Ski bums and geeks...

Our weekends during the winter are mostly spent at a ski village and resort about two and three quarter hours south, just across the border in Western New York (USA) at a little Norman Rockwell-esq type town called Ellicottville. 

Ellicottville at its finest in the winter - a small,
intimate and family oriented ski resort located just 2:45
from Toronto

For the past three winters we rented a condo in Ellicottville so the kids could participate in the Screaming Eagles ski program.  Each year their confidence and speed surpassed their prior year accomplishments, in fact last year Zach was much faster on ski’s that either me or my ex.    We’d all start at the top and he’d basically barrel down the mountain without turning and be standing waiting for us after each run…   I know he was proud of his new found speed and confidence on ski’s and secretly so was I.

As I write this week’s blog I’m sitting in the Starbucks in my old neighborhood waiting for Zach to come home from school so I can drop by and pick him up for our weekly winter pilgrimage down to Ellicottville.   Normally Sami would be accompanying us and it would be the “three amigo’s” heading south, but that changed earlier this week when she called me after school.

I could sense that she was a little upset and apprehensive about something just by the tone in her voice (yeah, parents can pick up the vibe with our kids), so I asked her what was bothering her and she was very anxious (probably because she had to tell me) and apologetic because she just learned that the Provincial Robotics competition had been slated for this coming weekend and hence she couldn't come to Ellicottville with us…

This years new Rossignol skis

Last November Sami represented her school at the Toronto Private Schools Robotics competition; in fact she was the leader for her team and was on point to drive their teams robot through its various activities and gates.  The event was held at her school with 14 other private schools attending from all over the Greater Toronto Area.  I had expected it to be a low-key affair with lots of serious “geeky” types huddled around their robots tweaking and tuning in prep for the competition, which would then be conducted in front of a hushed audience.  Strangely it was far from the quiet affair that I had expected and an absolute hoot!

It was a cross between a rock concert, which included loud and pulsing music (yes, even Armin Van Buren would be proud), cheer squads for a number of the schools and the general air of a large house party!   Wow, I remember thinking these robotic geeks really know how to have fun.  

Fortunately she led her school to a third place, with the top three schools going to the Provincial Robotics championship which were now scheduled for this coming weekend…   She was not happy because she wouldn’t be able to come with us and ski for the first time this season.  

As I left Sami tonight she was musing that if they won the Provincials they would be going to the North American tournament, then from there it would be then just one step away from the Global tournament and a trip overseas...her eyes were wide and bright as she thought about the possibilities.   My parting words to her were to have fun and dream big!   Who knows what could happen but that if she won and went to the next stage I would be there in person – front and center!  

Burton snowboard web based selector

She smiled her beaming beautiful smile and I could tell she was dreaming of going all the way to the global tournament…that’s my girl – always dreaming big!

Zach and I hit the road around 4:45 pm and arrived into Ellicottville around 7:15pm and that includes the border crossing – we each have a NEXUS pass which makes it very easy to scoot through the border (generally no more than 2 minutes).   

He and I have already planned our breakfast tomorrow morning at a little greasy spoon in town at 7:00 am so we can take our time and get ready for our couple of days of skiing.   The Screaming Eagles program starts at 9:00 am so our plan is to have a lazy breakfast then head back over the Holiday Valley (ski resort) – a good five minutes from town.

The kicker tomorrow is that for some reason its supposed to be unseasonably warm – they’re calling for 14C when usually its -5C and fridged….so slushy spring skiing, don’t you hate global warming!    

The toughest decision I have to make on weekends like this is “do I ski or snowboard?”   Yeah, I realize that if that’s the hardest decision I have this weekend I’m exceptionally lucky!   I decided to learn to snowboard about three years ago when Sami was nine (cos her friends were learning), so we had lessons together, but after a few weeks she decided that although it looked cool it was just plain hard to do so she went back to skiing.

I stuck to it cos I was fortunate enough to get the hang of it pretty quickly, but irrespective of my abilities to snowboard I’ve taken a lot (sorry did I say lot?) of major spills.  In fact last year I swear I had a bruise that covered all of my right buttock plus most of my lower back – can you say the size of Texas???   Fortunately I’ve always worn a helmet and its well marked with all my falls over recent years, I can’t imagine not wearing one and really just asking for trouble ;-P   

Okay so in my younger years perhaps….

I’m getting psyched up for the first run of the year; its so much fun to be skiing with Zach, but thinking about Sami and wishing she was here with us - next time for sure!