George Bush Stole Ike's Snowboarding and Gave it to Me
I woke before dawn, and put my boots on. My first trip to the mountain this year was underway at last. I went with three friends who are all far better boarders than me, so I started the day a little anxious that they'd be annoyed waiting around for me all day. This mood wasn't improved much by watching the rain hitting the windshield all the way to the base of the mountain. I figured we were in for a short, wet day. The weather at the lift was marginally better. The rain had turned into a light dusting of snow. 500 yards or so up the mountain, the world disappeared. A rather ominous cloud swallowed the tattered remains of my optimism as we moved up the mountain.
By the time we reached the top of the lift, the wind was blowing hard and visibility was quite small. It was still nine in the morning, so we hoped for a few powdery runs before the weather destroyed everything. We headed down a familiar blue run to get our bearings and to figure out the snow situation. It was slow going in the beginning. Snow plastered onto our goggles faster than we could wipe it off. Bumps and edges appeared out of nowhere, throwing us off our boards and giving us a closer look at the offending obstacle. In short, it sucked. The snow itself was good powder, if a little sticky. It was invisible though, and that was the hard part. We slid our way down the mountain, passed the thermocline, and life was good again. We could see the snow ahead of us, and plan accordingly. Our bodies thanked us. We go back to the lift and decided to try the backside of the mountain.
This can be a gamble. The weather is either better or worse, and you can't really tell until you get there. We lucked out. The wind was blowing a little less, so visibility was better except at the very top of the lift. Once down 100 yards or so, we entered a winter wonderland. I've never seen snow this good in all my years of snowboarding. The powder was deep and largely virgin. Not many people venture over, fearing black weather and black diamonds. The runs were fairly benign, which to me means hard but still lots of fun. The powder, again, was absolutely amazing, and, for the most part, no one was around but my friends and me. I had the most fun of my snowboarding life yesterday. I even got faster and more confident trying to keep up with my friends, so that was a huge plus. It was a great day.
By the time we reached the top of the lift, the wind was blowing hard and visibility was quite small. It was still nine in the morning, so we hoped for a few powdery runs before the weather destroyed everything. We headed down a familiar blue run to get our bearings and to figure out the snow situation. It was slow going in the beginning. Snow plastered onto our goggles faster than we could wipe it off. Bumps and edges appeared out of nowhere, throwing us off our boards and giving us a closer look at the offending obstacle. In short, it sucked. The snow itself was good powder, if a little sticky. It was invisible though, and that was the hard part. We slid our way down the mountain, passed the thermocline, and life was good again. We could see the snow ahead of us, and plan accordingly. Our bodies thanked us. We go back to the lift and decided to try the backside of the mountain.
This can be a gamble. The weather is either better or worse, and you can't really tell until you get there. We lucked out. The wind was blowing a little less, so visibility was better except at the very top of the lift. Once down 100 yards or so, we entered a winter wonderland. I've never seen snow this good in all my years of snowboarding. The powder was deep and largely virgin. Not many people venture over, fearing black weather and black diamonds. The runs were fairly benign, which to me means hard but still lots of fun. The powder, again, was absolutely amazing, and, for the most part, no one was around but my friends and me. I had the most fun of my snowboarding life yesterday. I even got faster and more confident trying to keep up with my friends, so that was a huge plus. It was a great day.