School had just let out for the weekend and I was so relieved. Not only would I be off of school for the next two days, but I would also be skiing the rest of the day at Wilmot. I would go home, get dressed, and pack up my skis for the bus. Today would be like any other Friday in January, a night with my friends at ski club.
As I came home from school, I immediately started to get out my winter jacket, pants, gloves, hat, and socks. Today was like any other Friday that I always looked forward to. As I was done gathering my stuff, including my ski club neck warmer that we always had to wear, I made my way out the door. It was just about 3:45 and the buses were leaving from the Barrington Park District at 4:00. I made my way towards the trunk of my mom’s car and threw my trick skis in, which barely weighed anything.
When I got to the Barrington Park District all I began to think about was how much fun the night would be. Friday nights spent with my best friends at Wilmot was something I always enjoyed. As I lugged around my stuff on the sidewalk, I began to look for Hallie, Elizabeth, Ross and Tyler. Those four were the ones I always rode with on the bus and stayed with the whole night.
As I met up with all four of them, we got on the bus. After one hour of driving up north, we arrived at Wilmot around 5:30. As we unloaded the buses with all the skis and snowboards, everyone began making there way towards the “mountain”. Tyler, Elizabeth, Hallie, and I all began to get in line for the chair lift. As the chairlifts kept coming, we got closer and closer to our turn. Since chairlifts at Wilmot only seated four at a time, one of us always had to ride up alone. It was always a push and shove for a spot because no one ever wanted to ride up alone. As the people in front of us made there way up to the lift, we stood there with anticipation for our turn, which would be next. The lift for us quickly started approaching.
However, all five of us had moved up, and the lift only sat four! One of us would be kicked out. As the lift approached, Hallie and I immediately jumped for a spot, as Ross and Tyler quickly followed. Elizabeth on the other hand tried sitting down, but realized there was already four of us seated. As the lift started moving upward, Elizabeth lost balanced and became unstable. She fell face first into the snow mound beneath us. As Elizabeth layed there struggling with her skis pointing towards the sky, all Hallie, Tyler, Ross and I could do was laugh hysterically as the lift took us up.
Meanwhile, The chair lift guy hadn’t noticed the incident and continued loading the following chairs lifts with kids. At the same time, Elizabeth was getting hit with all the skis and snowboards of other people that dangled from their lifts. As our lift got farther up, all we could do was hope that the guy would notice Elizabeth still struggling to stand up. As the man finally realized Elizabeth was stuck in the snow and had fallen off, he immediately stopped the lift.
As the lift came to a stop, everyone started to yell. Because of the Elizabeth’s fall the lift became delayed for roughly ten minutes and everyone became very impatient. As tears of laughter still ran down my face, all I could do was hope she would be able to find us the rest of the night. Ski Club was always something I got a kick out of, but Elizabeth’s incident will always be one of Ski Clubs fondest memories.