Personal Narrative On Alpine Skiing

Snowboarding, like any other sport, one must be thinking at all times, analyzing situations, making split decisions, and making quick calculations. Before my trip, I had only flown on an airplane once, never by myself, I have never seen a mountain so big, and I had zero experience snowboarding. If I only knew then what I know now, I would have entered this new experience with more confidence in myself.

Mom and dad, thank you for all of the things we have done in the past in winter. I have one particular memory. That is when I was very little. Around the age of four. One day, Courtnee, Celenia and I were all playing outside. Courtnee was being a little boring and her being the cool twelve year old, she had left Celenia and I outside. With Celenia being only ten, and me being four, we didn’t know what to do.

I soon drifted off into a deep sleep with thunder peaceably by my side and woke to a campsite embedded in mist reflecting my headlamp (a cheap and easy to use Petzl Tikkina headlamp at 4.2 oz).  Relieved (my bladder, that is) and back in my tiny ultralight tent, I scooted into my merino wool liner surrounding my pad.  I remained in my literal cocoon (Cocoon merino wool mummy liner at 17 oz) until I woke naturally at 645am to quietly disassemble and organize my gear in the dark. I then boiled a pot of water and prepared a breakfast of freeze dried eggs and oatmeal plus a cup of instant Starbucks coffee. There is no reason to suffer on the trail. I thrive on a nutritious breakfast to fuel my long hikes into the unknown. (Actually, I had enough energy on this day to go another 4 or more miles after hiking 16 straight miles in just under 7 hours.)  Too much planning creates stress so I had no idea what to expect when I left Carter’s Gap.  Rumors scare hikers about simple climbs and descents with notations such as Albert Mountain will be a challenge to climb when hiking north.  I found it, climbing Albert Mountain hiking north, to be quick and exhilarating.

My participation in Cross Country over the past 4 years has influenced me greatly. Particularly in my senior year, it taught me how to work hard, bond with my teammates, and really appreciate the sport. It has influenced my career goals through possibly looking towards a health career, and has bonded me with my family by their support through the season.

I watched as the big fiery ball climbed above everything else. It shot out orangish-red rays from all direction and made the town brighter. As lovely as the morning was I knew that today wouldn't be horrible. I could only watch from down here, the beautiful shining star.

In the novel, The Outsiders by S.E.Hinton, a boy named Ponyboy lives through hard times as a Greaser. Ponyboy learns a lot about life through the symbolism that is throughout this story. The main points that are used for symbolism is Hair, ‘Gold’, and Sunrises.

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." -Pre. Cross Country is a sport that requires pushing oneself through immense pain to achieve a goal. I never wanted to go through any of those pains to achieve anything. I used to think that I was going to participate in an after school activity for fun, but then my cross country team won the state championship meet, now I know I can do anything I put my mind to.

Waking up at 2:00 AM in the Hawaii-Aleutian time zone was not difficult for me, my best friend, and her parents because our biological clocks were still set on the central time zone. It was 9:00 PM at home in St. Louis, Missouri. Nevertheless, it was an odd hour to prepare for an adventure. We dressed ourselves in sweatshirts, sweatpants, and snowsuits to keep warm. After getting into a van with other tourists, we rode to the top of an inactive volcano named Haleakala National Park located in Maui, Hawaii. This park and the entire volcano is known for its endangered species and sub-tropical rain forest. Considerably, the most amazing part of Haleakala National Park is the view from the top. The snowsuits came in handy as we stepped outside into the cool and crisp air. Just 30 minutes ago we were in 80-degree weather and now, we could see our foggy breaths and began to accumulate chill bumps on our bodies.

There is a trip that not many do because of how many people who do not make it back from the hike. What people hike up is a waterfall is called Yosemite Falls and it is the tallest waterfall in California. So when my family and I go camping there we always talk about how we should try to hike it, but we never actually do because of how scared we are. One year though some of my family members and I decided to go to the top because of how much we have wanted to do it for so long. So what we did was we all went to bed early so we could wake up early. This hike is a long one the trip up and down if you walk fast can be about an eight-hour hike. We did not have that much experience hiking up anything this enormous besides a hike that was three miles

Since I was in about 1st grade, I have been skiing with my family. I have been to many different places to go skiing, such as resorts in Colorado, Wisconsin, and Michigan. One particular story takes place at a resort in Colorado called Vail, when I was about 11 years old. My family and my friends family were driving three hours from the airport to the resort through the cold, snowy weather. We finally got to the house we stayed at and went to sleep. Over the night, it had snowed about one and a half feet. In the morning, we woke up eager to get out on the fresh snow and ski. We hurried to the mountain with our skis and took the lift to the top of the mountain. As we started skiing, we approached a section of the mountain where we could only

There I was out in the cold, in the middle of January, at 6:00 AM. I had put my skis in the bus and was waiting for Mr. Mud to get on the bus and do a roll call. It was the third race of the season, but it would be my first time actually racing. Once, Mr. Mud was done, we left Simsbury High School, and headed to some far off place to ski. When we arrived at out skiing destination, we got our belongings out of the bus, settled in at the lodge, and began practicing. At first, I had a bit of trouble staying on balance and actually skiing, but then I finally balanced myself out. I tried doing one run of the course, and it was quite challenging. I didn’t even make it past the first hill, but I didn’t know how. I returned to the lodge early. Then, the races began, and I became quite anxious as the beginner race

A warm morning, sun shining with a slight breeze, and calm waters; the perfect day to learn how to water ski. I had never been water skiing before, I barely knew what it was, I was anxious to say in the least. I stood on the dock as my parents maneuvered the boat into the water, I’ve never been so uncertain. My family reassured me that everything would be okay as I was strapped up my life jacket. I stood on the edge of the boat, apprehensive, but I had to jump in the water, it was now or never.

I’m on a mountain, I just overcame my first obstacle the chair lift. Which I thought would be harder than it was I miraculously didn’t fall or knock over the other skiers/snowboarders. I glanced back up at the gleaming mountain becoming easily distracted by the flawless stroke of every turn as the pros make their way down. I say quietly to myself “Isn’t this suppose to be a beginners hill?” They have gopros strapped to their helmets and are racing each other down. All I can think in that moment is how am I supposed to be able to do that. Those suave perfect turns the gentle touch the snowboard has with the fresh powder from that morning. They look at each other with excitement in their eyes and adventure in their hearts. I feel completely uncomfortable and awkward. Pushing off and hit the ground face first. The ice cold snow melts onto my face, I laugh at myself and hope to god the people around me didn’t see that. No one was paying attention to me they all had this type of confidence and excitement to learn and grow. I stood back up and headed down the hill with all force, not knowing how to turn I abruptly put my snowboard on healedge and slammed to a stop. Little did I know I was already halfway down the hill.

Once, I was a little snowflake on top of a mountain. Life was good on Aspen Mountain with the exception of being trampled by skiers. Until one day when a skier wipes out on top of me. As he was falling, Me and my brothers were swept into the man's jacket. Most of my brothers tumbled out as the man stumbled for his Ski poles but I was stuck. I was consumed With panic, praying somehow, someway I would get out before I melt. As the man started to ski down the mountain again, I started to feel the heat. Boiling, sizzling, searing heat which I have never felt before, and don’t want to ever feel again. A weird sensation began to set in, like I was melting away. MELTING AWAY!?! I frantically thought. Could It get any worse than this?

Albert Einstein once stated, “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” I remember that quote from Jeopardy, but I never actually thought of anything of it. The category was transcendentalism and I remembered that pretty clearly because Alex Trebek was complaining about how long the word was to fit in the box. So when transcendentalism was introduced in our class, I felt a familiar wave of nostalgia hit me. I was pretty excited to start my essay, but I didn’t have time on the weekdays, so I decided to work on it during the weekend. It wasn’t until Sunday morning, the day before it was due, that I forgot to do it. I had that guilt in the back of my head and I sat straight up in my bed at around 4 am, pondering about the essay. I