There's nothing like going down a hill on a little plastic board which has a mind of it's own. Weither I can manage to get to the bottom of the hill alive is a gamble I'm willing to take every time. After all; where's the fun in doing something you know will end well.

Introduction 

Now I'm a novice snowboarder. I've been on a snowboarding vacation two years in a row and I have to say I quite like it. In January of 2005 I went snowboarding for the first time. Starting snowboarding at 18 might be a little different from those who turn pro at 16, but it doesn't matter. I visited a little town called Mayrhofen in Austria. Along with me was my trusty sidekick Boy Wonder. Well, no, I was accompanied by my good friend David on this trip. He'd been snowboarding before and wouldn't mind giving it another go.

What I did so far

The first year was a little bumpy. Just picked up the basics and tried a few red slopes. Went face down in the snow a lot but, had a great time. The second year was late 2005, early 2006. Dave and I went on another snowboard vacation. Again to Mayrhofen. Celebrated a one of a kind New Years there. Not that it has anything to do with snowboarding but, it was a pretty interesting experience to play an English drinking game called..Zoomy I think? with a bunch of UK students.

As for snowboarding the second years, it went quite well. Sure that dead man's pass at the end of the last red slope still gives me nightmares but, that's all part of the deal. Took some extra lessons for the hell of it, or because I could use some and picked up a few neat tricks. Despite the weather of the first 3 days (clouds everywhere), I had a really good time.

Late August 2006 I went away for a week to Center Parcs' De Kempervennen. They have an indoor show center which had a pretty good deal for entrance. €24 for 10 hours of snowboarding, including equipment. I went there three times in the week and had a good deal of practice. The single way down and little other people allowed me to practice and practice and practice until I got just about everything right. The last day I took a shot at some jumping, which went pretty well actually.

My equipment

I don't quite own a snowboard myself, which is a shame. I would like to. Not owning one is one of the things that keeps me from doing it more often, renting equipment is not only expensive but, also tricky. A random snowboard doesn't work right, it should be attuned to it's rider. The problem is that I can't just go out and buy a board. Reason one being the lack of snowboard related stores in the neighborhood. Reason two is the money. I don't have the cash to get a board. Because it's not just a board you're buying. You need straps and boots as well. That jacks up the price a little. I'm saving money for a board, it's just not going very fast.

What's next? 

When the season's here and when I get my hands on some nice equipment I will hit the slopes again. I'm trying to get some equipment of my own before we hit the next season but, if I don't manage, I'll probably rent some stuff again.

Pictures

Here's the thing, I don't have any. Not any good ones. So, you're not getting any. Fine, I'll give you a picture of me sitting down. I don't have any "action shots", because they're kind of hard to take with a disposable camera. If you want to see pictures of blurry blobs riding on the snow, I have plenty of those. And yes, I did fall on my ass before that picture was taken, good for you.