Let's Snow!

I know snowboarding isn’t of interest to most of you but it’s really a huge thing for me and an exciting journey that I’m on which is not just about having as much fun as possible to offset my long working hours, but it’s about overcoming fear and living out however many fit and healthy years I have left, making the most of that health. Snowboarding came to me the way ballet did - out the blue, for no real reason, other than I felt a calling. So I listened and now I have my first ever snowboard! The most exciting purchase I have made since I bought my first pointe shoes.

Isn’t she a thing of beauty?

This is the Burton Hideaway and it’s a 148cm directional twin, all-mountain board. It’s playful but rugged enough to allow me to both learn and progress. I bought the Burton Scribe bindings which will see me through the learning process until I get better, then I will likely need a sturdier pair. But for now, this is my setup and I get a swell of heartfelt joy whenever I look at it.

I have an Anon helmet winging its way to me too, completing my gear list.

I took a lesson on Thursday at Snow Factor and it was great! Hard but great. Due to a fuck up with the booking process, I was actually in for a skiing lesson but luckily an instructor was available and I ended up getting a private lesson. The lessons are split into levels 1-6 and in that lesson, I basically covered levels 1, 2 and most of 3 just because I wasn’t an absolute beginner.

James, the instructor, completely dialed into how my brain worked and once he found out I trained in ballet he immediately started to explain things in a way that made total sense to me. I loved every single second of it, even the falls.

I had a lot of fear to overcome as I’m naturally comfortable on my toes so anything where I needed to be on my toeside edge was no problem for me, but when it came to doing anything heelside edge it was anxiety-inducing. But I just made myself go for it and I got down the slope doing C turns and S turns, not with any degree of finesse I must admit, but I did it nonetheless. James was so encouraging and held me upright when I needed it and let me do it myself when I didn’t, in exactly the same way my ballet teacher used to when I was first learning pirouettes - the teaching process is actually almost identical. Only wish you could book lessons with specific instructors as I would like to do all my lessons with James just because I feel his teaching is very like ballet teaching and so I really gelled with it.

I have my next lesson on 12th April and I’m doing level 3 so I can complete that and progress to level 4. It would be pretty awesome if there were no other people in the class so I could get a private lesson again! I will likely repeat from level 3 onwards just so I can build up my confidence on a small slope and you can only access the beginner slope as part of lessons. But hopefully, after doing the levels twice I will feel confident enough to go to the main slope on my own and spend the year honing my skills.

Snow Factor turns the main slope into a freestyle terrain park once a fortnight and I explained to my instructor it was my goal to do the big jumps and hits and he’s actually also the freestyle coach, so I’m hoping that by the end of the year I’ll be able to at least give it a go.

I wish I could record my progress so I will have a timeline to look back on when I’m sending it off those huge jumps!