- Michael M.: Too much going on. Life in flux, etc..
- Sunshine: Wow, I was soooo happy to see a new post in my rss reader. I was hopping this is already the comeback! :(...
- gandalf: Did you only get caffeine through Dr.p or did you drink coffee as well? I’m interested, since...
- neeka: nine kilos… wow… :) happy holidays to you, michael, and to all your loved ones! veronica
- m: It was a bargain. No strings attached.
Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Maribor, Slovenia.
Portoroz, Slovenia.
• AlienMelon
• Burger.si
• Heck
• Izklop
• si.blogs
• Sloblogi
• Blogorola
• Natalija Verboten
Click to watch Jani PogaÄ?ar escape certain death.
Being a non-skiier in Slovenia is a bit like being an atheist in America: you automatically belong to a distrusted minority. If a Slovene asks you if you ski, you say yes. You shouldn’t say that you don’t and, for the love of God, don’t tell them you have no intention of learning. I’ve done the latter a few times and it’s never been pretty.
My reasons for not skiing are fairly simple: I grew up in a place where snow was something you only saw on TV, not interacted with, so I never really had the chance to learn. Now that I’m old (almost as old as ancien Poulette) it would be harder, and pretty expensive, to start. I’d also feel weird about shelling out a month’s salary for equipment in order to go take a shot at breaking every bone in my body. (And maybe taking some innocent people down with me.) For me, the triumph of skiing would be making it down alive — but I can just as easily enjoy that triumph by eating a Döner kebap at the new Panda grill in town.
And then there’s this video of Jani PogaÄ?ar skiing in Monterosa, which pretty much seals the deal…
Comments
Comments for this post are closed.
By the way Michael. Look at this. This guy is crazy and it has been done by his own will. jumping from a 55 meter high cliff.http://www.johanfogelstrom.com/JamiePierre55mdrop.htm. And by the way, did you notice that he hit a “rock” in the flight and didn’t get hurt.
And this is a documented world record by jumping from a cliff from around 75 meters high.
And who would forget Tone PogaÄ?nik who in the 50s “unwillingly” jumped from a 100m cliff over the north face of Triglav and survived.And for the end. Some skiing lessons from Davo Krnicar, who in late April 2006 repeated probably the most difficult skiing descent in slovenia. Fortunately it was well documented
Oh, and I forgot… Yes, Jani PogaÄ?ar was LUCKY (with capital L)!
But lets say, that luck follows the brave… although, the first snowboarder that descened Mt. Everest (actually, that was done just a few days after Davo Krnicars descent), Marco Siffredi, dissapeared on his second attempt, when trying to go down on even more difficult route…
Matty, that reminds me. Do you all remember Vesna Vulović, JAT’s flight attendant? She survived a free fall from 10km. And Michael is too afraid to ski
luck might really follow the brave, but if that’s true, how do you explain that graveyards are full of young and brave
Michael! You’re not to old to learn new tricks
Besides - you have a ski - slope practically in the centre of the city in Maribor. Get a pair of skis on eBay or Bolha.com, buy new boots and you’re off. With the new carving technique you don’t even need ski sticks.
Last time in Austria I met a British guy who learned how to ski when he was 65. He is now 75 and still going strong….and loving every minute on the slopes! So you see Michael, you are definitely not to old to give it a try!!
Ooops, that somebody from the last message was me…sorry about that!
I am slovenian and i don’t ski and i am proud of that. Skiing is an elitist sport and i refuse to take any part in such activities. Needless to mention that it’s boring.
@jaka - i completely agree with you, thats why i gave also an example of Marko Siffredi, who was too brave at only 23 years of age…@rox - u don’t need to ski only on ski-slopes… skiing off-piste somewhere in slovene mountains could be a great day trip, and lets say going up to Kotovo sedlo certainly isn’t elitist sport…
@Michael M - learn to snowboard!!! Its easier and faster to learn as skiing!
Michael,
Sorry to hear that you’ve almost definitely decided that you won;t ski. Saying you come from NOLA doesn;t work however, as it’s a strong possibility that one of your ancestors came from Canada when the Brits booted out some folks from Acadia. So, you may have diluted skiing blood. Just a minor transfusion, say in a local hospital, may be needed to boost up the ski blood count.
Perhaps when the kiddies are 6-7 yrs old, you may be tempted to hit the trails with them. You know alpine skiing is not the only type of skiing. I always envisioned you as a biatholonist, combining the American love of shooting stuff with the Slovenian love of shushhing.
Don’t close that skiing door permanently. It is truly one of life’s little pleasures. Cross country skiing is not a month’s salary; perhaps a week’s.
To be honest, as a child I did not enjoy skiing that much. But as you have already stated, skiing in Slovenia was then in the ‘80 a must, even more so, since it was much cheaper. So I quit as soon as I got the chance to do it, blaming it on the green winters. And last year, after 15 years, being in the same old, very old age of 30, I got tempted to try it again. It was diiiviiine, completely different from what I remembered. I’m still a lousy skier as I was back then in my youth, but at least with carving I can pretend to know how to do it. I believe that baby slopes are at least worth trying. You don’t have to buy the whole equipment, for starters it is enough if you only rent it to see if it works for you. And since you’re living in the town with the longest lit ski slope in Europe it would be shame not to test it.
Oh no, he doesn’t ski!… Does this mean he doesn’t play tarok, eather? Can we ever trust again what he says?
Yeah, Michael, do you play Tarok?
I always knew the secret would have to come out one day! No, I don’t play tarok. However, I actually would like to learn.
One out two ain’t bad
Maybe we could organise an Anonymous Tarok Players help group or something. ;)))
Ah, mon cher Michel, mon fellow non taroker - reunited at last! However, whereas I admit to being an avid skier, I will be quite happy to live the rest of my short time here on earth without ever playing a single round of that wretched card game. Join me, I implore you! let’s journey on the road less traveled together, let’s share the joys of a tarok free existence united! Might I perhaps interest you in a round of strip poker instead?!
Now that’s a card game I could get into.
Quote of the Day
“Skiing consists of wearing $3,000 worth of clothes and equipment and driving 200 miles in the snow in order to stand around at a bar and drink.”
- PJ O’Rourke
I learn’t to Ski in Slovenia and nearly killed a 2 year old boy. His large Croatian dad was angry. Skiing is dangerous.