Battered, bruised, but not broken (I think)

The Regimental Skiing Trip was a whole new experience and one I'm probably unlikely to repeat. It also confirmed my wife's prophetic powers, 'He'll never ski!'

Actually, I came close to proving her wrong for, after two days of remedial tuition as I had arrived later than the main group because of Tough Guy, I was actually progressing pretty well even as far as 'red' graded slopes. The picture shows a section I skiied down several times without too great an incident though, admittedly, not a great deal of control.

However, at the end of the third things reached a level beyond which I didn't progress. For one thing, besides the many falls that didn't hurt much, I took one that did - on my shoulder coming off a drag lift. For some days afterwards when I ran I looked like a cross between Max Wall = stiff back because of bruising from general falland Napoleon Bonaparte = immobile arm due to injured shoulder!

For another, I was increasingly conscious of the fact that every year at least one person seemed to incur an injury - usually a damaged cruciate ligament which requires an operation and a long period of re-habilitation - and I did not want that person to be me.

Finally, the last two days skiing were on mountain routes - the Felhorn and Nebelhorn - and that added a whole new dimension. Steer wrong here and you're into the safety netting or worse. Suddenly rock climb climbing with its fixed anchor points and safety lines seemed a whole lot safer than hurtling down a hillside on two anti-gravity machines, though I suppose for seasoned skiiers that is the appeal.

In conclusion, a good week especially in terms of getting to know members of the Regiment better, wonderful scenery, a definite physical challenge and that realisation that, perhaps, I'm getting a bit old for some things.