FREEDOM OF THE MOUNTAIN
       
       2024-02-19
       
       During a family holiday last week to the Three Valleys region of the French
       Alps for some skiing (Also a little geocaching and some mountainside Where's
       Wally?), I came to see that I enjoy a privilege I call the freedom of the
       mountain.
       
 (IMG) In black skiwear, Dan looks into the camera from a bench in the snow, his skis upright behind him.
       
       THE FREEDOM
       
       The freedom of the mountain is a privilege that comes from having the level of
       experience necessary to take on virtually any run a resort has to offer. It
       provides a handful of benefits denied to less-confident skiers:
       * I usually don't feed to look at a map to plan my next route; whichever way I
       go will be fine!
       * When I reach one or more lifts, I can choose which to take based on the
       length of their queue, rather than considering their destinations.
       * When faced with a choice of pistes (or an off-piste route), my choice can be
       based on my mood, how crowded they are, etc., rather than their rated
       difficulty.
       
 (IMG) A snow-covered Alpine glacier sandwiched into a gully of exposed rocks.
       
       The downside is that I'm less well-equipped to consider the needs of others!
       Out skiing with Ruth one morning I suggested a route back into town that "felt
       easy" based on my previous runs, only to have her tell me that - according to
       the map - it probably wasn't!
       
       APPROACHING THE PEAK
       
       The kids spent the week in lessons. It's paying off: they're both improving
       fast, and the eldest has got all the essentials down and it's working on
       improving her parallel turns and on "reading the mountain". It's absolutely
       possible that the eldest, and perhaps both of them, will be a better skier
       than me someday (Assuming snow is still a thing in ten years time.).
       
       I'm not perfect, mind. While skiing backwards and filming, I misjudged the
       height of an arch and hit the back of the head with it... despite the child
       shouting to warn me! ?
       
       Maybe, as part of my effort to do what I'm bad at, I should have another go at
       learning to snowboard. I always found snowboarding frustrating because
       everything I needed to re-learn was something that I could already do much
       better and easier on skis. But perhaps if I can reframe that frustration
       through the lens of learning itself as the destination, I might be in a better
       place. One to consider for next time I hit the piste.
       
       LINKS
       
 (HTM) Les 3 Vallees
 (HTM) My blog posy about finding the GCADXC6 "Tour de France" geocache
 (HTM) My blog note about playing Where's Wally? on the mountainside
 (HTM) My blog post: "Do What You're Bad At"