As I danced around in my predicament yesterday I came to wonder if any of those dainty
It happened just above where that black sled is upside down.
ballerinas and ballerinos could pull this off.
Picture this if you will. To begin with, I am standing on a hard, snow-packed trail that’s particularly slippery because it’s on a steep hillside. This is the kind of trail where if you lean the wrong direction gravity takes over and you fall, making that choice rather than risking further injury trying to regain your balance. A heavy arm load of something gives gravity an extra advantage in your battle to remain upright. You know you are going to fall where that load has the shortest trip down. It’s also a trail where you accidentally take just one step off it, and your leg sinks thigh deep into the snow. Now add to this the fact you are standing in one snowshoe while you are trying to free your foot from the binding on the other half of the pair. But that’s not all, there’s a long tow rope to a heavily loaded sled wrapped around one leg and underfoot by the other one while your old friend gravity is trying to send that sled flying freely down the hill taking you along with it. Just for fun do it without the gloves you left on the sled so you could more easily manipulate the snowshoe bindings. Oh, yeah, it’s 10 degrees and the pain in your fingers is telling you it’s time to glove up but you can’t quite reach them. You’re down on one knee futilely using those painful fingers to release your foot from the resisting snowshoe binding. Now stand up. And let the dance begin. Your free foot loses its traction and slips just enough to throw off your balance and to remain upright you put pressure on the one with the snowshoe and that slips under the sled as you flail your arms desperately fighting the gravitational pull trying to send you sliding down the hill on your face. You are saved from that fate only because one step off the trail to regain balance, your boot sinks in snow up to your thigh and now one leg is considerably shorter than the other. Now there’s a dance worthy of a New York stage, don’t you think?
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