“Keep your back straight!”  Ellie coached me today on how to snowboard.  That’s fair, I taught her how to ride a bike.  I thought I knew how to snowboard but six years have somehow passed by since I last went.  Could have something to do with breaking my ribs on that last outing in Idaho.  Falling on a snowboard comes fast and hard.  Ellie knows, check out that photo of her below.

What really helped me today was renting some snowboard boots.  I started out in my snow boots, trying to save some money.  That was a mistake.  I felt totally uncoordinated on my first couple of runs.   It only took a few minutes to rent some boots and I improved dramatically.  My two key lessons for today were proper boots and keeping my back straight.

To go out with Ellie, I first had to acquire a snowboard.  I bought a ten year old K2 off Craigslist on Monday for $30.  The guy wanted $40 but then we both noticed a screw missing from the bindings.  For my speed, the one screw isn’t critical.  I might buy some newer bindings though off Craigslist this week.  I don’t need new gear at my novice level of experience.  I just need to keep up with Ellie.  We started out on the magic carpet and worked our way onto the lift after a few initial runs.
Today’s weather was unbelievably warm and sunny.  Neither of us wore gloves.  We’re going to try to get up another weekend or two before spring break to work on our skills.  Then, we plan to join the Sebesta’s at the start of spring break at the Stockert’s cabin in Breck.  And we plan on boarding another couple of days at the end of break in Keystone.  I’m confident Ellie and I will be real snowboarders by the end of the season.  We lunched at the end of today at the Black Forest in Nederland.  Awesome day!