We could all do with it every now and then. A push. A change. A kick up the backside. For some it's a change of scenery, for others it's a new vocation in life. For me it's a new opportunity working as a ski guide teaching school kids about backcountry travel. I did a week of it before, working with the kids from the school I work at but now I've been asked back to help the senior guides deliver similar courses to other schools.
Thing is, I'm no highly trained professional. I'm an enthusiastic amateur at best. I'm mostly self-taught but I'm keen to impart the sense of freedom I gained from sticking a pair of planks on my feet and shuffling up into the mountains. I'm a bit nervous, the language issue will still need to be worked on but nearly every Norwegian kid at this age will speak better English than my Norwegian. And then there is the practical issue of teaching them how we move around on skis when some of them have been skiing since they were four years old. That'll be interesting. So I've been out on my skis a lot, pushing my own envelope, higher and further into the hills near my home. Sending myself down steeper and longer slopes. Plunging through deeper and deeper powder.
It's good to scare yourself every now and then.
