“I was perfectly fine doing the easy slopes.” The hardest slope I had done before was a blue square, and this was a black diamond slope. “Come on!” he replied cooly, “it’ll be fun” I inched my skis forward until the ends hung off the edge. I peered down and saw that this slope was much steeper than any other slope I had gone down before. My heartbeat hastened and each beat got stronger. My head started to feel warm and the inside of my helmet was humid. “Let’s go!” my dad shouted encouragingly as he started to slide down the slope. I leaned forward tentatively and started down the slope. I was picking up speed, rapidly, and I passed my dad. “See!” he shouted over the noise of the wind, “it’s fun, right?” “Yeah!” I replied. I aimed my toes together in an attempt to slow down, but it didn’t help much. I was constantly turning, weaving between the dark pine trees and snow covered boulders. My skis sprayed a trail of fluffy snow behind me, while at the same time another skier’s spray stung my