We went skiing at Mount St Louis Moonstone today with the ski club. It’s our first time skiing for about three weeks, and the first time since Glen broke his rib on the slopes.

We had a good sized Australian contingent this time, with Bec, Alastair, Claire and Shane, along with Umberto and Hassan.

We made good time to the mountain and there weren’t many people out today. We hired our skis and were able to go for a couple of practice runs before lessons started at 10.

The slopes were a bit icy but it snowed while we were there, which seemed to make a difference.

Glen joined a level 3 class, while Bec and I shared an instructor (Peter) for level 4. We got lots of runs in, did a good number of drills to help get the weight on the downhill ski, and both of us felt pretty happy with how we’d progressed by the end of the two-hour lesson.

Not as impressed as Peter though, who was very excited about our progress. We weren’t upgraded to level 5 today though. Maybe next week. I think because we don’t get the same instructor from week to week, it’s largely arbitrary on whether you progress or not. It seems there’s not much difference between some levels.

Glen and I had bought for lunch the leftover chicken pie I’d made the night before but MSLM is the only ski club that doesn’t have a microwave for people to use. We had burgers instead. They weren’t nearly as satisfying. I’d also made chocolate cake the day before and brought that along. Unfortunately it was a bit dry.

After lunch, the seven of us (Hassan was a beginner so went for an afternoon lesson) hit the slopes together. We went across to the other side of the mountain and skied there, before making our way back.

MSLM has a lot of short runs and the slopes aren’t as steep or scary as Blue Mountain. So blues and blacks at MSLM would be greens and blues elsewhere. The benefit of this is that beginners like me can do the blacks. Glen also did a black too. (I was so proud.)

The sun came out in the afternoon, which was just lovely. Overall it’s been a funny weather day, with snow in the morning, strong winds and then sunshine in the afternoon, and more shoe on the way home.

But it all made for a very enjoyable day skiing. I felt very confident in the afternoon, even doing a couple of blacks by myself. Then sitting around afterwards talking among the group was a good wrap up to the day.

We were all a bit worn out at the end, which is probably due to how many runs we got in (it’s so good when there aren’t many people around because then you don’t have to queue so long at the lift.)

On the bus ride home, I really noticed the difference the change to daylight savings has made. At 7pm, the sun was still a good distance above the horizon and it felt like you could get more out of your day. My legs would protest if I tried but I can dream.