Hello 👋 from the Australian ski fields ⛷️

If you've been reading my posts for a while you'll know I love skiing.

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmT4Cjkq2UETokxKFkt2ZX1AWu9SxDPKmWGLbS1Y6yJQVm/pxl_20230801_002250556.jpg)



If you haven't, and especially if you're based anywhere other than here in Australia, maybe you didn't know that we had snow here! ❄️

Okay, so not a lot 😂 Nothing that would rival the ski resorts of North America or Europe, or come anywhere close to what the mountains in South America or the Himalayas receive. But still, in the highest mountains across the southern parts of the country we get enough snow that people many decades ago built ski fields. I guess they knew that:

*"If you build it they will come."*

{A quote from Field of Dreams, the movie.}

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmUtxtZT2zBwP9fp6qAjqUBRdmsGMDfNV5RN3BDFZGyzNp/pxl_20230801_015800043.jpg)

@new.things and I have both done *some* skiing prior to this week.

Him: A lot in his twenties and then periodically after that.

Me: Once at 18, one short season at 23, once at 29, a week four years ago and then a week about a month or so ago.

So, some.





Yesterday was Day One of this trip and despite moving reasonably well for someone who has never done enough skiing to really nail it, it took most of the morning to "find my ski legs" again. That is, to remember how to f*cking ski. 😆



This morning we did a couple of quick runs down Front Valley (here at Perisher) for me to make sure I had retained what I regained yesterday and then we zipped up the Perisher Express Quad Chair right to the very top 🔝

The views were spectacular 🤩

From there we went exploring parts of the mountain I didn't feel brave/ready/confident enough for yesterday and we both got to ride the brand new Leichhardt Quad Chair 🙌

The best but about that chairlift (other than, it doesn't *bang* into the back of your legs like the older lifts!) is the *access* it gave us to different parts of the resort. 😃

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmURAz21uxtSyTUS9StYtrAezJKF4ZdLEKc3EEUKXSFg6X/pxl_20230731_230005833.jpg)

Eventually, after I'd done enough green runs 🟢 to feel comfortable we headed over to the Mt Perisher Triple Chair and went to the very, very top (almost to the peak of Mt Perisher herself!)... and then I had to ski back down this *very* steep, intimidating blue run 🔵

Eek! I had been watching the pitch of the slope reveal itself to me as we rode the chairlift and I knew it was going to be scary looking down it! 🤯 But I took my time and with Brad's encouragement I got down it okay. Yes, I fell once (maybe twice?) but I was fine. Nothing crazy, I just got up again and kept going.

Our day rolled on and after taking the Mt Perisher Double Chair back up to almost the very, very top again we aimed our skis back towards Front Valley to get "home" again.

That's where the hardest part of the day revealed itself to me. We found ourselves going down one very long steep hill that was super crunchy and icy. No one was tearing their way down there; *everyone* was taking it slow and steady, using the edges of their skis and boards to get down safely.

I was looking for and using the tiny soft(er) patches to do my turns though I still managed to fall down once. For not the first time, one of my skis unclipped and I was half laying on the side of a snow-ice hill with a sore hip grateful I hadn't fallen far. My loose ski was just a couple of metres up the hill from me and as I awkwardly tried to pull myself up the slope, another skier carefully skied down toward me and delivered it to me. Bless her.

Where was Brad? He was leading, of course, and so he was about 50 metres in front of me, and about 10-15 metres *below* me watching it all to make sure I was able to get upright again. 

*Nothing ventured, nothing gained.*

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmbcNNna52h2fYqZazw3gQkCooWr3pnC2JiHV6ZZzhqATo/pxl_20230731_230009601.jpg)



I said "thanks" to the lady, carefully clipped into the ski (as I stood precariously on the side of the same crunchy snow-ice slope) and then picked the best route I could see down to where Brad was patiently waiting. After checking I was genuinely okay (and not just upright) we continued to pick our way down the slope, which, gratefully wasn't too much longer.

I was so grateful to reach some slushy stuff! Because as annoying as it is to get my skis stuck in slush and have to keep lifting my skis again and again, I knew that if I fell I wasn't going to break anything. 😁

We finished the "morning" by having a practise on a T-bar (so I can then access even more of the resort tomorrow) and then headed over to Pretty Valley which is, as the name suggests, pretty!! ☺️

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmf95pfALo2MbF3PPxH7X13XKtJsfo6wFaseeG2oxk8bRw/pxl_20230801_023635494.jpg)

And when I saw the line for coffee at the Pretty Valley tiny restaurant I opted to use my new T-Bar skills by zipping around the corner to the Telemark T-Bar. I didn't fall on either T-Bar so that's great! I think we may end up using them more tomorrow since the lines for these ground-based lifts are always a *lot* shorter than the chairlifts!

All up, it was a good day. My hips, knees and left calf copped a bit of a whopping but I feel like I listened to my body, was good at keeping myself calm (enough) when the pitch of the runs and frequency of very hard snow (that looks and feels far too much like ice) were super scary. And I'm super grateful for Brad's coaching, corrections and leading. 



I made it down the mountain in one piece and could do this Hive Power Up Day post 😅 as my reputation hovers at 69.8!!

Skiing ✅

Power Up at least 10.000 HIVE ✅

Shared a story of my day with you all ✅

Now, to find some more calories... 😉

{All photos taken by me on my phone... with very cold hands that hung on tight while balancing somewhere epicly beautiful 😂}