So I made it down the slope without breaking any legs! That is an achievement in itself…

Trying skiing was the second challenge on my list for this year and it surprisingly went very well. So much so, that I am actually looking forward to having the opportunity to go back and try it again.

Last Christmas I was able to try snowboarding in the Czarna Góra Area in the south of Poland which is near the boarder with Slovakia. No matter how awesome I think snowboarding is and how much I want to be part of the cool snowboarders club, I do not think it will ever be the sport for me… It was one of the more physically challenging things I have tried and this is mostly because it is so hard to stay balanced and upright. Needless to say I spent more time landing on my bum than actually snowboarding!

It was part of my 2023 challenges and one of the few that I actually achieved during that year. I am glad I tried it and I would love to be the kind of person that can slide effortlessly down a Mountain in one of the coolest ways possible. However, I am afraid it is just not for me. Knowing my obvious limit, I decided this year I wanted to try another winter sport. This led me nicely onto skiing, which admittedly I have tried before. Although, this was when I was little more than a toddler at an indoor snow-dome in the UK.

From this experience I can remember nothing except the room was freezing and that it felt unnatural to go that fast – bare in mind I probably only went about 5 mile per hour… For little old me, this was exhilarating and terrifying. But, unfortunately I never had the opportunity to go back after trying that lesson, until now.

Spending the New Year Holidays in Poland this year, I was able to utilise the beautiful mountain area again to try this wonderful winter sport once more. This time in an area called Wisła. Here I was able to try a two hour 1-2-1 ski lesson with an amazing (and very patient) instructor. Now, I realise that I will never be going to the olympics for skiing, but I am pretty pleased that I made it down the slope all by myself – even if it was only the bunny slope for little kids…

It was an incredible (and little bit scary) experience and I am pleased to report I only fell over once. So all in all, a very successful day!

Skiing was a far more natural and yet foreign feeling than I was expecting. Compared to snowboarding, skiing felt a lot more instinctual as your legs can move independently. This made it seem almost like walking except you are strap to long boards, which felt almost like wearing clown shoes. On the other hand, snowboarding feels like your legs are trapped together and made me lose balance and topple of over every few seconds. So between the two, skiing is definitely my preferred choice going forward as I can actually make it down the slope.

However, the pain I felt afterwards in my legs was astonishing. I was clearly using muscles my body was not even aware existed before that day. Every step was like my legs were going to explode, and the thought crossed my mind that maybe I had broken something. After laying with them up for a few hours the pain eventually subsided.

That after feeling thought me that if I want to try this sport again then I will need to invest in some kind of leg cushioning to protect my calves from being subjecting to that intensity of pain again. It also gave me a deeper appreciation for all the people that go on ski holidays and do it all day long for a whole week. I like to think that one day that could be me, but we will have to see if I can train my legs to withstand those stiff ski boots for more than a few hours.

Overall, I had a wonderful experience, even if it was a bit painful afterwards, and I cannot wait to have the opportunity to try it again!

But that will have to wait, for the rest of the year I still have 23 other cool new activities to try…