Snowboarding

I guess talking about one of my favorite pasttimes isn't a bad way to start off this blog. I have to do it for my communications class, so it will probably be a pretty random blog. The chosen subject for today is snowboarding. I only started snowboarding in the winter of 2005/2006 when I was 18 years old. I remember the first time I went my little 12 year old brother was the one that was responsible for teaching me how to snowboard. I had no idea what was going on. Wasn't sure which foot to put in the binding first to ride up the ski lift. Then I remember being on the ski lift and asking my brother, Chris, "How do we get off the ski lift?" He said that he couldn't remember. Haha... don't worry that I fell getting off a ski lift probably the first 15 times I ever did it. I am much more skilled at it now. :) Well I decided to include this in my blog as part of my BYU-Idaho experience because I have signed up for zero classes on Tuesday and Thursdays so that I can go snowboarding up at Grand Targhee Resort as much as possible. Everytime I go it's a new experience. For example when I went last Saturday I decided to follow some friends off a jump, I have been off jumps before but everyone before me did something "cool" so I thought I should too. Nevermind that I went off the jump, did a little twisty with my board and then totally ate it on the landing a powder flew everywhere, I still tried to do something new. I really enjoy snowboarding for that reason. There is so much to do and a huge mountain to explore! I absolutely love being out on the mountain, despite the fact that it is sometimes freezing! It teaches an interesting lesson, Grand Targhee resort does, usually the top of the dreamcatcher lift is really foggy, windy and sometimes snowy. There have been times when I could barely see in front of me, forget about seeing a tree that is 10 feet in front of me! It gets a bit intimidating at times. This is when I put my trust in my friends that I go skiing/snowboarding with, they will take the lead even during those times when none of us can really see. As long as I can keep them in my sights I know they won't lead me off a cliff! Good to know that I have good friends that I can trust up there on the mountain with me. For example the last 2 times I went up to Targhee, a couple of times the top of the lift was pretty foggy, visibilty was horrible (not to mention that when visibilty is that bad it is really hard to tell how fast you are going... eek! Not a good thing especially when you have to stop quickly haha) I could hardly see but my friends would go ahead of me that knew their way better than I did; as long as I could see them I would know where to go, I could follow them and avoid what they could see and what I couldn't, I would also know if there were bumps in the snow that I could prepare myself for. It's fantastic to be able to follow someone in those situations. But anyway, I love to go snowboarding and hope to have many more good experiences up on the mountain!