Working Hard for the Money …
Posted by Sarah - 27/12/05 at 08:12:40 pm
At the end of December my temporary job with Vermont Ski Areas Association will end. I’ve greatly enjoyed working there and may come back again next year. One of the perks of the job is free skiing and snowboarding for the staff, and each year we also have a ski day at one of the resorts. I was hesitant at first, as I have never skied or snowboarded before, but eventually I decided to participate by taking a snowboarding lesson.
My first experience was challenging and exhausting, but fun too. People warned me that I would spend several hours doing nothing but falling down on my butt. Well, it wasn’t quite that bad, but neither can I say that I have much natural skill for this activity. I’m more used to roller skating and blading, where you have to have a certain amount of control and balance, but where gravity plays a much diminished role. Much diminished. In snowboarding (or “riding”), gravity is a major factor, and for the beginner, it is an adverse force. It will pull you the wrong way, or before you are quite ready. It will even take your board away from you at very high speed if you aren’t paying attention and let it slip (this almost happened…almost). And after every run downhill, you get to battle gravity as you hike back up to the top with the (heavy) snowboard bound to one foot.
During the 90 minute class, I glided, fell, practiced turns, fell, got going really well and then panicked and fell in order to keep from riding off into the parking lot, and did a lot of hiking up the hill. After a while we moved to a steeper section of terrain and practiced “traversing”, where the aim is to go across the grade of the slope rather than taking a straight shot downhill. The idea is that, after a lot of practice one will be able to build up a repertoire of moves (straight gliding, J Turns, traverses) that allow one to regulate their speed and direction as they navigate a trail. Snowboards don’t have stops or breaks like skates do, so you have to tame gravity by learning how to subtly shift your weight and stance. I understand these concepts in theory. Putting them into practice is another matter.
Still, I did enjoy myself and got one of the best workouts I’ve had in recent memory. In the afternoon we went snow shoeing, which takes more energy than snowboarding but is much less technically difficult to master. (Yes I was painfully sore the next two days.) I will be buying snowshoes as soon as possible, and hopefully in the not too distant future I’ll be able to take another snowboarding lesson.
Similar Posts
2 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
Powered by WordPress. Theme based on GimpStyle.
© 2009 Terrapin Gardens
I would imagine snowboarding would be something like surfing or skateboarding. Have you done either? Could you offer any comparison?
Comment by Yuriko — December 28, 2005 #
I’ve heard many snowboarders compare it to skateboarding, so I’d imagine many of the same techniques can be applied. (Though I haven’t skateboarded much myself.) It would be skateboarding downhill only (no flat or uphill surfaces). You don’t kick at all on a snowboard. If you run out of momentum you shift your weight from leg to leg, sort of shuffling the board until you get to a grade that will start pulling you again. And your feet are attached to the thing, so there’s another huge difference. You have to learn to dig the edge of the board into the snow while turning in order to stop, since you can’t use a free foot to break (you also can’t hop off if you start to run into a bad spot/object, you just have to sit down in the snow). I can see some overlap with surfing too, since both require you to learn to ride a force you have no direct control over (waves or gravity).
Comment by Sarah — December 28, 2005 #