I shivered from the cold wet snow that has filled my boots, I can see my breath out in front of me as I use my ski poles to pull myself to the next lift. As I hop on the lift a fear comes over me “Should I have done this?” I said to myself as the army green lift rattled. I stood up firm and steady while getting off the lift. My skis glided through the snow once again. I looked down to the bottom, it looked as if I was at the top of a mountain but actually, I was just a third of the way to the top. It was a tiny slope, but seemed like the top of Mount Everest. “I can't do this, I'm going to break all of my bones. I should go back down.” I thought to myself. But where is the fun in that I thought. I let my skis swiftly drift to the top of the slope, and let my skis glide.

“This will be a piece of cake!” I said to my friends as the bus rattled and climbed over the long tall road. I heard from the back of the bus someone yelling out of the window. I looked to my side to see a huge snow covered slope. The smile that filled my face staggered, it was more than I expected. The bus came to a screeching halt, the sound of the sudden halt surprised me, we were already at the lodge. I stepped off and followed the rest of the crowd “How do I get a lift ticket?“ I asked a worker. “You've come to the right place“ She said as I handed her my new ski pass. She gave me all of the papers I needed, along with my lift ticket. I headed towards the rental area to pick up my helmet, I grabbed a small helmet and showed the lady my lift pass, she pointed to another door. I could see boots and skis through that door. “Thanks." I said as I walked through the door. I pulled out a pink piece of paper, started to fill out some of the required things. It then came down to boot size. I looked down the long hall of boots and frowned. “Uh-oh“ I thought to myself. “What's my boot size?.“ I went from 6s to 10s then 9s and lastly 8s. “It's a perfect fit“ I said as I slipped the right boot on and put the left one on. There I saw my friends, calling me to hurry up, I grabbed the right skis and headed out to the slopes. “Uh, how do I do this?” As I struggled to put my skis on. “For starters, they are on backwards.” Said my friend. I flipped them around and slid my boots into the bindings. I looked up at the large hill in front of me, I shivered and imagined what would happen if I tried that. My friends immediately motioned for me to follow them to the red lift. I gazed at the huge lift in awe. “Is this an easy trail?” I asked. “Yes, it's super easy!” My friends exclaimed as we boarded the lift. As we were going up it started getting a lot taller than I expected. I felt a breeze hit my shoulder as I gazed at passing skiers. They must have done this for years, I thought. I haven't done this yet. I looked to the end of the lift. “Only half way up!” I thought. Maybe this was a bad idea, I'm going to fall a ton I thought. When we reached the top of the lift I looked down on the trail. “I got this.” I said as I started going downhill. "WHAM!"  I slammed into the snow, my skis flew off. I felt a small pain in my hip. “Oh goodness. This is not going to be fun.” I thought as I staggered to get back up and put my skis on. It was more laborious than expected. I then got up, snapped my skis back on my boots and tried again. I started going, I was doing it! I could turn now. Wham! I hit the ground again. “Dang it.” I said as I tried to get back up, friends passing by laughing at me. I got up again and finally reached the end. “Maybe ski lessons will be a good idea.” I told my friends. I set off to find the lesson area.

“Lessons starting soon!” I heard a man yell. I raced towards the sound of the man. As I approached the man it was a tall older man with a huge beard, I thought this guy must be good. “Is this the starter lesson?” I asked the man. “Why yes it is!” The man said in a very low pitched voice. I looked to see if any of my friends would be doing it with me as well, I could only spot one of my friends attending the lesson.

I looked to see the others around only to find small eight year olds. “I look stupid.” I thought to myself. “Everyone probably thinks I am dumb.” The lesson then began. It felt like hours upon hours, the large clock at the lodge counted so slow. After what seemed like an eternity, we could ride off to go down the trails. “I think it would be easier for us to do that one.” I said to my friend while pointing at a small slope. We rode up to the green lift, I got that tense feeling of nervousness again even though this was a very small hill. We slowly hopped off the lift and already I could tell I had improved. “That lesson may have actually worked!” I said as I approached the slope. “Don't fall, don't fall, don't fall, everyone is watching you right now.” I whispered to myself. My heart was beating so fast I felt as if it would burst. “Just go Milo.” I said to myself. I let my skis drift to the start and began. “Left, right, left right.” I said as I sped down the hill. “Left, right, left right.” Something about this skiing just felt right, almost as if I had found my happy place Just like that I was at the bottom. “I did it!” I yelled.

I then went back to find my friends and keep going with them. Soon, I could almost keep up with them, even though most of them were skiing since age seven.

Even though I fell a few more times, I still wasn't all as bad as before. I then went home to my family to brag about how great I was at Perfect North.