I am not a pro boarder. In fact I am a very late fan of the sport. This is more a diary than anything else, although comments and suggestions are appreciated. I'm going to try to keep track of how I do (and what I do) from season to season; what works and what fails; and how I improve over time.
That's much better
Posted 01-01-2013 at 06:12 PM by Donutz
New years day today, and I managed to get up the mountain for opening time. Surprisingly uncrowded, and I was able to get my favorite parking spot. It was totally blue sky this morning, and cold. The snow was pretty crisp, and I wouldn't want to pratfall on it, but it wasn't snowcrete.
I got a very pleasant surprise on Lodge. The park crew added a couple of jumps in the Young Guns area, just the right size for beginners. Actually just slightly larger than what I'd consider comfortable, which is ideal really. To my uneducated eye, they look like a 20' and a 25', both relatively mellow. I wasn't quite up to hitting the bigger one today, but I hit the first one a number of times.
They haven't done anything with Mushroom or with the box/rail line, but at least today they were groomed properly. I wore most of my protective gear today, and was actually considering trying the rail. Maybe on the weekend.
I spent some time today trying to follow other people or groups on runs. Most of the time I ended up behinds groups that were slower than me and/or didn't do much interesting. But one guy I followed down Unicorn was worth the trip. His technique wasn't great, i.e. he didn't look steezy at all, but he went down the run faster than I'm comfortable with. But I followed and survived.
My other big improvement today was on C turns on steeps. I took Snowolf's advice and tried shifting my weight back on heelside turns and it made a significant difference.
Anyway, just under 5 hours boarding with no lunch break and my legs were ok. Guess I'm getting in shape.
I got a very pleasant surprise on Lodge. The park crew added a couple of jumps in the Young Guns area, just the right size for beginners. Actually just slightly larger than what I'd consider comfortable, which is ideal really. To my uneducated eye, they look like a 20' and a 25', both relatively mellow. I wasn't quite up to hitting the bigger one today, but I hit the first one a number of times.
They haven't done anything with Mushroom or with the box/rail line, but at least today they were groomed properly. I wore most of my protective gear today, and was actually considering trying the rail. Maybe on the weekend.
I spent some time today trying to follow other people or groups on runs. Most of the time I ended up behinds groups that were slower than me and/or didn't do much interesting. But one guy I followed down Unicorn was worth the trip. His technique wasn't great, i.e. he didn't look steezy at all, but he went down the run faster than I'm comfortable with. But I followed and survived.
My other big improvement today was on C turns on steeps. I took Snowolf's advice and tried shifting my weight back on heelside turns and it made a significant difference.
Anyway, just under 5 hours boarding with no lunch break and my legs were ok. Guess I'm getting in shape.
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Comments
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Just a comment on the jumps: the 20' is a step-over and the 25' is a step-down. A step-down is actually easier to clear, but for some reason I find them more intimidating. I think because I can "see" the drop.Posted 01-05-2013 at 10:26 AM by Donutz
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