Snowboarding Day 2

Day 2 we went to Kiroro, and the powder was just amazing. The skies were clear when we arrived, and the beginner slope was calling my name.

As soon as I strapped on my board I knew there was gonna be a huge difference that day. I had been thinking about the mechanics of turning during the time before heading up, and talking to Jenn about it, and kinda worked out in my head how toe vs. heel turning would work. It's just that my body had never done anything remotely close to a toe turn before so it required a little thought. We got up to the top of the run, and looking down at Jenn a few meters down the run I told her I didn't wanna fall anymore, remembering the previous adventure. She said, and was right, that I had to if I wanted to learn. In my mind though, I had already paid adequately in crashes, and deserved a little more result than I had seen. So I went down a little, tried to turn right, and ate shit. But not as bad.

The snow was really soft, and there was something different about it that day, when standing I could wiggle my board both left and right, and I tried to remember how that felt so that I could do it again while moving and see where it got me. Jenn took off, and I got some distance away from Ceska and Tascha quickly, and tried turning right again. This time, my board did what I thought it should have, and I paid close attention to what exactly it was that when I fell, made it happen.

It was about then that something kinda clicked, and the mechanics I had been thinking about finally started to make sense. I got up right away, turned again, and leaned forward on my toes the same way I had been pushing down on my heels going the other direction, and let my right leg really swing around so my board was adquately perpendicular to the slope to really give some stopping surface, and lo and behold I slowed down. And thanks to all that fakey practice as soon as I let my board straighten out again, as it tends to want to do to reduce friction, I swung my board out the other way and came to a grinding stop. On my feet. I plopped down on the ground, smiled immensely, and started cutting this way and that down the rest of the run. I only wish someone I knew were there to see it.

I went right back up and did it again. Bam. Done. Did it again, and I realized that turning that much was making me stop way too far from the entrance to the lift, so I turned less and cruised more. Twice more down that run and I was sick of doing it. I decided to kick it up a notch, and go on the longer beginner run, which happened to start at the summit.

I hopped on the Gondola and got one of those gut wrenching feelings when after 10 minutes I still had not reached the top. I knew where I was supposed to go, but, this lift was taking forever, I was by myself, and visibility was rapidly declining the higher I went. By the time I reached the top I felt like I was in a blizzard, and in all honesty when I started down the run I could neither see where I was going nor gauge how fast I was actually going. That's when the frustration kicked in.

The powder was slowing my board down, and the wind was so strong that my the condensation on the inside of my goggles was freezing, and I basically couldn't see anything at all. When I finally made it to the split where the 'panoramic route' started, I had to take my goggles off, and walk for a bit cause the slop was too gentle to even coast at all.

By this time, my nervous pee response had kicked in, and I was driven to get down the mountain more by my bladder than a desire to conquer the mountain. I had to one foot it for a long way because of the all too gentle slope and that made me tired. I was stressed, and my confidence was fading quickly due to what seemed like a huge mistake on my part.

Finally, two very important things happened. I reached the top of another lift, and I went pee in the snow. From that point on, I could finally see again, the slope was enough to actually not ever stop without effort on my part, and I could concentrate on boarding rather than needing to pee. The rest of the run was fast, steep (for me), and exhilarating. I was so engrossed in cruising and turning and the fact that I wasn't falling down that when I finally saw the lodge appearing at the bottom of the hill I was on, I almost felt disappointed that once it started going fast it ended so soon. I took comfort in knowing that there was a lift that would take me directly to where the action started, and vowed not to go back up to the top, where I would face more frustration than anything else. I wanted the fun.

I went back up the first slope one more time before stopping in to have lunch, just to compare it to the run I just finished, and I realized that it was just too easy, and I was too good to get anything out of it. What? Too good? Holy crap. I realized then I was no longer a starting snowboarder, but yes, a bonafide beginner. WOOOOOOT.

After lunch I ran the short version of the summit one two more times, and it was fun, but my legs were SO tired that I was catching lips and falling when I shouldn't have, and going slower than I was capable of too, so I called it a day after that. I was so dead tired, but at the same time, I was so happy to have come that far. Again, I wish that Jenn or Natascha or someone at all I knew could have been there with me to witness just how far I had come. I would have gone with the other four, as they all went up for one last run together, but they wanted to go to the summit, and I just wasn't gonna go through that again, so I chose to do that shorter run twice, that I just mentioned. Oh well, I was out to prove something to myself and myself only, and I did just that, so I'm happy.

Anyway, now I'm a beginner snowboarder. I can turn both directions, stop, and recover from a slip/bump without falling. Not bad for my first time. Go me.