December 27, 2004
First Boarding Trip of the Season
Several friends and I went to Lake Tahoe over the weekend for some holiday snowboarding, a great way to work off some of the holiday stress that builds up this time of year. It was my first trip of the season, but lately, with all the traveling I've been doing, all the food I've been eating, and the lack of time for excercising, I was pretty out of shape. It seems to be a re-occuring excuse, but this is really the reason I was so tired and was finished by midafternoon!
We daytripped to Alpine Meadows, expecting the worst, with it being a holiday weekend and all.... Big crowds, long lift lines, kids in ski schools (obstacles course)... But it was PRATICALLY empty! We jumped in line, rode up the lift, boarded all the way down to get right back on the lift! Although this is where endurance and stamina is so important, we were just going up and down all morning long!
It was a bit icy, though. Boy, we learned early... We knew it hadn't snowed in a few days, but it was the first run of the morning. Me, Diana, Mike, and Young were feeling really good about snowboarding and decided to go all the way to the top of Alpine Bowl. Excitement lead to laziness as we didn't want to walk all the way around the bowl to drop in and decided to go right where we were. I was a little hesitant, since I remember I slipped down the same slope last year, but Diana was already to drop in. Oh well, I thought, it was time to conquer my fear. Then I heard screaming, as Diana went over, lost her traction and slide ALL the way down the side of the face herself! Hmmmm, I thought, maybe if I try a different line, like to my right... and..... AIYA! It was no good, I got about 20 ft off the edge, before I too slide and bounced all the way down the icy slope! Jeezes! Ironically I slide down and narrowly missed Diana, stopping right next to her! I rolled over and looked at her, thinking, "are we OK?"
I looked up and Young was a little smarter, went out to the softer snow, and glided down the slope. Mike on the other hand was actually too busy fixing his bindings, as I found out, to notice what had just happened, but only saw that Diana and I were down the slope. He only started on the slope when I jump and tried to grab Diana, tellling her we gotta move!!! Mike slipped too, and the slopes must channel in to the same area, because Mike landed right next to us!
Licking wounds aside, we got in a lot of snowboarding!
Jen is away for the holidays, but we tried to let her know her animals missed her.
Happy holidays to all!
Posted by Jimmy at December 27, 2004 06:01 PM