So today I tried my hand at snowboarding for the very first time. As I drove up to Big White I began to wonder why I’d decided to ditch my beloved skis for something new….
What do you mean I fell over?! I wanted to sit down...
Something which, from watching James over the last few weeks, is hard to learn & involves a lot of time sitting down, whether you want to or not! Despite all of this I found myself on the bunny slope, inwardly praying that I wouldn’t plough into any of the tiny tots having lessons with their parents (who were giving me the evil eye!). Well, it actually went better than expected! I had got incredibly frustrated a couple of times when I wanted to go on my back edge but my front edge got stuck in a pile of snow, so I ended up on my face a fair few times, as well as on my bum (this happened a lot throughout the course of the day!) but other than that it was a case of so far so good. With that, James (who was a great teacher & more patient than I perhaps deserved!) & I headed up the mountain for me to try out my new skills (!) on a proper slope. I managed to come down the run ok, avoiding colliding with other learners (just!) & only falling a few dozen times.
Contemplating my next move (how to get up without falling back down...)
Next came the part I’d been dreading more than anything else – getting on & off the lift. I can do this perfectly on skis but on a board it’s a different story entirely. I panicked the whole way up & convinced myself something would go wrong, so naturally it did. I didn’t get my left foot onto my board in time so ended up almost hopping off the lift, my board (along with my right leg) got ahead of me & I ended up on the floor, but at least I wasn’t hurt in any way. Once I was reattached to my board we set off again, down an even steeper slope. I was really enjoying myself as I’d got the hang of how to do ‘falling leaf‘, so I was away & having a whale of a time. Even falling didn’t spoil my day as there was so much fresh snow it was like falling onto a pillow (although a bit colder!). Once our time up the hill came to an end, I took off my board, emptied the snow I’d collected out of my trousers & headed back to the car for a more relaxed journey home. Bring on next week!!
bigstepsintinyshoes 