Saturday, February 9, 2008

Snowboarding Tips

Shea and I went snowboarding for the first time on January 19th. Unlike most of our friends, however, we chose to take a two hour lesson. It was either that or somehow get on and off the lift then get stranded at the top with no clear picture of how to get down. The lesson actually helped quite a bit and, although we fell our fair share for sure, we did quite well for our first day. I almost looked like I knew what I was doing by the end of the day...yes I did say ALMOST!

Now we come to the part of this blog that is the tips the title promises. The first tip is never trust your friends when they say "it's just down here." What we thought was a short run turned into two hours later and the ski patrol following us off the mountain. Shea bailed on me at the middle lift for a snowmobile ride back to the lodge where she got to sit and watch me stumble and face plant my way back to.

The second tip is a simple one. Make sure you put your key in a jacket pocket that you are NOT going to fall onto repeatedly throughout the day. Imagine my surprise when I went to shower that night and saw the wonderful bruise in the picture above! Amazingly I never felt it when I fell on it, and the bruise wasn't painful.

For all of those people claiming that advil or some similar pain reliever is needed after the first day, you are all pansies! Although we were both a little sore the next day, mostly because we are WAY out of shape, we still functioned well and even managed to take the boys swimming for a few hours!

5 comments:

Tiffany said...

Yeah!!!! You got it up. This is great. (The blog not the nasty bruise). I love the slide show at the top.

Sorry about the nasty 2 hour trip down. Otherwise sounds like fun.

Anonymous said...

Three questions:
1. How many runs did you get in?
2. Is that bruise on your belly? If so you need to start doing some crunches and/or other abs related exercise!
3. Are you planning on doing it again?
Love the blog! Next time (if there is going to be a next itme) come here and snowboard. We have tons of powder which will cushion the fall. Only thing you will have to worry about is geting burried and not be able to get up ;-)

Anonymous said...

Okay first of all the 2 hour trip really isnt 2 hours.. That run usually take 10mins if that.. trust me. And yes condering it was your first time you all did VERY VERY well. I was totally impressed.. Especially the last run for tun coming down that hill while I wait with Shea :) Love ya SHorty

Shea said...

Oh no, it was almost 2 hours!!! We started that run at 3 and Tony didn't come down until after 4:30!! It was a blast, though 8) Next time I will just look at a map first to be sure that I'm not getting myself into something that I shouldn't!

mode36 said...

Three answers:
1. After the class we probably got in half a dozen runs tops. For those interested, the run in question is called Rendevous at Powder Mountain. It's long and the lift at the end does not lead directly back to the lodge, hence the extra lift that Shea did not go on from there.

2. What do you mean, I can easily do 5 crunches in a row!

3. Yes, we are planning on going at least one more time this season before the snow melts. It is hard to find someone to watch the boys for that long, though, so we do not know when we will get back up.