Newly married to Ines, I have been getting to know not only new people, but also activities that she values. Thus she suggested that I come along with a group on a skiing trip. I agreed at once, but noticed afterwards that, never having gone skiing, I would have to repeat consciously the decision to take this on.
I was on skis once, at the age of 6, but the slope involved was so gentle that one hardly really got moving, and my anxiety stopped me getting far. And now, 33 years later, the time had finally come for me to go skiing, something I had wished for several times in recent years.

Together with a group, in which I was the only beginner, we booked a week of skiing in the Austrian Alps. I must confess that I had never been there, although I would generally describe myself as a globetrotter. Indeed, I had previously been mountain walking in the Himalayas and had also travelled through the Andes in South America.
But I didn’t want to buy ski equipment right away. So I found it super that I could hire absolutely modern skiis and shoes from a secondary school in Würzburg. A ski suit, which I had bought 3 years ago, could now be used at last, even if it wasn’t as modern as the skiis.

I wasn’t really scared, for I am very sporty, go dancing, in-line skating, cycling and enjoy swimming, and had already mastered, with trust in God, some dangerous situations during my journeys. In New Zealand, for example, I lost my way in extreme rainfall at an altitude of 3000m. At the end, everything around me was flooded, including the bridge on which I attempted to creep and crawl forward in the hope of finding something firm somewhere. Just as I was about to give up, and reckoneds with death, something “like a switch” moved inside me and, with the energy that was suddenly released within me, I was able to save myself.

Back to my first time downhill. With the lift, the challenge had already begun, for I had never used anything of the kind before and it didn’t occur to anybody in the group to explain something that was so obvious to them. As a former motor mechanic, however, I got this together quickly and enjoyed being pulled up the mountain and could enjoy the blue sky, the sparkling snow and the warming sun in the clear air. It was really beautiful, being towed like that. This seemed to me to be a big reward for daring to tackle something new to me.

Some would say that it was very irresponsible of me to take such an raised accident risk by daring to make my first downhill without any knowledge or preparation. But I wasn’t thinking about anything like that. I will manage it, I was convinced, even if only with the vague observations I had in my mind of skiing on television or of those who were now whizzing past me on the way down.
And it went well; somehow I took the curves and could brake, and got down this intermediate difficulty slope in one piece.
And that is how things went on the following days as well. I simply skied, the slopes got more difficult. I did not become proud in the process, as far as I can judge, but instead grateful – for my self-confidence as well.

The whole trip filled me with enthusiasm, the mountains, the snow, the skiing, the time together with my wife, with others. I was so grateful for this “widening of my horizon”, which really can happen when one dares something.