the    sides

The place where we stayed on our ski trip had this book laying around. So I grabbed it and started reading it. If you’ve read a Ken Blanchard book, you know the style in which this book was written. Our main character is getting drug out to Colorado for a ski trip so he stumbles into some folks who help him get the basics down.

Of course the guys he runs into happen to be former Olympic skiers who tell him all he needs to know…and then some.

If you literally don’t know anything about skiing - then this book is for you. Honestly, only a couple of chapters were all that useful - how to dress and ski etiquette. It’s not that I don’t appreciate history but knowing it is not going to make me a better skier.

On the topic of dress, it’s amazing how many people have no clue how to dress for skiing and the consequences are severe. The ridiculing you’ll get for wearing a one-piece bright neon snow bib will be enough to shame you forever. Seriously, in terms of dressing for comfort, warmth, and dryness this book does a great job explaining what to wear and what not to wear.

The other bright spot of the book is the slang of skiers defined. I’ll give you a couple of my favorites.

gapers - visitors to the mountain who stop and just stare at the views. It’s a term of endearment.

caught an edge - edges are thin metal pieces that run the length of the skis, helps stop and turn in the snow. To catch an edge means to stop suddenly, like slamming on the brakes.

yard sale - a tremendous crash that results in equipment flying all over the mountain including skis, poles, hats, and gloves.

That gaper caught an edge in the powder and just had a yard sale.

Ski etiquette and how to watch out for each other