re: How difficult is it to learn to snow ski?

I only went once, with our church group, and took a group "lesson." After that, I wasn't doing well at all until an experienced skier in our group spent about 5 minutes showing me what I was doing wrong. Then it was a lot of fun.

I did one spectacular wipeout about halfway down the slope that brought a round of applause from the riders on the chair lift. I got up and bowed in appreciation. (If you are going to fail, do so spectacularly.)

And midlothianlsu is absolutely right that you will be going downhill as soon as you step down off the chair lift, so be prepared for that.