The first ski of the season was a success. We got out in the snow, hiked up a mountain on skis, and skied down the mountain. Snow conditions varied from ridge to valley from hard sun crust to sugary loose snow, and it was difficult for me to achieve anything resembling a telemark turn. I brushed up on my old technique of full-body slams into the slope. It was rewarding simply to be out in the sunshine on the white stuff.
Skiing was delayed on arrival when Dinkum the New Dog decided to remind us how he ended up as a stray at the pound. We set him loose and he sprinted towards the first distraction that hit his brain, a family sledding about 500m up a different slope from the one we were heading. After much running, calling, and shouting from one group of people to another, someone finally handed me the dog back in the car park where we'd started out 30 minutes beforehand. At this point in the day Dinkum was failing his test as a ski dog. Dinkum was then confined to the leash, and released only once all other people were out of sight further up our ascent of the mountain. From there, aside from chasing the odd snowball back down the slope, Dinkum kept with us on the way up, and had no problem following the lead skier on the way down. Reviewing his performance as a whole for the day, for a novice he did quite well, and I will probably take him skiing again.
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