I'm talking about snowboarding. I finally got a chance to do it, and it was great! Okay, for the price, I'm not going back anytime soon, but it made for a great New Years Eve gathering. There were only 5 of us, total, but hey, it beats hanging out in bars.
Some background: I live in Mission, KS, a suburb of Kansas City. In case you don't watch the weather in that neck of the woods, the temperature for the past few days has been consistently 50-60 degrees. Yes, that's above average for this time of year Average would be highs in the forties and lows in the twenties. The ski resort, Snow Creek, is actually about an hour north of here, near Weston, Missouri. The snow is, well, slush. All you white powdery purists go hang out in some mountainous state...as you already know, the weather in Kansas is unpredictable. We're willing to compromise.
I've never skied (skiied? whatever...) or snow boarded before in my life. Prior to this, my idea of winter sports was sledding and snowball fights. I've read the threads on hatrack and watched videos on TV, but I never possessed a desire to ski, snowboard, or spend lots of time outdoors in subzero temperatures. Lets just say that several friends got the idea of doing this instead of hanging out in some bar. Cool, methinks, they want to do something besides drink, smoke, and listen to loud music.
From my point of view, learning to snowboard was easy. Now, mastering this particular activity would consume many hours, so naturally, I'm not getting a big head. I had a good teacher up there with me.
My friend Mike explained everything from connecting the boots to the board to how to move around. The basics aren't difficult, but the entire thing is a balancing act. From my perspective, it's like riding a skateboard (something I never did much of) on ice. I've got a decent sense of balance, so that helped me out a bit.
The first real challenge? Taking the rope lift up the bunny slope. Did I mention I'm righty (I mean, "goofy" in snowboard lingo?) Basically, that means my right foot is my dominant foot, and I favor it. Therefore, my right foot is on the "front" of the snowboard. I only fell about 6 times trying to get the hang of the bunny-slope rope lift. (Oh yeah, and that's really embarassing in the presence of 4 year olds who are apparently apt skiers.)
I have a good sense of humor, and one of the things I find hilarious is landing smack on my face or rear. "Nothing broke, cool, let's try that again." I was still laughing at my clumsiness on the last run of the night. Picture it...slide, slide, slide, back and forth, WIPE OUT! Me laughing my butt off.
Now, this is a proper ski resort, and there are chair lifts. After learning the basic movements of the snowboard, I tackled a slightly longer hill and worked on J-turns. With only 3 hours of time, I never learned the S-turn. The few I attempted were spectacular wipe-outs.
Ya'll have a Happy New Year! I'll have a painful start, but it's all downhill from there.
<limps off to bed>
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Average would be highs in the forties and lows in the twenties. The ski resort, Snow Creek, is actually about an hour north of here, near Weston, Missouri. The snow is, well, slush. All you white powdery purists go hang out in some mountainous state...as you already know, the weather in Kansas is unpredictable. We're willing to compromise.![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
(Oh yeah, and that's really embarassing in the presence of 4 year olds who are apparently apt skiers.)![[Wink]](wink.gif)
