Do you have any fears? Well around one third of the world's population has a fear of heights, and someone like me is a part of that. I have always had a slight fear of heights but at the same time always loved sports. For example, I play baseball, basketball, and football. When I signed up for Skiing for fun and to try something new during my final year of Elementary School, fifth grade, I had no idea what it was or what would happen. I just signed up because almost everybody in fifth grade signed up, and I also had never thought about skiing before this club came to my attention.

     The club in fifth grade had included an hour of lessons and teaching, and afterwards an hour of free skiing. The hour of teaching always felt as if it was an eternity. Most days in the club were calm, clear, and the snow had been man-made, but that day it had snowed, which made the snow more slippery and wet. I usually preferred to go down alone as I liked being calm and not rushed. But that day I decided to go down with one of my friends, Justin, and he wanted me to go down the longer and taller hills.

     It was the second to last week of the ski season, and it had snowed the previous day before Ski club. It was so cold that day; I felt like I had gone numb.  The ground was very icy and slippery. The clouds were still flourishing in the air, still gray as if it were about to spew snow vigorously. Justin and I slid over to the line for the ski lift, and it was my first time ever. The wait for the lift was shorter than usual as the second and third ski lift had recently reopened. Once we got on I could barely open my eyes. But as I became more comfortable with the lift, which literally held my life in its seat, I opened my eyes. The view was astonishing as you could see nearby stadiums, buildings, and people. The wind gushed on my face as we neared the top of the ski lift. At that same moment I realized how terrified I sometimes could get from heights like this.

     The chair started slowing down and becoming even with the ground as I stumbled myself off the chair; then I waddled over toward the hill with my friend because he wanted to take me down it. My dad was watching me from below the cliffside. I could see how icy and slippery this hill was as it just started to snow once more. My heart was pounding heavily at this point. Hands shaking, I had never been this high before while standing on flat ground; I had only gone down the hills for smaller kids. This was also one of the steepest cliffs at the ridge. It was a Blue Square as the second hardest cliff, but our instructors said if we hadn't skied before this club we couldn't go down the Black Diamonds. This made this the highest possible cliff I could ski. 

     Adrenaline was rushing through me as I slowly scrambled myself down, hair brushing through the swift wind.  I could feel the wind pushing against me as I accelerated in speed. My hands started intensely shaking as I slipped but regained balance. As I started to get to the end of the slope I started to form my feet to decelerate. I was slashing through the wind as I came to a halt; I stopped at the bottom a few feet away from my dad. I gave myself a sigh of relief as I may have sprayed my dad with some snow. Rushing and running, I went up to the hill one last time before the club ended.

     Skiing had never been fun or apparent to me before I had actually tried it. No one ever talked about skiing or about the times they had. Well, at least not until I and everybody else in my grade realized. As I skied the biggest hill possible, as a beginner, while having a deathly fear of heights, it actually turned out to be a whole blast of fun! Once you are able to overcome or achieve something you're scared to do, a rush of adrenaline can become a rush of joy. And you can get rushes of joy or excitement by just conquering one of your greatest fears.

-Chase M.