However, Scott is becoming a big-boy skier and he likes to ride the chair lifts. So it was time for Katie's first run from the blue chair. She did some turns at the top and then just went straight down in full snowplow mode.
Next time up, I told her to try to do some big turns to help her ski slowly. That's when she had her first wipe out. She was moving along pretty quickly and tried to spread the plow wider and wider until one ski hit a bumpy spot and stopped suddenly and she toppled over shoulder-first. I watched it all happen just short distance behind her and I was surprised how she never put her hands out to break her fall. She continued to clutch her poles down near her waist while she skidded forward on her shoulder, her head on its side, bobbing up and down inside her little purple helmet.
I fully expected to find her face full of sharp ice crystals and tears. She had somehow avoided getting a total face-wash, which was a relief, but I was right about the tears. Down on my knees I was just the right height to give her a big hug. She didn't cry about the pain too much, although her knee did hurt a bit. Instead, she was heartbroken that her second run hadn't lived up to her first: "I did it better on the first try."
I hugged her there on the slope for quite a while. Then I pointed to the top of the hill. "Look Katie. Look how far you already came down the hill! You are doing SO well!" She was delighted with that, and after a few uncertain attempts to start up again, she locked into her snowplow and went straight down the rest of the hill, giggling. Later on, she was telling Scott the story about how she fell over sideways on her head. I got a photo of her demonstrating the angle.
Scott also had a wipe out, although his might have been on the first run. He mostly blamed me, because I had told him to work on doing more "french fry" parallel skiing and less "pizza" snowplowing. I was too far down the hill to come and help him get up and by the time he pulled himself to his feet and skied down to me he was still pretty emotional--
S: My leg was hurting and you didn't even help me.
D: Where does it hurt?
S: My leg.
D: Where on your leg?
S: My leg. I just told you.
D: Where on your leg?
S: The whole leg.
D: Seriously? I don't think you're entire leg is broken and smashed. Please point to the spot.
S: [points]
D: Your knee hurts. Okay. You must have fallen on your knee. I see.
We took a break for a snack after that and enjoyed some actual french fries (but no pizza, sadly) on the patio as the sun was going down. Then we went to the magic carpet area and had a competition to see who could do the most runs before it was time to go home. Scott won with 11. Katie and I had about 9. Scott was delighted with the win.
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