Learning to Fly...Ski At Mount Southington

When I turned 29, I decided I was going hurl myself down the face of a mountain. The thought of turning 30...no, kidding, I wasn't depressed. And okay, maybe I wasn't going to hurl and maybe it wasn't a mountain. Even if they call it MOUNT Southington. Maybe it's more of a big hill. Or, in the words of experienced boarders or skiers, a speed bump.

So all by myself, I drove to our local ski mountain (to-ma-toe, to-mat-to, whatever),rented a pair of skis, and hit the bunny slope. I even took a lesson with kids that were barely old enough to walk from an instructor young enough to be my kid. I probably would have been humiliated to be the only grown up there, but a paralyzing fear of dying combined with seeing how much amusement I brought these young, agile folks, kept me from stripping off the death sticks and bolting.

I wasn't good by any means, but I didn't completely suck either. I made it through that day and came back for more. By mid season, I was skiing like a pro, and it was time to try a hill with a...gasp...chair lift. The folks that ran that were really friendly, too. They didn't even seem to mind when they had to stop the lift to retrieve my right ski from below.

I had even bought my own skis, poles, boots, car rack...the whole package.

So it's quite a few years later and you're probably expecting me to tell you I'm skiing black diamonds in Switzerland now. I'm not. I'm not even skiing black diamonds in Southington now. But when weather permits, I still do head over to Mt. Southington and hit the trails. I will be the first to admit that if you are a hardcore skier or rider, this may not be the right place for you. But if you live in Connecticut and you're looking to hit the slopes for a few hours, maybe after work or a few hours on a Saturday morning; or you're a beginner looking for a friendly place to find your snow legs, check out Mount Southington.

As I was driving by a local Action Sports, I noticed this weekend is a ski swap/sale. I am so there. I know the exact ones I want, I picked them out last year, but kept putting off buying them. Mostly because the season was ending and really, I'm cheap. Who knows if they will be there, but I will be on the lookout.

I sold my old skis, because they were over ten years old and a lot of progress in ski technology has been made since I bought them. For example, length. As someone who was constantly crossing her skis, this came as very good news. According to what the ski experts tell us now, the skis that had once fit me perfectly were now 10 inches too long. For the advanced skier who was about 5'7", they were just right. And pretty new and very cheap.

See you on the slopes. I'll be the one in the really cute outfit and brand new short(er) skis on the green circle hill, probably flailing my arms.