I went for a refresher, all-day snowboarding lesson yesterday at Crystal Mountain. In short, I survived my first day on the snow this season. I’m in recovery mode today.
I had a good time. It was a Thursday, so pretty much the only people on the mountain were those that didn’t work, had taken the day off to play, or worked there. Good news for me because I didn’t have to worry as much about dodging other skiers/snowboarders or getting run over by one as I would on a typical weekend day. I turned out to be the only person in the lesson, so I essentially got a tailor-built private one for the price of a group one. Very sweet! My instructor quickly took me through the basics again, assessed my skill level, and helped me work on those basics that could use a lot of practice. Most of it, essentially. I had taken lessons before, so the mechanics of it are still with me, but I didn’t get a chance to practice any of it afterward so my body doesn’t always do what my brain instructs. And I’m still wobbly and unstable if I don’t concentrate hard enough at staying loose (read: not tensed up and freaked out) and in proper stance. Which leads to falling over…a lot. And getting back up again, with a slippery board strapped to my feet to make it just that much harder.
But this time the mountains are close enough to practice what I’ve learned so that I retain it longer. There are plans for a group of us to go play on the snow as soon as this weekend.
I’m not horribly out of shape, considering that I’m a desk worker with a knitting hobby and occasional hiking adventures. My major muscles withstood some pretty good pounding yesterday and are only slightly making their presence known today. Not just because of the falling down either. It’s a waist-down kind of sport. The top half of you, with the exception of your head/eyes/etc., has little to do while you’re upright. They do a lot to get you upright, but once there assume what I call a relaxed “spaghetti” sort of posture. Hips, thighs, knees, calves, and ankles do the rest to propel and steer. To get an idea of which of my muscles are speaking louder than the rest today, think about what you’d feel like if you held your legs in a slight squat for four to five hours with periodic breaks. My thighs were burning and my knees absolutely refused to be held in a bent position by the end of the day yesterday. Today they only speak when I ask them to help me get out of the chair – which is an improvement over what I had expected them to feel like.
So I was animated when I was telling Fiance all about it last night over dinner. And I’m excited to go back and practice some more this weekend. After a nice relaxing rest day today, that is. I’ll probably go for a walk this afternoon, but nothing strenuous.
Also of note was the drive up to the mountain yesterday. The last time we were there was in early November when the road into that side of Mount Rainier National Park was still open. At that time the drive through the pines was nice, but the ski area was dreary. This time though everything was blanketed with a thick layer of snow and the trees were just beautiful. I took shots from the parking lot before I headed to the slopes. As usual, the camera doesn’t always do it justice. A light fog was just moving in to obscure the good light. Maybe I’ll get a better one next time.
