Let’s rewind time for a moment. We need to go pretty far back… all the way to my younger years. Grade seven or eight, if I recall correctly.

It was winter and my school planned a fun trip to a nearby ski hill. I was a bit nervous, as I had never gone skiing before, but I remember thinking that it couldn’t be that hard. I would arrive at the hill, get suited up in ski gear and take a chair lift up to the top. I’d hop off the chair lift, ski gracefully down the hill and have hot chocolate with my friends in the ski lodge. Oh, sweet naive me.

When we pulled into the ski resort, I remember gasping when I saw the size of the hill. “I have to take a chair lift up THAT? I need to ski down THAT?” I tried really hard not to hyperventilate. The idea of being on two thin pieces of God-knows-what, with two flimsy poles at my side, using the pull of gravity to rocket launch down an icy slope was no longer all that appealing. I wondered how easy it would be to slink off to the lodge and hide out in a corner.

Everyone around me, on the other hand, seemed stoked at the idea of hitting the slopes. They bounded off the bus with a level of enthusiasm that, at the time, I found exasperating. All I could think was, “How on Earth are they not terrified of their impending snow deaths?!” Death-by-snow was not the way I wanted to go.

I ended up taking a lesson and hung out on the “bunny” slopes for a bit. As I got my bearings together, my confidence grew. As my confidence grew, my fear began to dissolve away. So, when my friends came over and asked if I wanted to try a real hill, my only answer was, “Of course! I’ve got this.” We headed to the chair lift and up the mountain we went.

At the top, I remember feeling like I was, quite literally, on top of the world. I loved the rush of knowing that the only way was down and I eagerly followed my friends to the trail that they were taking down. When I passed by the black diamond sign, I was unaware of what that even meant. I was smiling from ear to ear and couldn’t wait to slowly make my way down the hill.

Except I didn’t go slow.

I went fast. Very fast.

As I looked around for my friends, I could see that they were laughing hysterically. They knew that it was a black diamond trail and that I was way outside of my comfort zone but they took me down it anyway. The only thing I could do was start snowploughing like nobody’s business and make every effort to slow myself down and stop.

I remember rounding a corner and thinking, “Oh Holy Mother, there’s no way I’m stopping” and I didn’t. Straight in front of me was a forest full of trees and those hard, all-but-winter-dead trunks became the wall on which my body would land. I hit the trees, fell to the ground and stared up at the sky. As I assessed my body for broken or injured parts, someone came over to make sure I was okay. They helped me up and helped me make it, slowly, down the hill. I spent the rest of the day at the lodge, nursing my bruised body (and ego!) with hot chocolate and warmth from the fire.

I haven’t gone skiing since.

Now that I’m in my 30s, I figured it was probably a good time to give this skiing thing another try. I’m old enough to know better (mmhmm, learned pretty quickly what black diamond meant!) and I’m also much more confident in my physicality. More than anything, I really would love to conquer one of my lifelong fears.

So, very shortly, I’ll be heading up to CasinoRama Resort to experience their Ski & Stay Package and kick that fear of skiing to the curb! And look, I’m all geared up!

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Partnered with Mount St. Louis Moonstone, the Ski & Stay Package includes two adult lift passes for skiing. At CasinoRama, the package includes your stay, as well as a $100 resort credit, which can be used toward the spa (mmmm) or dining (also mmmm). Add to that the complimentary valet parking and the $10 free slot play on the casino floor and it all adds up to a pretty amazing weekend.

To say that I am excited would be a complete understatement…

I’ve been to CasinoRama a few times now and have ALWAYS enjoyed my stay. I’ve gone with my mom, sister and bestie for a girl’s weekend away and I attended a special event there with some of my fellow blogger friends where we got to meet Roger Hodgson, formerly of Supertramp. Both experiences were nothing short of incredible and I SO look forward to returning.

One of the greatest things that I think we can do in this world, aside from exploring it, is to use it to face and conquer your fears. For me, skiing is one of those fears and it has always contributed to my disdain for winter — “I don’t do anything in winter!” has always been a winter mantra of mine so I can’t wait to replace that with, “Let’s hit up the ski hill this weekend!” The thought of looking forward to the winter feels incredibly foreign but SO refreshing.

Although, side note, I’ve learned this winter that I love sliding! Here’s proof of that … see my smile? It’s genuine!

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I’ll be taking lots of photos to document my time on the hill and at the resort, which I’ll be sharing here and on my social media profiles, and I can’t wait to report back to say, “I CONQUERED MY FEAR!”

(Just don’t point me in the direction of a black diamond trail if you see me at the hill, okay?)