Surprisingly, I went snowboarding for the second time on Saturday.

The first time I tried the sport it was not a good experience.  I was in college about four years ago and I was working on an assignment: work with a writer and shoot photos of a subculture.  The topic was snowboarders for my group so a trip to Winter Park was in order.  I was catching a cold and since the other students I went with loved snowboarding they decided that during the one day of free time we had, they would be hitting the slopes.  There was a free buddy pass and all the gear I could borrow in it for me so I decided to go too and give it a try.  All of a sudden I was all suited up at the bottom of the hill with my friend who gave me a ten minute snowboarding lesson.  Then we were up on the lift.

Something didn't feel right, I had no idea what I was doing but there we were, getting cranked up to the top of the hill.  After we landed at the top of a green (easiest slope), it was time to use all the skills I learned in ten minutes to go down the mountain.  It took me about two hours of falling.  Constantly.  Down the hill.  My method was just to  go as fast as I could, like I would on a skateboard, ride low and then bite it.  Wipe out on purpose.  It was far from awesome.

So friends of ours invited Raul and I to go to Winter Park this past weekend.  To snowboard while they skiied.  I wanted to try snowboarding again but I was a little apprehensive.  We took our friends up on their offer and I signed up for an all day class.  I didn't care if I was surrounded by three year olds, I was going to take a class.  I'm much better with real instruction and structure.  Sometimes you just need a certified teacher.

Now we are back home and I have to say I loved it.  I did fall but probably 20 times as opposed to over 100 times when I tried before.  I know how to control the board and how to put my bindings on while standing up.  Such a nice mini-vacation up in the mountains and I'll do it again.

Can't. Stop. Checking out snowboards.  *drool*

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more pics in my flickr set.