Snowboarding

I went snowboarding for the first time Sunday and loved it (except for the lifts that I never got the hang of). I was so excited/nervous that I only slept about 3 hours. Still dark and early, Cara and I loaded up our borrowed-from-Maugenhard gear and went to pick up Micah and Chris. I wasn't sure how all 4 of us and our boards were going to fit into my average-sized sedan, but both the guys are the engineering, make-it-work type and made it work. The ride was funny. I was in my happy place- driving curves (although I spent most of the time thinking about how much more fun it would've been in a 911, R8, or something of that beautiful nature). Micah was the navigator who didn't pay much attention to Nuvi, the GPS. So Cara became the default back seat navigator. And Chris was the entertainment. We headed to Feldberg, the highest mountain in the state and just about 50 km NW of Kandern. It was wicked cold. I'm glad that Cara made me wear more layers than I wanted to.

As we stood in line--more like a throng-- for the first lift, Cara Micah and Chris talked me through some basics. Unfortunately the lesson of "don't try to sit on the lift thing; just let it pull you" didn't take. And when I tried to sit on it, I took my first spill of the day. Not painful but humbling to realize that I wasn't going to be naturally good at this. Those of you who have known me for any length of time probably know that I don't often like doing things I'm not naturally good at. So, the whole day was a very stretching, humbling, and fun one for me.

I waited at the bottom of the hill for my three friends with years of experience to greet me with "it's ok"s and "everyone falls off the lift at some point." I wanted to understand the physics of how boarding worked, so Cara and I stood behind a snowboarding class for a while so I could watch and glean. The guys got a break from me for a while and did their own thing. While Cara, ever so patiently walked backwards down the hill holding my hands while I tried different skills. What a good friend :) But after a while I asked her to leave me alone so I could make some mistakes and figure stuff out on my own.

I was equating this process to learning how to drive stick: last summer I bought a brand new manual trans without knowing how to drive it. Dad drove it to a parking lot for me, showed me the basics and rode with me for about 20 minutes. And then I kicked him out and told him I'd see him at home later. And that's when the real learning took place- while I was alone and could experiment. So Cara went on a long run by herself, and I found the wimpiest little sled run where I could test myself without someone holding my hands. I conquered the tiny hill 4 times then moved on to a real run. Everything was fine until I got to a big drop where all the cool guys were doing jumps. I freaked out and stopped myself by colliding with a padded light pole. I would've been content to lay there for a few minutes, but some man was picking me up before I'd even completely opened my eyes.

At this point I thought I had learned everything my brain could handle for one day, but Chris and Micah were not convinced. After all, the only minimally painful fall I'd had was with the sign. And how can someone learn to snowboard without some battle wounds?

So the three of us (don't know where Cara was) went to the T lifts. They talked me through it as we waded through the throng. I was so nervous! Chris went first to show me what to do. And Micah went with me- telling me before we got on, "just stand there and I'll do everything." The only thing I had to do was stand, and what did I do? I'm not really sure, but it wasn't standing because we fell. But Micah's the man and somehow pulled me back on. We ended up making it all the way, but with every bump he reminded me, "you're ok. Just keep standing."

Now atop, I imagined putting on my motorcycle helmet and barreling down the mountain taking out small children along the way. After all, my biggest fear was hitting my face on something and repeating last year's facial/teeth injuries. But if I'd had my helmet, I'm not sure what I would've been scared of.

But given that my helmet is currently in my parent's garage, I was a whiny, scared little girl. But Chris and Micah were so great. Chris would explain some skill, do it, then plop down in the snow about 25 feet away. Then Micah would pep talk me into trying it, following right behind me. This went on for a long time. I felt bad for those guys going so slowly with me when I bet they just wanted to fly down. But I was the only one complaining. Poor guys ;) I wouldn't have had the patience to put up with me. Every time I fell they sat down and waited for me to get the nerve to try again.

We finally made it down, found Cara, breaked for some food, then went back out to the same devil T lifts as before. Cara and Chris went first. Then Micah (again telling me to JUST STAND) and me. We didn't make it very far. But once again, he still had one arm gripping the bar and the other around me. They stopped the lift, and just as we were almost back on, they started it up... and we were dragged until my board somehow flipped sideways and got stuck in his. I really wish I could've watched us looking like a pretzled car wreck. It was funny from my perspective, but I bet it was hilarious to the people right behind us.

Somehow he talked me into trying it again, although I made him promise that he'd go without me if we fell again. After a brief initial slip up, we made it almost all the way up! Because Micah was busy getting me on the lift and telling me to JUST STAND!! he didn't actually get on the T. And his back foot wasn't on the step grip thing. So when we hit a bump near the top, we went flying. Again, Micah was my hero and very patient with me, following down behind me, encouraging me to get up when I fell, and pulling me up when I didn't want to.

All in all, it was a great day, and I am so thankful to have had such patient teachers. I didn't really get hurt, only ran into 1 person and 1 pole, and kept tackling the lifts despite falling every time. I consider that a mostly successful day :)