Saturday, March 03, 2007

Snowboarding for Beginners

Second time snowboarding. This time a Stonewall event.


I went just before New Years in Hakuba, but definitely liked these Nozawa slopes better. They have really chill green beginner courses with low grades. Great for a scaredy cat like myself.
So far, I have accomplished getting up, going, turning right and left, and braking in the backwards position. I am still trying to master braking while facing forward. I fell on my ass withing seconds on every attempt so far.
I realized that I will never learn to go faster if I'm always throwing myself on the ground everytime I get scared. So on one attempt, I told myself that no matter how fast and scary it gets, that I cannot purposely fall. So I did, was terrified, went the fastest I gone thus far, tumbled about 2-3 X's-snowboard actin' like a pinwheel, ate up a mouthful of snow (which tasted good because I hadn't realized how thirsty I was), and slammed my head on the floor. It didn't really hurt at the moment, but I'm in quite a bit of pain now--my neck especially. After that fall, I decided to go back to taking things slow, and that my fear tolerance for increasing speed will just have to get better with time. Many things in this life cannot be rushed.
I'm working on accepting that.
Check out these views of the gondola rides to the top of the slopes.
The girls before take off.Me and my board.Almost ready.My hero.
A man in drag.
His sexy crew.A reaffirmation to my claim that it's never to late to begin something that you've always wanted to do. And this picture showing that it's never too early, either.
Just a cutie pie.
Post Script
As a beginner, you spend a lot of time on yr ass. Being on yr ass means you become an obstacle for other skiers coming down. Some (guys especially) enjoy the obstacle and like to change their trajectory toward me, then avoid me at the last minute. Scares the shit out of me, which results in my yells like "what the fuck!?!" or "fuckers!" I can't get too mad though, because that often happens when I'm in a hurry and sometimes cut it too close around old people on my bike.

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