Sunday, March 8, 2009

Snowboarding...Sledding

Friday night Nate and I attended a skiing activity at Powder Mountain with some people from our ward. Nate wanted to try snowboarding and I had some friends going who would be snowboarding to so I decided to give it a try too. We got up there later than everyone else and after asking Christie and Mindy a couple questions about how to move around with the snowboard on and a general idea of how to get down the mountain, Nate and I headed up to the top.
My first challenge: Getting on the ski lift. I seriously could not balance while only having ONE foot in the board. How I longed for my skis while trying to get on the lift. Nate helped me on and even motioned to the guy at the top to slow it down so we could get off okay. That didn't help. I fell getting off and took Nate down with me.
Second challenge: Getting down the mountain. I didn't go very far before I fell down more times than I can count. Nate was falling too, but doing better than me. Oh, how my muscles ached. At one point, Nate said I could always sit on my board and go down like it was a sled. We kept going and before long my friends caught up with us. They again gave a few more instructions and I did a little better.
I convinced Nate to go with Mindy and I would hang back with Christie.
After a few more falls, Christie and I decided to take Nate's suggestion and sit on our boards to get down the mountain. I laughed the entire way. However, using my feet as breaks did make things cold with the snow spraying up in my face. People looked and some made comments, but Christie and I didn't care. We had fun. So much fun we decided to head back up to the top and do it again.
We headed over to the lift and were promptly told we'd need to put our boards on before getting on the lift. I was a little nervous because of my first experience and I was pretty sure Christie couldn't practically carry me on like Nate had the first time. It actually was much easier that time. Getting off, however, was a lot like the last time except I took Christie down instead of Nate.
We undid the bindings on our boards and walked over to the top of the hill to sit down and go again. Again, much fun and laughing. Maybe half-way down or so I spun out and my board got away from me. So, there I was without a board and Christie couldn't catch it. She waited for me and I climbed on the back of her board. With two of us on there we went even faster down the mountain. I felt bad for Christie because since she was in front, she got most of the snow spray.
Once we got to the bottom somebody told me where to find my board (which was back up the mountain) and another guy asked if I wanted him to pick it up on his way down the next time. I opted for that.
That was the end of my snowboard experience. I had a lot of fun. I think I'll even try it again. After all, I do know a couple ways to get down the mountain.

5 comments:

Six-Pack Momma said...

I haven't had that kind of fun in a long time!

Rachael said...

How fun, I wish I would have been able to do that the first time I went skiing. That sounds like a blast! Maybe they should let the ward rent out a slope to sled on.

Mark & Stacie said...

Sounds like alot of fun jules! I havn't been skiing for a long long time. And i've never been snowboarding.

BookwormMom said...

You're braver than me...I think I'll stick to skiing.

Mindy said...

Oh.. you girls!!
Nate was seriously too good for a first timer.. I think he leads a secret life...