This past weekend I finally took advantage of all the fluffy white snow that has been dumping on the Sierra since Thanksgiving. I had my first mono ski lesson (downhill) and my first try at adaptive cross country skiing.

I have to admit, the idea of skiing scared me last year. I wasn’t ready then, right after my accident, to try for any more excitement. When my therapist brought up downhill skiing as an adaptive sport that is very close to the able-bodied version, all I could think about was the possibility of injuring myself again.

Now that I’ve tried it most of those fears have melted away. It feels much more secure than the upright version. Once you’re strapped into the seat, falling is easy and painless. (Getting back up is a little more involved.) In addition to the single ski under your chair, you get two outriggers: tiny hand-held skis that are used to balance and steer. They convert between pick mode, which lets you push yourself around, and glide mode, which you use on the downhill.

Mono skiing day one doesn’t feel as intuitive as the upright version. Small movements with your arms translate into large turns that are further accelerated by shifts in body position. I kept doing hokey stops. Or dumping all my speed and then tipping over. But it was certainly fun. I got a good number of laps on the bunny slopes. I have the arm strength needed. And the balance required reminded me a lot of white water kayaking, which is fun for a similar reason. Though I am much more terrified of flipping into the water than into the snow.

One of the weirder parts of mono skiing is getting off the chair lift. You mantle on the picks to let the chair lift under your ski chair. To get off you have to throw your momentum forward, which feels a bit like front flipping into the snow while seated. From height.

I don’t have any exciting skiing videos to share with you yet, because Ben was learning at the same time I was and filming mid-run is a lot to ask. And because that first day I went slowly and carefully and without much grace. But here is some footage Ben captured towards the end, when I returned to the headquarters of Achieve Tahoe, where I went for my lessons and rental.

On day two I tried the adaptive version of cross country skiing. It was a reunion with Mark Wellman, of adaptive climbing fame. He agreed to teach me on my first time out. I used to do a good amount of cross country skiing. Unlike everybody else, I always enjoyed it more than downhill. Perhaps because it was the way I learned to ski as a kid. It always felt easy and I loved the brutal physical punishment.

Sitting down, the analogy holds perfectly. Downhill is harder technically and more involved. The bi-ski for cross country, which has two skis under the chair, is easy to balance but harder to steer. The arm workout of double-poling is like nothing else. I can use my hips and core to help push — which translates into a day of crunches and shoulder dips. And a rare opportunity for me to get some very good cardio.

Going through the trails up in Tahoe also felt like the closest I’ve gotten to hiking and moving through wild terrain since my accident. It was wonderful: no pavement in sight!

I’ll definitely be back for more of both. A day of each during the weekend might be my perfect combination. The downside is I can’t go as much as I would like. Achieve Tahoe, which is the operation in my area for adaptive skiing, is pretty much booked solid until they close at the end of April. I got lucky and got off the waiting list once. I have one more lesson coming up, though, before the season ends.