Girl Gets Board

Lesson Plan: Powder!

What I Learned:

• Snowboarding with chikas is super fun.
• Snowboarding in powder is even better.
• The big mounds of snow don’t hurt, you can ride right through them.
• At the end of a powder day, you’ll be covered in snow.

Melissa and I drove out to Stevens for what was to be an epic day. People were so excited to get into the snow that:

• The people driving the SUV in front of us were so stoked that they forgot to put the gas pump nozzle back and were dragging the pump and gas hose with them up to Stevens.
• A large pick-up truck flipped on the snowy roads and was on its side, undercarriage facing the center lane roof near the edge of the mountain road. (No one looked like they were hurt.)

Stevens was open a week after the other resorts in the area. It was a good thing, they had insane snow coverage and tons and tons of powder. It was like Disneyland. There were no lines, 10 inches of new on the groomed runs, and lots more stashed off the main runs. This was the first time I had ridden in powder since doing cartwheels in it a couple years ago, so I was a little hesitant.

Snow Mounds

There was so much fluffy snow, that it didn’t matter where we went. Melissa, being more adventurous, showed me some good lines. There were big mounds of snow everywhere. At first I thought they would be solid and I would get launched. Nope, they were mounds of puffy goodness. When I finally got it though my brain that these mounds weren’t solid, and that they would poof up when I rode through them, I aimed for them.

The only thing screwing with me was my head. Its set in ice mode and I was constantly thinking that things should hurt, but they never did. I would get freaked out, and would have to talk myself out of my own craziness.

Dropping off of little drop-offs, getting unexpected air, it was all easy. All I had to do was remember to keep my nose up.

Snow Everywhere

As the day went on I got more confident with my riding and how it felt to ride through deep, deep powder. (Well, deep to me, at about 25 inches.) While we were riding it kept dumping. Snow was everywhere. After tumbles and faceplants and snow burials, I wished that my pants and jacket zipped together. Everything…my base layers, my mittens, my neck gator, my hair was covered in snow icicles, but it didn’t matter at all. At this point, everyone had a perma-grin–even the lift ops–frozen in place from the cold and the fun snow.

It was great to ride with another girl. Melissa is pretty fearless and pushed my riding. And, it was fun to gossip on the way up the chair lift in between checking out new lines. We would cheer each other on when we got air and dig each other out of the snow after laughing and taking a picture first (thanks Melissa).

By the end of the day I was soaking, laughing, and my legs were on fire. I knew it was time to quit when I fell down the teeny slope waiting in line for another chair up.

Was anyone else out for opening? What did you think? What runs were you hitting?