I finally get it
I've never been much good at snowboarding. Until this weekend I'd been snowboarding maybe 5 or 6 times in the last 4-5 years. Turns out I wasn't really "snowboarding" all those times. I'm not sure what you'd call it but it definitely wasn't snowboarding. Anyhow, today I learned what snowboarding is.
It's true what they say about fresh powder: it does build confidence. During most of my previous visits to Tahoe to "play in the snow" (let's call it that, shall we?) I'd been blessed with amazingly warm weather, often well in the 60's. Blessed in that it is cool to play in the snow in a t-shirt with the sun blazing. Not so neat in that the Sun melts, destroys and otherwise diminishes the lovely snow, leaving something less than perfect in its wake. This makes snowboards more difficult to ride... and it can makes the inevitable impacts, uhm, undesirable.
Today I snowboarded in a near-blizzard most of the day. With a fair bit of surprise I found myself throwing my weight into turns like never before, carving endless waves of S shapes in the snow on often totally vacant slopes. In the past I'd been able to string together a few turns from time to time but nothing like this. This was something new and altogether better!
Seriously though, I finally get it. It is an amazing sensation to feel your center of gravity flip around while you carve back and forth, spraying snow like you were born to do it. Nearly a foot of fresh powder eliminates most of the icy, slippery spots and goes a long way towards smoothing the ride and making the snowboard a great deal more predictable. An ipod blaring Daft Punk's Live at Coachella mix adds a nice touch, too.
Good thing I finally ordered my own boots/bindings/board a couple days ago. I'm gonna need 'em.
It's true what they say about fresh powder: it does build confidence. During most of my previous visits to Tahoe to "play in the snow" (let's call it that, shall we?) I'd been blessed with amazingly warm weather, often well in the 60's. Blessed in that it is cool to play in the snow in a t-shirt with the sun blazing. Not so neat in that the Sun melts, destroys and otherwise diminishes the lovely snow, leaving something less than perfect in its wake. This makes snowboards more difficult to ride... and it can makes the inevitable impacts, uhm, undesirable.
Today I snowboarded in a near-blizzard most of the day. With a fair bit of surprise I found myself throwing my weight into turns like never before, carving endless waves of S shapes in the snow on often totally vacant slopes. In the past I'd been able to string together a few turns from time to time but nothing like this. This was something new and altogether better!
Seriously though, I finally get it. It is an amazing sensation to feel your center of gravity flip around while you carve back and forth, spraying snow like you were born to do it. Nearly a foot of fresh powder eliminates most of the icy, slippery spots and goes a long way towards smoothing the ride and making the snowboard a great deal more predictable. An ipod blaring Daft Punk's Live at Coachella mix adds a nice touch, too.
Good thing I finally ordered my own boots/bindings/board a couple days ago. I'm gonna need 'em.