The World of Skiing

Alpine Way -Thredbo Alpine Village - Australia
 December 21, 2010

   Many times when my geezer friends leave for the day I have different companions on the ride on the lift.   It is always interesting to have a seven minute conversation with someone you meet for the first time.   The usual mutual opening is, "How do you like the skiing today"  After a shared assessment of the conditions this often leads into,  "Where do you come from and how often do you get to ski here"?   Although many of us are relatively local to the ski area, I am often surprised that my riding companion may well come from a far distant land.   A couple of days ago a  young man joined me on the lift and I immediately noticed that his accent certainly wasn't  local.   In fact I was able to detect it was an Aussie accent.  G'day mate!   We had a mutually satisfying conversation about skiing and I had a chance to hear about his ski adventures down under.   Australia does have some skiing in New South Wales in the East of Australia but apparently the snowfall is erratic and can be quite wet.   He recommended skiing in New Zealand that would have consistently better conditions.   Meanwhile I learned in our brief interchange that while he has enjoyed both Canada the U.S. West for skiing, he was impressed with the facilities of Hope Lodge at Greek Peak Resort.   It was good to know that our Australian visitor had a good experience at our modest ski area.   Apparently his wife didn't need to ski all day and was able to really enjoy the spa treatment too!

   I conclude that I don't have to travel the world to meet folks from other countries.   All I have to do is spend time skiing in the solo mode and the world comes to me.   So skiing is a way to make us all feel like we are humans of one world.