Hook a Brotha (Coach) Up!!
2011 is the year that I pick up snowboarding to add to my list of high velocity, high risk sports 
. Joanne and I are taking lessons next week at a local mountain and then have booked 6 days in Big Sky, MT for the end of the month. We are then planning to visit Mammoth Mtn, CA for 4-5 days in February.
In March I want to meet my sister and nephew in CO. That's where y'all come in...
Does anyone have a hook up in Colorado? We're looking for the first week of March, when he is on spring break. Why a 6yo needs a break from anything, I don't know, but those are the dates that sis has given me.
Any help?
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You need to ping Olivia and ask her.
If you want general CO advice I may be able to help...sorry do not have a house I can lend you in Vail if that was the question. As for the learning how to snowboard thing...please get someone to take video and post it
Snowboarding has a quick learning curve but the very start of it is well...really really really fun to watch. The main problem is that when you catch either the front or back of the board it catapults either the front or back of your head into the snow...good stuff
Http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/54686?price=68
If your going to hook Rich up, please do it before you reach weeks 9-10 of the OS. Following those Saturday workouts you will not want to do him a favor for several years
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This is so true. Also prepare your abs for the hundreds of times you will have to get up off the ground while still in the bindings.
Hey folks,
Thanks for the offers! For many reasons (namely, flights from Atl for sis and nephew) we have decided to go to Mammoth Mountain in Cali. Affordable (I'm quickly learning to recalibrate that word with regards to winter sports
) for us all, given that Joanne and I can drive up, bring food for us all, we won't have to rent a car, etc. She and I may go up for a couple days in February to check it. 6hr drive but very easy, all freeway, and incredible condistions by all accounts.
Yesterday Joanne and I took our first lessons:
Joanne tweaked her knee a bit yesterday so we bailed on our lesson today. We'll go back tomorrow and then maybe hook her up with a private lesson in MT next week. At this point, getting her healed up before next week has priority over learning how to snowboard on shitty snow and potentially hurting herself more.
So yesterday I went back for my second lesson...and got my ass handed to me. This + my GMR TT and climbing ride this AM = I'm fookin' worked right now.
I got to the mountain at 10am yesterday for my second lesson. 4 of us and 2 instructors (awesome!) and one guy was very, very good. I think the objectives of the lesson were to switch edges and, hopefully, link turns together. In hindsight I should have just gone back to practice the stuff I learned in the first lesson rather than try to learn new material.
After the lesson I spend 4-5hrs on the mountain going up and down and up and down. I took one MASSIVE hit to my grape: was going down toe-edge with my back to the downhill. Tried to switch edges, caught the snow (ice) and WHAM, fell back on right on my head. Thank dog for the helmet as pretty sure I would have been knocked out. As is, I got my bell rung, hard. The rest of the day was up, down, up, down, the snow (ice) got harder as the day went along...uggghh. I limped home in the truck, bought a six of Blue Moon and recovered with some vitamin I in the recliner.
JnI leave on Monday for Big Sky. We are planning to take at least two half day lessons while we're there. I'm hoping we the better snow conditions will help us learn, relax, and enjoy the experience. But for now I'm looking for the bus that hit me....
... There's a reason many pro team-sport athletes have a no snow sports clause in their contract... now that I think of it, those nasty GMs also ban motobikes, boss! Snow sports are riskier than cycling, and the biggest risks are to the least experienced. Stay outta the trees 'till you know what you're doing.
Of course, I should talk, I just had massive surgery on my jaw bone, and in two weeks I'm going to go shred the slopes with my 30 y/o son, who's been trying to beat me at this game since 1982. I just bought one of these to protect myself.
Update:
Joanne and I flew to Bozeman last Monday night, got the rental car (a Yaris rollerskate) and drove an hour through snow and ice to Big Sky. She had gotten us a pretty good package deal (room + lift tickets) for $200/night at the resort, right at the bottom of the lifts. They upgraded us to a room that was probably as big as our house
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We took lessons on Tuesday...or Wednesday, I forget. My instructor was pretty good and I was "this" close to linking turns. But going from heal side to toe side was totally kicking my ass so "this close" = I was falling down a LOT. Beat up and thrashed by Wednesday so we took Thursday off to do a snowmobile tour of Yellowstone.
That was very cool, highly recommended to see the park this way in the winter. It's always very crowded in the summer and it's difficult to do anything other than drive through it. This was at a much more leisurely pace and our guide was very good, did a great job of pointing out wildlife, telling us more about the park, etc.
More boarding, and falling, on Friday as I continued to try to link turns. Our friend an EN member Barry Plaga has a house outside of town and he joined us up there on Friday. He took me down a few runs and showed me some stuff before he did his own private lesson Friday afternoon. He hooked me up with a private lesson for Saturday with his guy, Sean.
Sean showed me some good stuff Saturday afternoon and it finally started to click, and enjoyed my last few runs of the day. Up until this point that damn heel/toe turn was kicking my ass, really inside my head. Joanne did a group lesson Friday and Saturday, and Saturday after my lesson I embraced the ski culture a bit more (photo below). Saturday night had a 12oz bison ribeye for dinner. Tasty!
My runs on Sunday were more comfortable and relaxed, as Barry took me to different parts of the mountain but I was THRASHED. Very tired, very sore, had to stop a few times to rest, as I've learned that tired = crash, in my case. Ended the weekend with aching shoulders, arms, elbows, and a VERY sore and swollen left ass cheek (no pics, gals, sorry). This despite wearing wrist and elbow guards, padded shorts, and my hinged motocross knee braces. The helmet paid for itself a few times with big smacks to my grape.
The net: Joanne and I had a blast and this stuff really fits with the lifestyle we like to lead. We are planning to spend 2-3wks going this again next January, maybe as a road trip with Riley up to Mammoth, then Tahoe, then over to SLC, who knows. We are joining my sister and my nephew in Mammoth the first week of March and I may go up there on my own in a couple weeks. Took me 5-6 days of getting my ass kicked to learn what I have now and I want to build on it a bit more before the season is over.
that is awesome that you had a good time. There really is not anyone who does not like skiing/riding if they are willing to put the time in to be proficient enough. Oh and I am not sure how the PBR thing happened and gained such traction, its kinda skiings version of compression socks on race day. PBR is swill beer, not good. The ski bums used to drink the stuff cause they were broke due to the lack of a good paying job and spending most of the available funds on weed then somehow about 5 years ago it became "cool" and now its everywhere...such is life
Well, I finished my lesson about 45' before Joanne so was sitting in an Adirondack chair kinda enjoying the vibe. Decided I'd walk over to the little mall/convenience story, dug around in the tub o'beer and came up with a PBR 40oz for $3. Wasn't any better than I remember it, 20yrs ago, but cool to sit back and enjoy the vibe. Barry and I drank much good beer, no worries.
I could really see how a weekend trip with a small group of friends would be a blast. Ride in the morning, meet for lunch, done at 4p, hit happy hour, nice dinner, relax, repeat. I'm going to try to organize something like that for next year.
I saw a lot of similarities between this and dirtbiking, though I'm convinced that snowboarding is probably more dangerous, at least starting out. I had a couple technique breakthroughs on the moto that really helped me enjoy it more vs scared of crashing. I imagine that boarding will be the same.
The ski vacation vibe is a wonderful thing. I do a guys trip every year for about 20. Its great. Like you said, ski, eat, drink, repeat. Now driving up the mountain at o dark thirty like am a doing with the kids tomorrow, while still fun, does not compare.
As you progress you will be safer for a while, then learn enough to go a lot faster, then be in more interesting terrain and back to danger. Some of the worst crashes [meaning people getting actually hurt] I see on snow boards are on the flats when you are going fast, not paying attention and catch an edge. When it is super steep and gnarly, you tend to pay really close attention to what is going on. Enjoy.
I'm calling BS on that one. As I guy that rides moto's and bike up and down mountains you will be going fast once you get the hang of it.
I said the same thing the year I learned to snowboard. The mountain was kicking my ass over and over so I had no desire to go fast. Once you get past the basics you can progress very fast on a snowboard and will be trying new things real quick.
Just wait, next year will be looking for powder days and go as fast as you can while carving huge turns. The only question will be if you are good enough to do it both toe and heel side or if like most people you will favor one side the entire way down.
I know this may sound hard to believe, but I'm actually pretty conservative when it comes to stuff like this. I'm very aware that I'm 42yo, self-employed and while well-insured (thanks, UAL) I can't afford time "off" from getting stupid and getting hurt. I'm also very aware that I'm lucky to be alive, frankly, from the stoopid stuff I did in the North GA mtns when I was growing up on a moto.
Finally, peer pressure has zero power over me. No problems telling people I ride with that they're just gonna have to wait for me, nope, not going up that hill, off that ledge, etc. Smooth and steady, that's my motto.
Next trip when your legs aren't complete jelly you'll be linking turns right away.
I'm a somewhat "slow" rider myself. I enjoy carving lines and then going for a little speed here and there, but once it gets too fast I just put the brakes on and get back to my comfort zone. I enjoy control (or at least the illusion of it) way more than going on the edge of my ability with the possible chance of a broken who knows what with increased speed.