I went snowboarding and lived to tell the tale.
On Saturday a group of us went up to Cypress regional park just north of Vancouver. The trip itself is an ordeal all of its own but we ended up on the mountain at about midday with a thirst for adventure and a hunger for whatever crappy food we could find.
The first step was deciding whether to spend about 100 buckaroos on a one day pass including rentals or to spend 400 on a one-niter pass including five one day passes, five lessons, free rentals and one night of the week (we chose Thursday) where you have a free lift-ticket for the rest of the season. It has a hard choice especially for those of us who hadn't skied or anything before but it ended up being a bit of a no brainer as we were all keen to get into this snowboarding thing.
I was going to learn how to ski initially but thanks to peer pressure (drink booze kids!) I decided to follow the pack into snowboarding. It turned out to be a wise choice in some respects because though it was initially very difficult, I fell getting off the chairlift the two times I tried, I made pretty rapid progress. The first time down the slope was horrendous and disconcerting. I didn't stay standing up on the board for more than about 4 seconds at a time and probably fell down about 10 times going down. I was pretty close to packing it in at least until after lunch but the rest of the group managed to drag me back up there and I was glad because the second run was also an up and down affair but I started to get a feel for what I needed to do to put a brake on my speed.
After that we split up and I had my beginners lesson. It was a bit tedious in some respects
but it was full of useful tips as to stopping, picking oneself up and at the very end we learned some basic turns.
All in all it was a great experience. The travel time should only end up being about 1hr and 30 minutes when we're more experienced with it. The best part is that other than food and the shuttle up the mountain ($15 return) it's now all paid for.
Nick - "Versatility is one of your outstanding traits."
Pics are up there ^^^
The first step was deciding whether to spend about 100 buckaroos on a one day pass including rentals or to spend 400 on a one-niter pass including five one day passes, five lessons, free rentals and one night of the week (we chose Thursday) where you have a free lift-ticket for the rest of the season. It has a hard choice especially for those of us who hadn't skied or anything before but it ended up being a bit of a no brainer as we were all keen to get into this snowboarding thing.
I was going to learn how to ski initially but thanks to peer pressure (drink booze kids!) I decided to follow the pack into snowboarding. It turned out to be a wise choice in some respects because though it was initially very difficult, I fell getting off the chairlift the two times I tried, I made pretty rapid progress. The first time down the slope was horrendous and disconcerting. I didn't stay standing up on the board for more than about 4 seconds at a time and probably fell down about 10 times going down. I was pretty close to packing it in at least until after lunch but the rest of the group managed to drag me back up there and I was glad because the second run was also an up and down affair but I started to get a feel for what I needed to do to put a brake on my speed.
After that we split up and I had my beginners lesson. It was a bit tedious in some respects
but it was full of useful tips as to stopping, picking oneself up and at the very end we learned some basic turns.
All in all it was a great experience. The travel time should only end up being about 1hr and 30 minutes when we're more experienced with it. The best part is that other than food and the shuttle up the mountain ($15 return) it's now all paid for.
Nick - "Versatility is one of your outstanding traits."
Pics are up there ^^^
posted by denny at 6:08 PM
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