learn to snowboard

Unless I go to South America to snowboard, there’s not going to be any more snowboarding until next winter. It’s almost 90 degrees in Phoenix today, and up in the mountains the snow has turned into miserable slushy ickiness. Doh!

Now that I have all of my own equipment (I got some awesome deals), I hit the slopes for the second time today. And yes, I hit them hard – dozens of times with my tailbone, my knees, and my face (just once on that one, which is good, since I almost broke my sunglasses). I did actually do markedly better than my first time though – I could make it through long (green) stretches without falling, and I’ve figured out how to control my speed using my heelside edge, which is how I get down anything remotely steep. I can’t quite carve a turn yet because there’s some kind of brain-body disconnect concerning scrubbing speed on my toeside, so I’ll have to work on that next time.

In good news, I figured out how to get off the lift without falling on my stomach. In weird news, I snowboard better as a righty even though I’ve always skateboarded goofy. I have no explanation whatsoever for that.

I went snowboarding for the first time last month and it was a blast, even I was sore as all get out for the next few days. I just got some clearance boots from last season so I won’t have to rent them anymore (my feet are so small they were giving me kids’ boots!), and I’ve got a board and some bindings coming as well.

The first time I went I took a lesson (totally worth it – don’t let your pals try to teach you or you might end up hating them), and by the end of the day I made it about 400 ft down a slope without getting faced. I even stopped and stayed on my feet! Hopefully the next few times I can make it down some green lines. Whee!