I can't sleep right now, I don't know if it's the concussion that I'm suffering from right now, the bruise on my ass that is killing me, or the emotional trauma that I experienced today, but I feel like I gotta write about it before I tell someone about it.

Today I went snowboarding for the very first time. A group of my friends decided it would be a good idea to hit the slopes and they convinced me that it would be a good idea to try snowboarding, despite the fact that not an inch of snow hasn't fallen within the passed month I agreed.

When I got there the white substance layered over the hard dirt could hardly be called snow, it was more like snow granules layered on top of a thin sheet of ice. I rented the snowboarding gear and my friend assured me that I was going to have a blast and that he was going to show me the ropes. At this point I was unsure, but optimistic, hoping for the best. When we got to the top of the mountain I got off the ski lift and decided to take a taste of what snowboarding was like, I immediately fell on my ass. My friend failed to look my way and kept doing what he was doing, I thought nothing of it, I just thought to myself that maybe snowboarding isn't going to be as easy as I thought it was, so I continued on, stumbling and falling towards the summit following closely behind my friend.

Finally we reached the summit, I was side by side with my friend, he asked me if I'm ready, I nodded. He then took off and shot down the summit, at this point I was in shock, I didn't know what to do, I figured this was all part of my friends plan in teaching me a lesson in snowboarding, and that is to just go balls out, so I jumped down the slope, trying to keep up with him, trying to keep myself in balance to prevent myself from falling, I was beginning to lose sight of him, until bam, I hit a patch in the ice/slow and hit an extremely painful fall. I get up in scrambles to looking for my friend, he was no where in sight.... He totally ditched me... what the fuck

I laid there for a good 5 minutes completely lost and scared I was on the intermediate slope, with no knowledge of the most basic fundamentals of snowboarding and here I lay , somewhere on the summit too far for me to turn back and too far for me to have any sight of the end. I was scared, hopeless, and lost. So I did the only thing I could I got up and fell, repeated the process several times until finally I was coverin' some ground, i moved slightly to the edge of the slope and I noticed I was picking up speed, I looked below me, and I noticed I was snowboarding on pure ice, I then realized I need to slow down, so I tried to break (for those of you who haven't snowboarded when breaking you kind of have to tilt your board back, kind of sliding on the edges), well, as I did that the board completely slipped under the ice and shot my legs straight into the air, with that same force acting in the opposite direction my head came crashing down into the solid ice. I laid there for a while and with a very dizzy head I managed to make it down.

After the whole ordeal was over I switched from basic survival mode to completely pissed off mode. I realized my friend who was supposed to help me completely left me out there high and dry. What kind of friend does that first of all? Second he specifically told me he was going to help me out, now hes a liar as well as a shitty friend. I managed to express my anger towards him later on that day, but I was specifically feeling hatred towards him, and I don't feel like I got that across thoroughly.

I guess after this whole ordeal all I gotta say is this, snowboarding is no joke. Not to toot my own horn here, but I am an athletic freak and I generally learn sports fairly quickly, but snowboarding is unlike any sport I have I experienced before, and you can literally die if you don't know what your doing, and it could have very well happened to me, so for your own sake, take caution!

And by the way, to put a cherry on top of all of this I lost my phone and lift ticket (not that I was gonna need it.) But to my very good fortune a nice lady managed to find me phone and give it back to me.

Interesting article.

I snowboarded for the first time this past weekend. I normally snow ski but since my ACL Reconstruction surgery on my knee, someone suggested that I take up snowboarding since its much easier on the knees.

For my first day, I was on my butt more than snowboarding. Still trying to get the whole balance thing down and the turns and most of all the stopping. Its not easy and I use to skateboard as a kid but snowboarding is NOTHING LIKE SKATEBOARDING. I still favor my other leg, so that makes balancing a challenge for me. But when I am balanced on the snowboard, I can definately tell how the board responds much better than when you don't have your weight equally distributed.

People tell me that is normal and that once you get the carving down you improve so much faster.

But yea, your buddies kind of ditched you. Hopefully next time you will take a class, wear some protective gear and have better buddies with you. I would have said something to my buddy though since he was the one who offered to show you the ropes if I were you.

Good that your got your phone back.

Best,

J-Dub

_________________
J-Dub in DC

Its better to be the predator than the prey.

You need to be a good player if your gonna be successful at the game.

stick with it and youll begin to enjoy it, i considered quitting in the beginning because i sucked but stuck with it and its now my favorite hobby..

lmao I'm going snowboarding for the first time in about a halve hour in the exact same situation as you..a friend who says he'll teach me. Haha this should be interesting!!

yeah, snowboarding is hard as shit

Ive got to tell you, this friend of you is probably a prick, you'd better cut relationship with him, that wasnt right

when I tried to learn snowboarding in a trip...there was a teacher and all

and I tried to get the basics for going down the easy circuit at least for a loooong time, I kept trying and kept falling on my ass and knees, like in a loop, I really wanted to learn it, but I couldnt make it

so your 'friend' is a douchebag

_________________
<- Smooth, am I not?

Your friend sounds like an a$$hole. He should have let you practice on the "bunny" slope/hill to begin with instead of dropping you off the side of the mountain. That's a bit like putting a newborn at the top of a staircase and rolling it down the flight of stairs and expecting the baby to walk. My first time snowboarding, we got a lesson or 2 with a lift ticket. After we learned how to stop and turn, most of the day was spent on the bunny hill/slope and then on the beginner slope(s). Sounds like your "friend" may have taken you up to a black diamond hill, which is for advanced boarders only. My first day, about half my time was spent on my butt on the bunny hill. Start slow... instead of gung-ho. Best of luck. Snowboarding is REALLY fun when you get the hang of it.

-Chicoman

_________________
"Failure is not an option. Everyone has to succeed." - Arnold Schwarzenegger
My blog - http://pickupartistpua.blogspot.com/
http://www.toastmasters.org

20 Minute Phone Coaching Session with The Venusian Arts! http://bit.ly/15iipY0