Mt. Seymour Ski Lessons – Operation Ski Bunny

Posted on

“I want to ski this year”, she said.

“Awesome!” I said. “I’m going on Friday, want to come?”

“Well, here’s the thing… I have NO gear.” My friend went on to say that other than a ski jacket and under layers, she really had not a single item of ski gear.

No ski pants

No socks

No gloves

No goggles

No helmet

And…no skis

However, she was willing to put her pursuits of shredding powder out to the world, and before we knew it, she would be up on the hill!

This is Sasha’s story!

ski-lessons-on-mount-seymour

Sasha grew up skiing and last year in Calgary, was reintroduced to the sport! This year, with all the snow, she wanted to be up playing in the hills and in January started saying it out loud, “I don’t know how, but I will go skiing this year!”

After hearing her passion I just had to see what we could do, and turned to you, my Adventure Awaits community. I did a simple post asking anyone for gear…

I was quickly overwhelmed with text messages, Facebook messages, and comments of people who wanted to support Sasha’s Ski Bunny dreams. Within a week I had offers for skis, boards, a variety of clothing, pants, goggles, skis, from all over BC and Alberta.

getting-on-ski-gear-for-lessons

I was completely overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of people, some who were shipping her gear at their own expense. “Everyone deserves the right to ski!”, one person said. Another donor said, “If I can help get her out on the hill in any way possible, I will!” And with that, we had everything Sasha needed to get on the hills.

Then it was time to tell Sasha… and her reaction was something I’ll never forget. She jumped 12 feet in the air and said, “What?!? For me!?!” And she had an ear-to-ear grin all day long. “I love people!” she kept saying, which led into lots of conversations about all the people who came together to make this possible. Kindness always wins!

Mount Seymour also heard about Sasha’s desire to hit the hill and quickly stepped up and offered her an afternoon of  Mt.Seymour ski lessons and a day of skiing on the hill. After a full day of playing in the “POW” here’s what Sasha had to say about her lessons: “I can’t say enough nice things about Mount Seymour for gifting me with the wonderful opportunity of being able to not only hit the slopes, but refresh my technique after a twenty-two-ish year hiatus, with an instructor like Jack. He was so patient, he didn’t overwhelm me with too much information and he challenged me to “ski” slightly outside of my comfort zone, which was exactly what I needed.”

ski-lessons-on-mount-seymour

I think my favourite part of our Mt.Seymour ski lessons was when I caught some speed heading down a run, and when I got to Jack I was like, “How do I slow down when I start to pick up speed?” Jack looked at me and very kindly told me that I wasn’t actually going that fast. I pointed to another skier coming down the same run and I was like, “Was I going that fast?” Jack just looked at me and pointed to someone behind the other skier that was slowly making their way down the mountain, and was like “Ummm, more like that!”

ski-instructor-and-student-on-mount-seymour

The best part of having the opportunity to work with Jack, was that with a few cues I was able to feel more confident in my ability and as he told me at the end of the lesson, the rest is just practice. I’m thinking he means I need to ski more than once every twenty-two-ish years, which warms this new ski bunny’s heart.

Thank you so much to everyone who pulled together to make this happen. Your generosity and kindness were overwhelming and I absolutely love this amazing community.

 

A special note from the new Ski Bunny herself: “A little more than a year ago, I told my family that I wanted to start skiing again. When we were younger we would go frequently and I used to love it and I realized that I missed it. Then and there, and without a plan, I decided that operation ski bunny was now in full effect. We had just started a new business, so financially I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it happen, but where there’s a will and lot of nice people, there’s a way.

I told anybody that would listen how much I loved skiing but that I couldn’t afford the gear to get started again, so if they knew of anyone getting rid of their old gear to let me know. What happened next made my day, week and year. People I knew and some I didn’t, donated their gear to my cause and I was given everything that I would need to take operation ski bunny from dream to reality.

“I was and still am, so incredibly humbled by the generosity of these individuals. Their willingness to help, in some cases never having met me, blows my mind. Words cannot express how grateful I am for being given the opportunity to ski again. So to everyone who helped make operation ski bunny a reality, thank you, and please know that I loved it, every minute of it, and I don’t want to stop.”  

Is this a sponsored post?: While we received a complimentary lesson and lift ticket for Mt.Seymour ski lessons, our words reflect our experience and we’re excited to share it with you!

About The Author
Jami Savage
Jami Savage
Jami Savage is one of the top Family Travel Writers in Canada, and has been featured on CTV and Vancouver Sun, and more. Go here to read our families story about how we went from backyard adventurers to world travelers, and how you can do the same. If you want to send Jami a quick message, visit her contact page here.
Related Posts
Comments

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Jami Savage

Full Time Travel Writer, Mom who is passionate about empowering and educating travelers on how you can use your own tourism dollars as a catalyst for positive change worldwide. Click here to learn more about us, our family, and how we lead an adventure filled life!

Follow Us on Social
6,340FansLike
12,706FollowersFollow
2,176FollowersFollow
6,353FollowersFollow
spot_img
Recent Posts