Bea Wulf: Double Diamonds

                            Diamonds

DOUBLE DIAMONDS a day after Valentine’s Day
were a lovely surprise, a belated present I want to say.
The DOUBLE DIAMONDS in my Big White life
are not expensive, colourless, hard jewels,
but a team of husband and wife.

As expert skiers, lovely and fit,
they sometimes take us SINGLE DIAMOND skiers along,
challenging us to show off our grit.
So it happened today.
I ride up the Ridge Rocket,
youppy … youppy … yayyyyyyy
before long we were happily on our way.

Goat’s Kick was lovely,
then we got still way more
as skiing parts of Sleepy Hollow in champagne powder
was a trail I had never skied before.
The best part for both Sue and me
was skiing through the Powder Keg trees
as both of us want to get better
at that kind of exciting skiing you see.

The snow between the tall fir trees was so powdery and light,
a great challenge but not a “how do I get down here” fight.
We even found the “Hang a Rat” tree twice,
for that I should have given Jim the being a great leader prize.

Towards the end of the second run appeared a reminder for me
when I did not make a safe line between two trees.
Two brittle fir branches could not stop my weight.
They snapped off as I dropped into the deep fluffy powder
thinking, “I should have gone straight.”
Sitting awkwardly in deep powder snow between some trees
is even worse when you have to deal with buried skis.
That is when you know the rule
NEVER SKI ALONE TREES makes sense.
Was I ever glad today to have the assistance of two friends.
They opened my bindings, held on to my skis,
so I could get up and with two clicks
could continue making turns through the trees.

We all were happy, Jim, Rita, Sue and me.
To challenge and be challenged
is so good for skiers who love feeling free.
As you can see you don’t need pretty diamonds on your hands
when you can have a DIAMOND and a DOUBLE DIAMOND
as Big White friends.

February 15, 2019 … what a lovely time skiing the trees.

Written and published with permission by Bea Wulf