Yesterday I realized I had conquered twig poison oak on my face and ear by eliminating any sources or re-exposure in my truck driver's seat from last week. I also took any clothe I wore and put them in a dirty clothes bag to wash them later. So, I realized I was far enough along to go skiing as long as I kept washing my face and ear with soap to dissolve the poison oak oils off my skin several times a day.
A friend of mine who has a Season pass and another lady who is a friend of his went skiing with me. I rented skis and boots and poles at Mt. Shasta Ski park and I was on my way. However, when you first hit the slopes on new boots, skis and poles it takes at least one run down the slopes to adjust to the conditions and to the weight changes of new skis and poles and boots and how you are going to be able to maneuver with any changes to your weight or changes in the skis or this kind of thing so when I got off the ski lift at the top I wasn't able to stay up at first and went down. So, the next time I got off the top of the lift I held onto the right rail of the chair longer which did the trick of staying up on my skis. The problem was that the exit had a steep slope of 3 feet or more of solid ice. I'm not sure why the lift operator kept it this way but it made it hard to stay up when you aren't on snow but it was solid ice making the conversion to sitting in a chair lift to being up on your skis or snow board.
Coming down the slopes it also takes a little while to adjust to the conditions too.
If conditions later this week are anything like today it is better to ski BEFORE 3pm. When I tried to ski after 3 pm there was a little too much ice and I fell down at one point. Then I realized I was on too steep a slope to be able to put on a ski. Often you need the snow to be more level (especially when there is ice) to actually be able to put back on a ski if it comes off.
But, all in all I had a great time skiing. Because I'm older I usually never ski faster than 20 to 30 miles per hour anymore because I don't want to get seriously injured. By skiing slower than I would have before 40 or 50 years of age I can enjoy all this more later into my life. After all, I'm 70 now and I need to have fun while not injuring myself.
As it was, when I fell on the ice I felt a pull where my right arm connects to my pectoral muscles and it might hurt a couple of days into this trip. You know how it isn't the day you get a slight injury and how it might hurt a bit 2 or 3 days in in it's healing process.
So, the three of us left the slopes exhausted but very happy we skied Tuesday in the afternoon. There were very few people on the slopes and so it made it much easier to ski and much easier to have fun skiing. The day was mostly sunny also so we could see Mt. Shasta clearly often while skiing too. The ski park is located on Mt. Shasta at around 5,476 ft and this is the base where the lodge is and then it goes up likely to 7000 or even 8000 feet at the top of the highest lifts whereas Mt. Shasta is right there too at well over 14,000 feet in elevation.
At present the snow has been removed from all the roads coming up to the ski park so you don't need chains right now at least and you aren't going to be sliding on ice to get there at this point because the roads are all clear of ice and snow. So, I could drive there in 2 wheel drive in my truck easily even though it is a 4WD truck.
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