The extended weekend in Utah was a lot of fun. We went skiing in Park City, a little town a few miles out of Salt Lake City. It is apparantly one of the top skiing destinations in the world. The winter olympics were held there a few years back. It was called the Salt Lake City Olympics, but Park City it was. Details, details.
There are primarily 4 types of slopes. Green, Blue, Black Diamond and Black Moguls. The Greens are the baby slopes, while the Black Moguls are those psycho slopes were these lithe visions writhe and glide through the snow. As this was my first time, I was stuck on the Greens. Most of the other folks in my group were these hardcore veterans that being unsatisfied with the Black Moguls, trek up random ridges and ski down jagged mountain sides. I actually wanted to do the Moguls as well. You know, break some bones and get a couple of months off. Alas, the others would have none of it. They refused to call 911 if I flew off a cliff.
Skiing is very hard because you instinctively tend to do the opposite of what you are supposed to. It is like how we tend to handle most things in life. So, they key to success is to do the opposite of what you think you should be doing. Thats probably how you should not be handling most things in life though. Anyway, it is like being on a continously slipping Banana peel. The reason why you slip and fall is because you panic, flail your arms around and lean back, allowing the peel to zip forward, propeling you back. The key to skiing well is to keep your arms well ahead of you, and your weight balanced ahead. That would ensure that the banana peel is pinned under your foot. Weight distribution. Weight distribution.
Anyway, as obvious as it may sound, the first step to skiing well is to not crash. I cannot empasize enough the not crash part. The key to not crashing is to not fly down the slope at 200mph, and the key to doing that (not fly that is) is keeping your speed under control. And, yes, you got that right, the key to keeping your speed under control is to be able to 'carve', i.e. cut left and right, against the direction of the slope, and bleed speed. Now carving isn't easy because as you weave, you could catch an edge and take the aerial route. You are caught between a rock and a hard place, carving could make you end up with legs twisted on the snow, and crashing could leave you decorated on the slope like christmas lights on a christmas tree.
I had quite a few fairly nasty crashes early on. That was nothing as bad as what my friend had. So, we decide to go down this slightly tough Green that sloped down while turning left. These slopes aren't hard to do, as long as you keep your speed under control. Unfortuantely, we can barely even turn, let alone carve. My friend heads down the slope. As he goes down he gets faster and faster and faster, and the turn approaches. Not making the turn would mean flying off a little bit of a cliff into a nice messed up ditch. Since he has no clue as to how to turn, he gets panicky, and somehow manages to turn, but overcorrects. It hasn't helped his speed all that much. Instead of risking flying off the right end of the slope, he is about to fly off the left end. He barrels on at 40 mph at a crop of trees. Gets shell shocked. Drops his poles and falls back. As he result he flies on even faster and has this spectacular crash. It was like watching a car fly off a bridge into a brick wall. My experience was a little better. Fell down a lot more times, but nothing too dramatic. After all this initial anguish, we did get better at it.
So, my super-boss has a little condo in Park City. He also rented us a little condo, with hot tub and all. Ski all day, drink beer, get stuffed and soak in the hot tub all evening. These traders love playing games that resemble trading in some way, essentially gambling games that involve an element of skill - poker for e.g. However, I would advise you to avoid playing a gambling game with a bunch of derivatives traders, if you care about your money. I lost a bit, and wisely decided to sulk and stop playing. They are a pretty nice bunch though.
All in all it was a fun experience. Once in a while I do deserve a bit of a break from my good old 75 hour weeks. Entire companies go out of existence in 2 weeks. Lets not even speak about individual people. I do deserve a bit of a break. Do you think so? Or, do you think I need to be smacked on the head with a cricket bat?
Oh btw, in case you didn't know, in about 15 minutes the most cliched, overused, commericalized piece of shit day ever, Valentine's day, is going to come to an end. Thank god for kind mercies! I read on the BBC website that companies in India expect to make about 200 crores exploiting poor kids with no pocket money. And, whats this thing about women wanting to being treated on par with men? Do they really wan't that deal ? No more days like this then. Super sexist no? I have also been noting that increasingly, women wear engagement rings that are as big as a brick. I sometimes pity the poor finger that needs to keep carry the entire weight of the ego. The poor fellow must have slaved 5 months to pay the first instalment on that thing. Do you know that the diamond market is super manipulated? Do you know that diamonds would cost a fraction as much as they currently do if the few suppliers weren't controlling supply? A bit like oil (OPEC and all that). In any case, general crap shooting ends. Pardon. Merci beaucoup. C'est bon. Au reviour. Monday is President's day. 3 day weekend. Heaven!
