THE DAY I WENT SKIING WITH MY DAD

On a cold Saturday in November, I decided to go skiing with my dad. The next morning, my mother spends almost an hour smothering me in layers upon layers of fleece, coaxing my pudgy legs into my solid black coloured snow pants, and tugging at me and attempting in vain to force my feet into my hand-sized ski boots, haul after heave, until I am finally ready to hit the snow.

My father and I drive one and a half hours up to the mountains. The driving is tiring but as the dense woods disappear, the sight of the snowy mountains makes it all worth it. As I get out of the car, a gentle cold breeze brushing through my face and throwing my hair backward welcomes us. As we wait for our turn on the chairlift, puffs of clouds rise from both of our mouths as we breathe in the rejuvenating gusts, only to disappear from sight within a few seconds.The main peak of the mountain lay ahead of us, and two other peaks stood out at both left and right. I stand at the edge of the cliff fully geared to take off and my sight has only limitations because of the dense clouds at distant eye level. Without having second thoughts I pushed my poles through the fluffy snow.

As I pick up speed I feel the wind push harder and harder in the opposite direction, but my tight jacket breaks its bite. The fine reflection of the sun on the stark white snow makes the path ahead even harder to see. Even though my goggles are on, my eyes slowly start to tear up because of the icy cold wind. As I try to focus more I now see a steeper slope in front of me. The amount of plain surface before it was not enough for me to stop. Just to give it my all, I think of this as a “once in a lifetime” moment and decide to give it a go.

I near the next edge wear the speed multiplies tenfold. I no longer know how to stop myself. Much to my surprise, I cannot even find my father. I still have my hope of not breaking my bones as the mist clears and I see my destination. I was wrong, it’s dead-end! As I close in I have second thoughts but it's too late for that now. I lean forward to ride my edge and make a quick turn as I launch off of the jump which sends me into a spin until I'm facing my original direction; then my snowboard touches the ground again and I land it, at least as I had planned. But this was far from reality, the huge shock throws me off my skis and my head hits the hard-surfaced snow.