I Thought I Would Die Skiing

How I conquered my fear on a black diamond

Photo by asoggetti on Unsplash

Petrified, I stood at the top of the hill, squinting in the bright sun. Hard packed snow dropped off in a straight J-curve in front of me, and I backed up in terror. I was going to die.

In high school I went on a yearly ski trip with my youth group. We didn’t go to real mountains, just small skiing facilities in…