Sunday, January 31, 2010

Snowboarding

My shoulders are sore;
ankle sprained.
hamstrings are pulled;
all the signs of age.
But, hey, I’m not getting old.
It's just that yesterday,
I did snowboard.

I relish snowboarding and the pain that devours me afterward; it reminds me of the fun I had. I started snowboarding in 2007 in Snoqualmie after having given up skiing previous season; I had hurt my knee and wore a knee pad of poison ivy, it was really that itchy, for ten days and limped my way to work.

It didn't go very well on day one of snowboarding. I considered myself inapt at learning but my friend encouraged me and practiced with me. Gave me hope. So I dragged on with the board with one feet tied to it and other lazily pushing it.

With the second and third class I was improving. I'm glad that I had the hope and determination.

I had learned to fall like a leaf and make J turns. I graduated from magic carpet (it's a conveyor belt type ski lift in beginner's area) to chair lift (30 ft off the ground cable lift).

This year I bought my own snowboard :-)


I can ride down without falling down most of the times but I make up for that while getting down the chair lift. It gets me every time. I entangle my snowboard with my co-rider and we fall together. I almost offended someone when I refused to ride the lift with them. I feared for their safety.

Chair lift is a good place to meet people. Last time I met the ski patrol who is a locale to the Mansfield resort and he told me how their street name changed forever when a TV reporter on National TV called 'Possum Run' as 'Opossum Run' to go with O of Ohio.

This time I met someone who stated that he has been skiing/snowboarding his entire life. He started at an age of 2 and is presently 8 or 9 years old.

Yesterday I took lessons to do c-turns and I know that it takes a sprained ankle to do it right.

It's an immense pleasure to snowboard and I'd suggest you to give it a try but let me warn you that it's fatal and addictive.

Snowboarding Video Tutorials
http://www.abc-of-snowboarding.com/learn-snowboarding/
http://www.snowprofessor.com/

Ski resorts in Columbus open in 1st or 2nd week of Dec and close during 2nd week of March.
Mad River Mountain
Snowtrails