Zander does a Black Diamond

By Zander Frost, Chronicle Staff Writer

I was raised to believe you should never cave to peer pressure.

I even won an essay contest on the subject in fifth grade.

Officer Jeff Crotty selected me to read it in front of the entire school at my D.A.R.E. graduation ceremony.

And yet, at 31 years old, I caved to peer pressure and skied a Black Diamond trail on Gore Mountain.

In just my second day skiing in 17 years.

The day started off well.

I had such a blast in my return to skiing after nearly two decades that I took a weekday morning off from work and hit Gore Mountain again.

This time with two others.

The second time was even more fun.

It was all coming back to me at this point. And as I get more comfortable on the slopes, I’ve started to look for ways to improve.

My friends are prolific skiiers/snowboarders.

So I grilled them with questions. How do I make sharper turns? What exactly is the definition of “carving”? Should I buy a neon ski suit?

I learned a lot quickly. Skiers love talking about skiing almost as much as they love skiing.

Tapping into that repository of knowledge is a great way to spend chairlift and gondola rides.

It wasn’t long before my friend Trek taught me something that I’m not sure if I ever fully understood.

Yes — first name Trek. A fitting name for someone who spends all available time on mountains on the edge of society.

I learned — to turn sharply on particularly steep trail portions, you should plant your ski pole on each turn.

Then when you turn, you lean your weight on your pole and lift the closer ski off the ground, like you’re stepping up.

This allows you to turn just the one ski on the ground.

The result is much sharper turns. And much more control.

I had started to figure this out on my own, but I couldn’t quite put it into words.

I had felt I needed to shift my weight while turning. But it had not occurred to me that the ski should actually come off the ground.

When you watch excellent skiers turn, the movement is so fluid that it is hard to recognize that they’re really stepping up.

Trek encouraged — get in the habit of always tapping your pole on turns. So when you need to, you can instinctively turn quickly.

I started practicing on Blue Square Cloud.

Cloud passes by a fork leading to Black Diamond Open Pit.

Trek stopped the group, just minutes after I started practicing these turns.

“Should we go down Open Pit?”

I gave him a firm no. I’m not trying to end up in an open pit.

So we continued down Cloud.

I drilled the turns all the way down to the base. It felt great. I felt unlocked. Way more capable and less intimidated on sudden drops.

On the way up the lift, both of my compatriots started in.

“I really think you can do Open Pit.”

“They totally changed that trail — it’s really only steep at the beginning!”

“We even took **REDACTED** down it, and they were fine!”

I’ve hidden REDACTED’s name to protect their feelings.

“No,” I tell them. At least not yet.

We go up the mountain again. Before you know it, we’re headed down Cloud.

I’m cruising. The skis feel great. I’m actually turning with real control now. It’s the best I’ve felt yet.

Of course, Trek stops us at that fork again.

“Fine,” I tell him. “Let’s do it.”

My friends set off. A deep breath, and I’m following.

Turn. Turn. Turn. Moving quick.

And we’re at the next little plateau.

“How’s it feel?” they ask, laughing.

“Amazing,” I said.

And it did.

Honestly, Open Pit was really no problem at all. It was just a fun ride down to the bottom.

In hindsight, maybe it wasn’t peer pressure.

That was just taking on a new challenge while feeling like a baller skiier.

Apparently the trail used to be much more difficult, but got “smoothed” out.

The changes seem good to me!

No one’s going to get me to go down a Double Black Diamond, though.

Well, at least I don’t think so.

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