'Tis the Season

I'm currently sitting at my desk with sore thighs, an aching back and a few bruises, regardless of the nice relaxing shower I just took. It's only October 17th and I just got back from a two day snowboarding adventure. After a week filled with classes, studying for midterms, RHA meetings, Presidential Debates, and bowling, distressing on the slopes was the best thing imaginable. Okay, so I really enjoy the clubs I'm in, and bowling is a leisure activity- I'm not exactly living the hard life here, but after attending a conference all last weekend I feel like hitting up A-Basin was much deserved.


The sun rising as we drove

Day One

I woke up at 6am on Friday morning, grabbed my backpack, boots, and freshly tuned board,then met up with my friends Heather and Mariah. By 6:45 we were on the road. Its funny how waking up for a 9 o’clock class can be so difficult, but getting up before sunrise to go snowboarding is a piece of cake. We arrived at A-Basin around 8:30, geared up, bought overpriced passes and got on the lift. My first run was amazing and I owe it partly to my friend Jake who took Board Tuning I as an elective this year. He actually took my board to class, tuned the edges and waxed it up for me. I'm excited about taking it next semester because as he said,

"It's great when the classes you are taking actually apply to your life."

Mariah and I, our first ride up

Throughout the day I met up with quite a few kids from CMC. That's one thing I love about this school, everyone gets along so well. Even though there was only one run open, we were all having a great time. My friend Tyler even taught me front side 180s! I'm so excited because that was one of my goals for the season and I got it down pretty consistently. Learning that trick on day one was a reminder as to why I came out here, to progress. Riding with kids who are better than me will constantly push me to try more things.

They had a rail and a box set up and kids were showing off their park abilities. Here is a picture I composed of Alex hitting the flat down.

By the time two thirty rolled around we were pretty whipped. We were definitely not in shape, and given that it was our first time out this season we called it quits because fatigue leads to injuries. So we headed to Silverthorne and decided to hit up Target. To most people that doesn't sound like a big deal, but for those of us who live in Steamboat it's very exciting. Steamboat is an incredibly small resort town without much variety for shopping. The Target we were at was actually the closest one we have, two hours away. Needless to say the ability to shop online is not something we take for granted here.

After that we ate some dinner and relaxed. A friend I used to work with back in Buffalo, who now lives in Summit County, came over to hang out. It was very refreshing to spend time with someone who knows exactly what I'm talking about when I refer to Mighty Taco, and who understands that Buffalo Wings are not the same anywhere else in the country.

Standing in the lift line

Day Two

Knowing that A-Basin would be packed for opening weekend, we decided to sleep in and go to the mountain around noon. Most of the kids we knew from Steamboat had gone back to school, but we saw a few that stuck around. The lines were ridiculously long and the conditions were progressively getting worse. We still managed to have a fun day, just messing around on the mountain. Mariah and Heather both hit the flat down a couple times I attempted a few backside 180s off of little kickers.

Before we knew it, the lifts were closing and we had to head back. All in all it was a great trip. The fact that we got to go snowboarding as early as October 17th is amazing in itself. Leaving was pretty sad, especially because we didn't see any snow on the way home. When we got back to campus people were so excited to see us in all our gear. I think we were sort of a reassurance that winter really is coming, and soon we will all get to see snow in more than just films and magazines.