After his sister showed Ira Riklis how to sidestep on his first skiing trip, it was finally time to actually try to ski. It had been hours since his family left home, another hour trying to get the ski bindings locked down and still another trying in vain to learn how to do the herringbone. And his feet had long since gone numb with cold.
Nowhere ready to ride a ski lift up a large slope or even a rope tow up a beginner’s slope, Ira Riklis used his newly mastered sidestep to edge up a small hill. Today, he could likely jump that hill without a second thought. Back then it seemed to him as if he’d scaled Mt. Denali. Maneuvering to point his skis downhill, he pushed off. At last he was skiing! Picking up speed he felt a sense of exhilaration. As he rushed downhill towards the base lodge, he realized he was hooked on this sport! Then came a new realization: he didn’t know how to stop!