Revenge of Ice Butt

Thursday night, the ski mountain that is closest to us had a special night for USU Employees to raise money for some scholarships. Dr. HokieKev was out of town so I headed up to the mountain with my friend Jennifer and her husband, Tristan. Lessons were only $5 so I saw this as a good time to work on my less than mad snowboarding skills without having to pay Snowboard Dude another almost 100 bucks to watch me fall on my butt.

This time I thought I prepared a little better. I found some pants that were nice and baggy and came up higher on my waist. I wore gloves that were easier to pull off and put back on. I even left the face mask and all the extra gear I ended up taking off the last time at home. So we get there and we start our lesson. Luckily, not too many people wanted to learn to snowboard at 6:30 so it was just the three of us and the instructor (again, try to make sure instructor is not high- this may not always be possible). We worked on a couple of things I had learned last time and I managed to only fall once- improvement. After a little practice, we made it over to the lift which promptly decided to stop working. Luckily, there is a tiny little hill by the lift that we could walk up and practice our newly acquired skills until the lift started to work again.

Once the lift began to work, Tristan, Snowboard Dude 2, and I went up to the top to test our newly acquired mad snowboard skills. Jenn decided that maybe she is a sit by the pool kind of girl as well and stayed at the bottom to await our safe return. So we get up to the top and Snowboard Dude 2 was nice enough to get off the lift with me and hold on to me so I wouldn't face plant. And let me tell you, I had a death grip. So I made it off the lift in one piece, pants fully intact. Once we got to the top of the trail, we strapped on our boards and Snowboard Dude 2 was nice enough to help me up so we could get going. This time I did alot better. I fell a few times but Snowboard Dude 2 would come up and help me up, so that was less frustrating that last time. I would follow Tristan's snowtrail which somehow made it easier to concentrate and not fall. By then the lesson was over and well worth the $5 that was spent.

We decided we should make a couple more trips up the lift as to get the full benefit from the $12 lift tickets and our first task would be convincing Jenn she wouldn't die. After about 20 minutes, we were able to convince her that Tristan loved her and wouldn't let her die on the mountain. I also tried to bribe her with hot cocoa. She finally gave in after Tristan strapped her foot in the boot and pulled her onto the lift! Nothing like a little coercion to get you to the top of the mountain.

In the end, I ended up coming down the mountain four times and only falling about 10 times. Now, 10 times may seem like alot but you have to compare it to the first snowboaring experience when I fell every two feet. You also have to take into consideration that a couple times I fell on purpose because my legs just needed a rest and once I fell because some girl stuck her ski pole under my snowboard causeing both of us to flail down the mountain.

Overall, I considered this trip a success. That is, until I sat down to take my boots off and realized that Ice Butt had returned.