shitposting

First time skiing, friend was desperate to get someone to go so I went. Paid for everything like the meme says except the lessons. "I can teach you! Let's take this lift up to that ridgeline". I don't know any better so up we go. Get there and it's pretty high, oxygen is thin and a blizzard moved in. "Ok, ready?" He says. "What do I do?" I ask. "Just crouch down and twist back and forth to slow yourself. Here we go!" He replied and then off he went.

It started out fine. I'm upright, the snow is powdery so it is helping to slow me down and I kinda got the twisting movement right, for the first 50 feet. Then the ground dropped beneath me and suddenly I'm cruising at what feels like mach speed. There is no twisting anymore, just barrel rolls. I finally stop and my arm is no longer in the socket. I just lay there wondering if I had died and hell really was frozen over. Then a ski guide came up, asked me if I was ok. "Uuuuughhh" I answered him. He then asked me if I could make it down on my own which I answered with a stare of both death and fear. Another dude arrived with a sled. By that time I had regained the ability to talk and popped my arm back in place. At the bottom they offered to call an ambulance but I was largely ok, got the direction to the ski lodge bar instead.

10 hours later my friend finds me. "There you are! I was wondering where you went!" This is a story of the first and last time I went skiing.

Lol I'm guessing this person hasn't checked lift ticket prices in 2023. Any vail-owned resort is like $250/day now

If the weather is so nice that you could get a sunburn, then you can at least probably see something. But the worst part about skiing, at least in Europe, is that because of Global warming we have to little Snow, so we use a lot of electricity to create artificial snow. Way to go Europeans, at least we can ski for another five years even if the future 20 generations will suffer und this (if they survive).

Second hand cross country skis from a charity shop : 250 NOK

Second hand poles : 100 Nok

Boots: too fucking much, but I have comedy size feet so I can't get them used.

Access to Norway's extensive network of cross country trails: absolutely nothing

Risk of injury.... Still pretty high, but skiing around under the northern lights is honestly pretty amazing.

"Why don't you just vacation in Europe like I do every year? That's your problem, you're not cultured enough. It's a life changing experience and you're missing out!"

I used to be an avid skier as a kid. I was at the top of a beautiful powder bowl. I started going down and near immediately hit a chunk of ice hiding under the powder and down down down I went. I tumbled from the top of the bowl until the ground got flat enough for me to slow down. I was the definition of rag-doll physics. People were picking up my equipment as they skied down.

Didn't get hurt somehow.

Now I shudder thinking of the damage skiing can cause. If I fell like that now, would I still bounce back up unhurt?

The only way it was affordable for me was as a ski instructor, but then general life became unaffordable.

I love skiing so much, but this is funny as hell

I'll come! I own skis, and don't need lessons.

I've been lucky enough to go skiing and snowboarding a few times when I was younger, and it is totally worth it. Although it was way more affordable back then.

Were I typically ski in Germany/Austria the most expensive ticket during the season is €44, but it's considerably more affordable outside the peak months and the tickets get progressively more affordable if you arrive later in the day. And let's be real, if you're skiing and aren't some sort of athlete a 12-4:30PM skiing day is long enough.

Ski rental is around €25.

You could have a skiing day for less than €60.

I love Skiing!

Cheaper here—an 8ball is 150/200 for a rock of fishscale.

And what are you going to wear? Planning to ski naked? At least I don't have appropriate skiwear at home, gloves, visor, pants, jacket, etc. I remember the one time I skied as a child, a friend of my mom invited us. It was expensive even then, and not very fun, but I remember the clothes we bought specially for that one trip.

Don't let this discourage anyone from trying. Yes it sounds absurd when put that way, and yes the costs are getting out of hand at most major resorts, but it can be an absolutely amazing sport/hobby/passion/lifestyle.

The first few times add up cost wise, hard to get around that, but once you figure out what you're doing and make the decision the sport is for you then it gets better. With a season pass and my own gear I'm <$30cad a day on the hill, and that's at a major BC resort.

Still a big wad of cash for gear and a pass up front, and definitely coming from a privileged lens to say that it's affordable, but lots of people spend way more than that on take out, coffee, booze, streaming services, etc. All about priorities!

It's ironic, I used to live in a mountainous region and had a season pass so a day of skiing would set me back less than 30 bucks, but if I ever wanted to swim in the ocean, something that's basically free for many people, I'd have to pay easily more than the person in this post

Skiing has gotten absurdly expensive unfortunately. I remember when lift tickets were like $20/day. Oh well.

Worth it

I went skiing with my dad last year. I snowboard all the time but it's been more than 10 years since he last went.

took him down a blue after he got his bearings again and he slam into another person from our group. the fall looked dramatic and we all laughed it off until he tried laying down in bed at night and started screaming in pain.

my dad had to have surgery on his arm and the other person from our group had a fractured rib...

Downhill skiing is a ton of fun, even though I mostly do regular skiing