Free Your Heel...

...Free Your Mind.

Hey guys.

I've been a downhill, or alpine, skier my whole life. It's something that I've always loved, although have neglected in the last couple of years. I think a lot of that is because I've skied out west in the mountains, and nothing here can compare, so it's rather boring. But every year I make a trip up to a place called Lutsen, in northern Minnesota, and that's always a blast. The best skiing for hundreds of miles.

My family are big skiers too. Both of my dad's brothers moved out to Utah in their 20's to become 'ski bums'. They worked at a ski resort in the mountains, and skied in their free time too. My dad's middle brother is still out there doing it, and it's pretty much his whole life. Eventually, my brother Erik wants to move out there and follow in their footsteps.

One of the things my uncle picked up out there back in the day, is telemark skiing. In a nutshell, it's like downhill skiing on cross country skis. Your heels aren't attached to the ski, and you turn differently.



You don't have to watch the whole thing. It gets kind of redundant and boring after a couple minutes, but you get the idea.

Well, my dad saw his brother do it, so he wanted to as well. So he's been telemarking since his 20's too. As a kid I would watch him do it, and thought it was the coolest thing ever. So of course, I wanted to try too.

I figured we just got a buttload of snow last weekend, so why not go skiing this weekend. I talked my dad and brother into it, and we started preparing. Now, like I said, skiing gets kind of boring around here, so I figured what the hell, why not try to learn to telemark. So I talked with my dad, and he said he would try to teach me. Fortunately, our feet are pretty close in size, so I could use all of his equipment, since most ski places don't rent telemark stuff.

So we loaded up the van and drove an hour south on Saturday morning to Welch Village ski area. Not a great place, but fun all the same. Unfortunately, a lot of other people had the same idea I did, so the place was pretty busy. We got geared up and headed out to the slopes. Right away I knew this was going to be hard, as even walking with the skis on is different and weird. But I got on the chair and was determined to make it work.

My dad gave me some pointers, and then basically said, go. I set off, and things were going well to start. Then I realized that I needed to turn wider than I'm used to, and that created some traffic problems. The other skiers weren't expecting me to go so wide, and things got tight. I was doing about two turns, then having to stop and wait for people to go by. I was starting to get used to the skis, and how they work. I did a couple of runs like that, but then decided it was too busy to keep trying. So I gave up and skied normally, while still on the telemark skis. Which in itself was a new and different experience.

So I've decided I like telemarking, but it's a lot of flippin work. I think I need to go to a local ski place around my house on a weeknight, when it's not busy, so I can take up more of the hill to learn. But I definitely want to keep learning. I've caught the bug, so to speak. Hopefully one day I'll be like this guy.



As far as my grandpa, he's still in the hospital. His kidneys still aren't working right, and whatever numbers they're watching, keep going up, when they should be going down and stabilizing. I don't really know what it all means though. Tomorrow, he'll either be released, if his numbers calm down, or they'll have to start dialysis through the neck. I don't really understand that, but it's worse than through the arm. Something about increased risk for infection and some other stuff that isn't good. So I'll know more tomorrow.

Somehow, his brother John is still alive. They moved him into hospice, and he's pretty much waiting to die. My mom said today he became non-responsive, so it's just a matter of time. My grandpa took the news better than we thought, but he's still sad. He really wants to see him, but it just can't happen. John's wife offered to have John's kidney transplanted into my grandpa, but my grandpa isn't stable enough for a transplant. But it was still a really big gesture for her to offer. Family is a wonderful thing.

So that's about it I guess. Christmas is almost here, but it's kinda hard to be excited with all the drama happening. I think it will be a more subdued Christmas this year. But it makes you appreciate what you have in life.

Hope you guys are well.

143

_Kevin

Three videos in one post? Yeah, why not? Be on a Fugazi kick lately.