Rough Draft

Snowboarding in Tahoe

I'm a bit slow in posting this, but a couple weekends ago I went snowboarding at Kirkwood up in Lake Tahoe. This was my first time snowboarding, and I had a blast.

Kirkwood offers a lesson package for $70 a day (including equipment), so I took advantage of that deal. The first day was pretty rough and involved a lot of spectacular crashes. The lesson took up the whole morning. We started on a very small hill and just practiced our stance and how to get on the heel edge and toe edge of the board. Then we took the ski lift up the bunny hill and traversed our way down, one diagonal path at a time. My balance was ok, but I wasn't anywhere near being able to make turns.

After meeting up with Jake and Rus for lunch, Jake joined me for another trip down the bunny hill. It was very slow going for me as I still hadn't quite gotten the hang of keeping my speed in check or turning, so I'd got a little way down the hill and then just drop on my ass. Towards the bottom of the hill I ended up getting myself into this nearly flat area by a fence. After a vain attempt at trying to skate myself the rest of the way, I was forced to totally unclip from my board and walk.

After this Jake convinced me I should try going down the blue hill because it was only a little steeper than the bunny hill. I reluctantly agreed. We were in the ski line next to rather cute girl and she overheard Jake and I talking and said it was her first time going down a blue hill as well. If it really was her first time, she was damn skilled. I made it about 20 ft down the hill before falling and the next thing I knew she was no longer in sight. Oh well. After a whole lot of falling and struggling to get back up, I eventually made it to the bottom, totally exhausted.

I fared much better on Sunday. I got the lesson package again since it was cheaper than a full lift ticket and rental. For the lesson we ended up going down the bunny hill twice, and by the second time I was getting really close to being able to link a turn. After lunch (and watching the end of the first half of the Steelers game) I headed out to the blue hill with Jake, Mike, and Mark. We took path none of us had been down before and it was a really nice run. I did the best I had done and even got my speed up in a few parts. By the time I got to the bottom though my legs were killing me because I spent most of the time scooting down on the heel edge as opposed to linking turns.

I sat out one run and then went up again with Jake. We went down the blue hill run we had done on Saturday and I did much better. I was feeling really good after that run, and immediately went up for another one. Unfortunately, I underestimated how tired I was at that point, which resulted in many falls on my last run.

After just two days of snowboarding though I feel like I've got the hang of it and should be able to pick up where I left off the next time we go.

I should also mention the enormous house we stayed in. The house is owned by a friend of Jake's, so we got a great deal on it. There were 15 people staying in the house, but it didn't feel crowded at all. The house had a full kitchen was was taken advantage of: eggs and pancakes for breakfast, and for dinner on Saturday Rus made some really tasty turkey chili.

The house also had a hot tub outside, which we made use of Friday night and Sunday night. Sitting in a hot tub while being surrounded by snow was pretty surreal. Just sitting back and looking at the stars was very relaxing.

Even though every bone and muscle in my body ached for a couple days, it was worth it. I'm definitely looking forward to taking another trip up there.