Monday, February 28, 2005
Snowboarding 'til the Sun Sets (360 BackFlip Japan Air to Kickflip Indy)
Hello from a warm and fairly non-wintry Calgary! It's been quite balmy for the last few days, with temps up to +12 which means that outdoors skating is off for a while as all the rinks have melted! Winter will still be back to bite us in the bottom, though, and we're expecting more dumps of snow in March.
As you know, we set out to try out a variety of activities while we're in Calgary, and so far we've ticked off skiing, horse-riding and whitewater rafting from the list. As of yesterday, we can also tick off snowboarding from the list, as I have now had my first 'boarding lesson at the Canada Olympic Park and am now officially totally "rad"!
For 40 dollars (under 20 quid) you get a 1-on-1 90 minute lesson, hire of a board, helmet, boots and bindings and a ski-lift pass which lets you stay on the slopes for as long as you want (the C.O.P closes at 10pm). The lesson takes you from the very basics (how to strap on to the board, how to push off), to coming down sideways facing forwards and backwards, how to traverse on the board and finally how to head downslope, pick up speed and turn.
Getting started
The Basic 'Boarding Stance
Is this the way to do it?
When can I do an inverted 720 front flip stalefish to indy?
Made in down in one piece
I had a lot of fun, made a lot of progress in the lesson and then spent another two whole hours on the slopes, working my way up the beginner slopes (the "bunny hills") until I was right at the top and getting a good long ride down. My lesson started at 2:15pm and I only left the slopes at 6pm, so I got good value for the money! It's much more fun than skiing, and you seem to be able to have much more control of speed and turning by using the edge of the board. It's also way cool, as they say here! I'm still finding it hard to get to my feet on the board on any degree of incline, but I just need to work on my tummy muscles a bit so I can haul myself up! At the moment, I can get up facing upslope and then I have to turn downslope so I can see where I'm going!
I can confirm that I'm still in one piece after 3.5 hours of snowboarding, but I'm still pretty sore from all the falls. The worst bits are wrists, shoulders and bottom, and my knees and elbows are still fairly raw. P was there taking photos and a little bit of video, and here are a couple of my more spectacular falls presented in 'time lapse' fashion:
Ouch!
Ow Ow Ow Ow
I think I may have been bitten by the snowboarding bug, as it's a lot of fun and gives you a real sense of freedom on the slopes. I was able to pick it up really quickly, and it's great being able to zip back and forth on a fairly steep slope and then turn downhill to pick up some speed before carving some serious snow at the bottom! I've even been out to price a snowboard (200-400 dollars), so watch this space!
Check out the C.O.P. webcam here
In other news: our friends the Hubers wish to announce the arrival of a bouncing baby boy, Gion Frederick, born at 04:00 on Feb 12. Gion is pronounced the same as 'John", btw. Mum, dad and baby are doing well.
Three Swiss-German-Canadians
My skating class is also going well, with lots of practice time on the public rink at Bowness (when it's cold enough). We've also been doing skating backwards which is hard work but I seem to be slowly getting the hang of it...
Skater Boy
That's all for now, dudes and dudettes. We're off to Atlanta, Georgia on Wednesday and then we're coming back via Las Vegas. Maybe we'll hit it rich!...
Love J&P
As you know, we set out to try out a variety of activities while we're in Calgary, and so far we've ticked off skiing, horse-riding and whitewater rafting from the list. As of yesterday, we can also tick off snowboarding from the list, as I have now had my first 'boarding lesson at the Canada Olympic Park and am now officially totally "rad"!
For 40 dollars (under 20 quid) you get a 1-on-1 90 minute lesson, hire of a board, helmet, boots and bindings and a ski-lift pass which lets you stay on the slopes for as long as you want (the C.O.P closes at 10pm). The lesson takes you from the very basics (how to strap on to the board, how to push off), to coming down sideways facing forwards and backwards, how to traverse on the board and finally how to head downslope, pick up speed and turn.
Getting started
The Basic 'Boarding Stance
Is this the way to do it?
When can I do an inverted 720 front flip stalefish to indy?
Made in down in one piece
I had a lot of fun, made a lot of progress in the lesson and then spent another two whole hours on the slopes, working my way up the beginner slopes (the "bunny hills") until I was right at the top and getting a good long ride down. My lesson started at 2:15pm and I only left the slopes at 6pm, so I got good value for the money! It's much more fun than skiing, and you seem to be able to have much more control of speed and turning by using the edge of the board. It's also way cool, as they say here! I'm still finding it hard to get to my feet on the board on any degree of incline, but I just need to work on my tummy muscles a bit so I can haul myself up! At the moment, I can get up facing upslope and then I have to turn downslope so I can see where I'm going!
I can confirm that I'm still in one piece after 3.5 hours of snowboarding, but I'm still pretty sore from all the falls. The worst bits are wrists, shoulders and bottom, and my knees and elbows are still fairly raw. P was there taking photos and a little bit of video, and here are a couple of my more spectacular falls presented in 'time lapse' fashion:
Ouch!
Ow Ow Ow Ow
I think I may have been bitten by the snowboarding bug, as it's a lot of fun and gives you a real sense of freedom on the slopes. I was able to pick it up really quickly, and it's great being able to zip back and forth on a fairly steep slope and then turn downhill to pick up some speed before carving some serious snow at the bottom! I've even been out to price a snowboard (200-400 dollars), so watch this space!
Check out the C.O.P. webcam here
In other news: our friends the Hubers wish to announce the arrival of a bouncing baby boy, Gion Frederick, born at 04:00 on Feb 12. Gion is pronounced the same as 'John", btw. Mum, dad and baby are doing well.
Three Swiss-German-Canadians
My skating class is also going well, with lots of practice time on the public rink at Bowness (when it's cold enough). We've also been doing skating backwards which is hard work but I seem to be slowly getting the hang of it...
Skater Boy
That's all for now, dudes and dudettes. We're off to Atlanta, Georgia on Wednesday and then we're coming back via Las Vegas. Maybe we'll hit it rich!...
Love J&P
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