Snowboard Trip #1

A friend hooked me up with a free lift ticket to Winterplace that expired 12/31/04. So even though I didn't think the snow would be that great I decided to head to WV for a couple hours yesterday. I couldn't bring myself to make someone else pay for a lift ticket to accompany me A. Cause I thought it would stink and I didn't want to be blamed for them wasting $ and B. I just wanted to hit the slopes for a couple hours see how my new boots and bindings work and get my snow legs back, which is fine when it's free, but not worth paying $51 for. I wanted to be on my own laid back schedule, and I was :)

I was surprised to find the snow wasn't so bad. Packed Powder. Of course only limited runs were open. Mostly greens/blues. But there was one black. There wasn't any ice until later in the afternoon when the INSANE wind (seriously it was stronger then the gravity pulling me down the mtn) was blowing all the snow off the slopes. Even then it wasn't bad ice. The biggest negative about the mtn was that the runs are sooo short. There were no lines yesterday so that wasn't too bad, but I still felt like I spent 70% of the day on the lifts because they move so slow. I couldn't imagine waiting in long lines and dealing with lots of people on those narrow runs.

The terrain park was a joke. They only had two boxes (non boarders, think bench with a snow ramp leading up to it, prob two feet from top to snow once you're on it, I'd say at least 20' long) set up, and it didn't really look big enough to add much more. After watching a couple guys attempt the box and not kill themselves, actually when they fell off it looked quite graceful, I decided I could do it :) First attempt, I was going to slow, so I hit it... but only stayed on for two feet and I was off the edge... landed board first... not so bad. Attempt 2 - totally missed it :) Attempt 3 - hit it and made it 2/3rds of the way. But I was really afraid of falling off and the landing on it.. so I was leaning way forward.... bad idea!! Basically it meant I took a dive off the box into the snow landing chest first pretty hard. Knocked the wind out of me, jammed my back up, and skeered me. I moved over to the side a bit and laid there til I got my wind back... then headed in for some cocoa... it was about time anyways. Left me with a decent headache I could still feel this morning when I woke up, and the whiplash is setting into my neck. There were no more attempts after that!! I need to figure out how to balance better so my falls are more graceful!! There will be more trips to the terrain park this winter, I think I'll start with the basic jumps though, and landing those :)

New equipment review: I LOVE the BOA lacing system!! Don't know how I ever lived without it!! No more struggling with my laces trying to get them tight enough and cutting off all circulation in my fingers. Just turn the knob and there snug!! If I'm on the mtn and they loosen up some with all the riding... no problem I can tightened them through my pants with my gloves on! AMAZING :) The strap-ins I'm still getting used to. Not quite as easy/fast as my step-ins. It is cool to have so many adjustment options, I just have to figure out what I like. I need to adjust one of the straps too cause it was diggin in a little. I'm happy though!! I can't wait to get a stiffer board... next year :) :)

It was a fun trip. If I score another cheap ticket I might even go back :)