“Diamonds are a girl’s best friend:” senior reflects on skiing experience

The winter season brings many engaging and fun activities to partake in. Sledding, ice skating, building a snowman, having snowball fights, drinking hot cocoa and more. For senior Anne Vaughn, skiing is her favorite winter activity. Vaughn has been skiing for 10 years.

“My mom and my dad skied in their childhoods. When we were old enough, they took us out to Perfect North Slopes and taught us how to ski. They put me in a ski school, and taught my younger brother Graham how to ski,” Vaughn said.

Throughout her time skiing, Vaughn has traveled to multiple ski resorts, such as Solitude, Park City, Powder Mountain and Chestnut Mountain. However her all-time favorite place to ski is Crystal Mountain in Michigan.

“We go there every year, it’s a favorite of my entire family. It’s a family resort for both the warm and cold seasons. There are houses and rental homes on the resort, along with nearby pools. There is also a golf course. I have wanted to play it, but haven’t gotten the chance to,” Vaughn said.

Vaughn’s favorite part about skiing is being able to escape from stress.

“Being at the top of the mountain, looking out over everything and seeing all these people skinning down, seeing the ski lodge and being able to ski down the hill with family and having fun with family is definitely my favorite part,” Vaughn said.

Learning how to ski can take time. Skiers can learn how to ski by looking for colored shapes that represent the difficulty of the hill. Green circle stands for beginner hill. Blue diamond indicates an intermediate hill. Black stands for advanced and double black stands for expert.

Vaughn is an advanced skier and skis all types of slopes. However, she will not do moguls nor double blacks. Whenever Vaughn is nervous about skiing, she calms those nerves by saying a motto that her mom taught her.

“Diamonds are a girl’s best friend,” Vaughn said, “since black hills are diamonds, it gets me down a black every time”, said Vaughn.

Vaughn is open about suffering from epilepsy. Vaughn has special ski goggles in order to keep her safe while skiing.

“The snow is so stark white, so I have special ski goggles where I can change the ski lenses. Depending on the weather, if it’s bright out, or extremely cloudy, I am able to change the lens so it can be perfect for my eyesight so I can see everything,” Vaughn said.