July 11th 2012 was the day that both my sons and I ascended to the summit of Mt Ruapehu on a sunny winter's day. Hard work at the time but the feeling was good. And very pleasantly wasted when we skiied down. The lifts had stopped working by the time we scooted over the last of the ski-field and we had vast expanses of snow to ourselves.
The next day July 12th was bright and sunny with great snow. And it was in the afternoon when I took the valley T-bar up, was having a chat whilst perched on the right hand side of the T-bar, when I was distracted by a young lass falling off in the dismount area. Unfortunately I then lost control and my left ski did not release. With the result that my left knee was munted.
That was the last time I went skiing. Just over 4 years ago now. And I am gun shy. One too many injuries now. Combine the knee injury with injuring my left shoulder once and my right shoulder twice and the pain has combined to tell me something.
While there was physical pain on that trip there was also some mental pain and grief at the fact that my ex was not on this trip. There had only been one previous trip to the snow with my boys when my ex had not been with us. That was in 2006 when she attended a 10 day Vipassana course during the ski season and I took the boys to Serac ski lodge. Change in life is constant. And all good things eventually come to an end. The period in our lives when we went to the ski lodge as a family was perhaps the best of times for our family unit. With today being an especially cold day here in Melbourne I am reminded of previous winters when we would be spending a week of the July school vacation period at Serac lodge. I miss those times of no internet access.
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