Today was my first attempt at skiing. After eventually finding enough skiis, boots and skins for all of us on Thursday and Friday, we were disappointed to find we couldn't go on Saturday because of a storm. Today (Sunday) the weather seemed to have cleared somewhat, so off we set!
With skins attached (like carpet for the bottom of your skiis), and some tips from Allen, Sam and Anna-Marie, I soon got the hang of going uphill. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't pretty, but I was moving! In fact I found it easier than climbing on foot as we did last week. Again we climbed longyearbreen as it has a shallower descent, but it was still fast enough for me. We turned round half way up the glacier as we could see the weather closing in. There was a light snowfall all day, but at times the katabatic winds picked up, and we got snowblasted, so felt it safer to make a descent in the light and before the visibility got too poor.
Downhill was rather faster, and there was a lot more to learn at a quick pace. Allen and the others had some great tips and I soon swung from falling over every other second to once every 30 seconds! The breakthrough was when I eventually got the hang of standing straight in the body and bending my knees, not leaning forwards, and found it is possible to make turns without falling down and skidding along scooping snow up. The final part of the descent I made without a fall, and were it not for the weather I would have wanted to go up and try again. I may ache tomorrow, but for now, all is good!
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