Went to Vail yesterday to ski with our fan, Neal Boortz. But the poor guy buggered up his shoulder overnight and could not ski. Sad story…we had lunch with his pals and I went off to ski.

Because I had no one to ski with now, I jumped into an Expert class for the afternoon. An Australian med student in his 20’s, another kid, same age, and a couple from Vail in their early 50’s…all very good skiers indeed. We were flying around all afternoon, in the expert Back Bowls in six inches of powder-turned-crud. Bumps, trees, speed. Quite a day.
It was the third day from sea-level for me and I was in trouble for a while…had the hideous feeling that all was lost, I was back on the downward curve of life and so on. Lot of pain in my legs, depite all those hours on the The weight machines. Thought I might have to quit early. Oh Lord!
But the instructor saw something…reminded me of a key technique for skiing crud like this. Tweaked my position on the boards and, BINGO, all the pain was gone. I was flying and feeling wonderful. Maybe just a teeny bit younger this year after all. Felt it. Phew!

Lessons: 1. get a “trainer” and listen to him or her. 2. Training hard for a kedge trip does work…it reallydoes. 3. You really can be functionally 20 years younger…on a lucky day, maybe 30. JOY!

Off to Mississippi tomorrow early for another talk. All wheed up for it by the skiing yesterday.