Heavenly Daze

I went snowboarding the other weekend with Chris and Nate at Steamboat Springs. I had to try my hand at the sport because snowboarding just looks so cool. I should clarify that snowboarding looks cool when you are good at it. I won't say that I looked like a fish out of water though, because I have to admit that I picked it up pretty quickly. I give a little credit to the beautiful weather and perfect powder conditions.


Excited for another run on the mountain...at least some of us are.


It was absolutely beautiful from the snowstorm just a couple days before.

Chris and I were supposed to meet Nathan at the top of the gondola, but Nate had already taken off on his skis. When we reached the top, there were only blues and blacks down the mountain from there. We picked the blue slope called Heavenly Daze -- it sounded sweet enough. Turns out that "Heavenly" Daze was the slope I pointed out on the Gondola ride up. I believe my words were, "Too bad I don't have my skis because there's no way I'm getting on stuff like that with my feet strapped to this board." Yep, that was my first trail on a snowboard. I actually rode it down pretty well, but got cocky at the end when I was cruising to the bottom. As I threw my hands up in victory for making it down the slope with ease, I caught the front end of my board and landed face first in the snow. Chris could not stop laughing...and honestly, neither could I. Why is it that moments like that never get captured on video?


View from the top of the gondola

Funny moments seemed to occur quite often throughout the day, especially when I had to get off the lifts. I smoothly got off the lift with my first attempt, but two and three were a whole other story. Let's just say that at one point I had to jump off the chair because I waited too long to slide off of it. Then, because of my jumping off stunt, I fell into a heap right in front of the swinging chair. The girl running the lift didn't slow it down so I had to duck from getting clocked in the head with the turning metal bench. I laid there waiting for the chair to pass then struggled to hobble out of the way to the oncoming skiiers. I was a hot mess. Thankfully, I got a good laugh out of all these "incidents."


Strapping in and probably moments before sitting back down again -- haha

The rest of the day my legs grew weary very quick from my lack of experience. Chris was way better this trip than his Copper experience, and cruised with ease (most of the time.) He was patient with me during all my breaks and frustration.

At the end of the day, I healed my wounds (aka exhausted body) with some KFC and a hot tub. Despite the greasy chicken and the soak, my ENTIRE body was numb with soreness the next day. I could not get dressed without grimacing from the pain. Skiing never does this kind of torture to your body. Yea, you may be a little sore in the legs, but never the entire body. Snowboarding is supposed to be a sport, and sports are supposed to be fun...fun is not supposed to cause so much pain.

Despite feeling exhausted and horribly sore from snowboarding, I plan to try it again so I can get better at it. I will always be a skiier though.