Ski trip can beat those winter blahs
When the temperatures start to dip into the mid 20’s and weather forecasters use the word snow, I always get the urge to do a little snow skiing.
It’s been a few years since I strapped on a pair of skies, and it wouldn’t take much to get me out on the slopes right now. Granted, I would probably come back home on a pair of crutches, but skiing is really a fun winter activity.
You don’t hear too many people around here making everyday conversation about their day out on the trail, but there are quite a few people who enjoy snow skiing.
Skiing is a great family activity for people of any skill level and any age. Now, I know there aren’t too many places in Tennessee to ski, but Gatlinburg offers several trails and makes a great weekend getaway for the family.
Years ago Crossville provided a couple of small slopes up at Crab Orchard, in fact I’m sure that’s where several folks around here got their first taste of the winter sport.
Back in high school myself and a couple of friends made the trip on a regular basis, and even though it took a while we learned the basic necessities to make it down the mountain.
One of our first outings wasn’t thought out very well, however. Being teenagers, we thought we knew what we were doing, but we didn’t.
It had snowed for a couple of days and the three of us without ever touching a pair of skis before decided to run up to Crossville one morning to take a run down the slopes.
We pitched in and gassed up my friend’s station wagon and headed off with only a coat, pair of gloves and a toboggan to keep us warm.
We made it to Crossville and headed down the interstate to Crab Orchard, but the car had other ideas. We limped into the Crab Orchard exit only to find that the fan belt had broken, which at the time wasn’t at the top of our priority list. All we wanted to do was to get to the top of the mountain to go skiing, so we left the car at a gas station and hitched our way to the ski resort, which was just a couple of miles away.
We finally got there, paid our rental fee for the equipment and headed out to the slope. Hitting the snow for the first time was a very humbling experience for all of us. What should have been a six- to seven-minute journey to the bottom of the hill took us almost an hour. By the time we reached out destination, the wet snow from all of our falls had completely made our effort to keep warm with our flimsy gloves and coats useless.
After 10 or 15 tries we finally got the hang of it, and before long we looked as if we belonged. The point is, we had fun and made several more trips to Crab Orchard. By the way, we finally got the car fixed later on that night.
The next year we made a few trips to Gatlinburg and while I lived in Knoxville I became a regular over at Ober Ski resort. I’m not that good at skiing, but I can make my way down the slopes with a limited number of mishaps.
A weekend ski trip is a great way to have fun with the whole family, and there are several destinations within driving distance.
Snowshoe and Ski Valley in West Virginia, Sugar Mountain, Alpine and Beech Mountain in North Carolina all offer excellent skiing for the entire family.
It’s a great way to spend a weekend regardless if you’re an experienced skier or not. I guarantee you’ll have fun ‘ and a few sore muscles for a couple of days.