Teddy and Puppy, dressed in their blue ski suits with ski goggles and beanies covering their ears, are staring up at a majestic mountain in Aspen, Colorado. The air is brisk, the sun is shining, the snow is lightly dusting the mountain-skiers are expertly flowing down the mountain.
Puppy looks up, “Hmmm, the mountain is gigantic, how do we get up there?
Teddy pulls out his map and points with his paw, “Let’s see… step 1, we get on a thing called a gondola and that will take us to here,” he said pointing halfway up the mountain, “and then we get on a ski lift, and it will take us here with all these blue lines.”
Puppy said, “what does the gondola look like?”
Teddy sees a group of moving cars that are moving along a cable in the ski, “I think it looks like that…” and just like that Teddy grabs his snowboard and takes off running, his boots sinking into the snow with every step. “Walking in the snow is not easy, I see why people use skis!”
Puppy chuckles and grabs his skis, following close behind.
The first car passes by, and Teddy looks puzzled, “It didn’t stop, I think there is something wrong with that one.” The second one passes them too, and Teddy shrugs with confusion. The nice woman behind them leans in and says, “It actually doesn’t stop completely, you just have to get on quickly”.
Teddy gently nudges Puppy and points at a giant chair “the map says to get out here and take that giant chair”. Puppy starts panting when he sees how high the chair goes up the mountain. “I don’t think I can do that.”
Teddy grabs his paw, “I’ll help you.”
Puppy and Teddy watch several people get on this giant chair to see how to do it. “Okay”, Puppy turns to Teddy, “here is the plan. We stand right there”, Puppy's paw is pointing at the landing, “then when the chair comes, we sit at the same time and pick up our feet. Hold on to your snowboard with one hand, then the side rail with the other, got it?”
“Okay, here it comes”, Puppy shrieks, “One, two, three – sit!” As they sit the chair swings, Teddy laughs and Puppy closes his eyes and holds on to the rail tightly.
“Open your eyes, it’s so pretty. Look at all those tiny people and kids”, Teddy says as he enjoys the view.
Puppy looks down nervously, “Um, Teddy, those are not tiny people. Do you remember when we were at the Empire State Building and everyone looked so small because we were so high up… well, this is why they look so small!
Teddy turns his head slowly, and nervously gulps, gripping the rail tighter with his paw.
Puppy turns to Teddy, “how do we get off this chair?”
Teddy replies, “it stops, and we just get off”.
“You sure?”, questions Puppy. “It doesn’t look like it stops, it looks like you just…
“JUMP!” Teddy yells! Both friends throw their skis and snowboard on the snow and jump, landing on their furry tails and then roll a few feet down the mountain. Teddy sits up and wipes the snow off his beanie “Ooops, we probably should have practiced that!”
Puppy smiles as he gathers his skis and poles. “Let’s learn how to ski.”
