Saturday, February 20, 2010

Snowboardin!

Landon and I had the opportunity for a "snow-day" - so we jumped all over it! It was a beautiful, mostly sunny day on the mountain. We arrived early and headed for "Marge's Triple" lift and the "Rodeo Grounds" terrain park. It took me a while to adjust to a new board, but once I got my snow-legs back, we had a blast!

There is nothing quite like leaning over the snow on your toe-side, reaching out and dragging your fingertips over the freshly groomed corduroy-snow or powder, as you feel the board carve a sweet arc across the sun-sparkled morning snow :-)

One thing I have learned about snowboarding is that it is largely about commitment and trust! You could just plow down the mountain on your heel-side all day, starting and stopping the whole way down, but what fun is that?! The first time I finally dared to carve a turn on my toe-side, I went flat on my back - because I was afraid to commit, chickened out, and caught my heel-side edge! I finally convinced myself to trust the board edge to hold, fully committed to the turn, and just enjoyed the results.

Landon was steady as ever, showing me up at every turn and jump :-) Suffering from acute airtime deficiency syndrome, I saw every jump as an opportunity for relief. I landed some decent jumps, but also had my share of crashes. By the end of the day I knew I had overdone it a bit, and would probably pay for it the next day with some bumps, bruises and soreness! I made it through the day without any serious damage - but I should probably stick to something a bit safer - like hang gliding!!!

I certainly have a healthy new respect for all of the Shaun Whites and Hannah Teters of the world!


Here's a short video I edited together from the day - thanks again to the Foo Fighters!

5 comments:

The Firths said...

Great video! Glad that it was a great day skiing.

Simply Lavender said...

Thanks for sharing Matt!
So cool!!!!
It's amazing to me that anyone can even stand up straight on those boards let alone go down a mountain of snow!
So glad you and Yans could have a fun son/dad/snow day!! :)


HUGS.

Anonymous said...

ok--i pretty much LOVE THAT VIDEO MATT!!!!!

WOW!
great jumps....i wish I trusted myself to carry my camera with me.....i fall to MUCH!!!
lol

Unknown said...

Really cool - beautiful - the snow looked really good, not icy?

that's the best - love Utah snow -c
I wanna come ski -thanks or the great video=Love,mom

Keri said...

Even though you BONKED your head...I loved this post of you and Landon together, bonding as father and son! .... in your ugly wool pants. :)