lift thinking it would take us where we wanted and failing to look at how high up the mountain it went. A naive and stunned decision, indeed. As we crossed over where I felt we should have gotten off, an internal panic erupted. Like Kasey Kasem, this lift wasnt going to stop until it took us to the top! I cursed loudly under my breath and wondered about breaking the news to my wife. After a deep sigh, I told her. Youre joking! she said. As she looked back at the hill behind us, she realized it wasnt a laughing matter. Her first-ever run down Marble would be from the summit. She wasn't happy, but too nervous to throttle me. I wasnt too pleased with the mistake either. The predicament was making my heart race as I wondered how we were getting down without breaking a body part or being impaled with a ski tip or pole. We discussed staying on the lift and taking it back down. We also talked about getting off and taking our time, even if it meant walking or sliding down on our butts. It seemed a foolish choice at the time, but we decided to take our chances. We disembarked the chair at the peak and glided a few feet to a large, wooden trail map. Whew. Sigh. Thank Cheesies...There was a run ranked easy that went directly to the bottom. We took the route named Country Road and made it down without incident. With the confidence gained, we stayed on the big hill and the day continued going downhill from there. Thankfully.