bi-skiing
The unpredictable nature of activities with the disabled
Some days are easier than others. No matter how well you plan out your day, the whole thing can go to Hell in a handbag quicker than you can snap your fingers. Yesterday was a day like that. Nothing terribly traumatic happened, but it turned out to be a day more of effort than fun.
My son had a ski race scheduled at 11:00…the weather was insane, snowing a foot and in the mid-20’s. Couldn’t ask for a better day on the mountain. We decided to take the girls up in the morning to ski a few runs and then take Quincy in the bi-ski over to finish line so the girls could watch their brother race. He would be doing two slalom runs, but we thought the first run would be the best for all of us to watch.
As soon as we got to the Challenge Alaska building we got our first taste of how things were going to go. The place was so jammed packed with clients (which is a fabulous thing!) that there was no place to park, no place to gear up, no place to move. Strike one. We finally squeezed the van behind someone else’s vehicle, found a teeny corner to gear up and got on our way.
The mountain was soft and the snow glorious and Q was having a blast. But, before we headed to the race course we decided to take her water bottle with us so she could have some drinks while she waited. That’s when we realized we forgot lunch and her water. Strike two…
We headed to the race course anyway and figured we could still catch the finish before she got too hungry or thirsty. The race was scheduled to begin at 11:00. It started at 12:30 and my son was bib number 98. Strike three…
Quincy got totally cranky and hungry by 1:00 (we were up to about racer #45 at this point) and Rob had to hike her back to Challenge so he could go back to the condo and get lunch. He missed my son’s finish. My son finished and was mad because his Dad wasn’t there. The girls were mad because they were starving and we had no food. How did it all go downhill so quickly? It is what it is, I guess. We do our best to plan for everything when we head out with Quincy, but some days are better than others.
The final footnote to the story is that my husband got to catch my son’s second run of the race (I missed it), everyone was happy after they ate and the day was salvaged. Quincy and I missed some great skiing on some fabulous powder, but there will be other days for that. In Alaska, one thing you can count on is lots and lots of amazing days to ski in March and April!!
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