Snowboarding - Season 1 (Part 2)

April 24, 2010 – Loveland Basin

Copper Mountain and Winter Park were closed now. I decided I head out by myself to Loveland Basin since it was still open for a few more weeks. By now I kind of got used to riding the chair lifts, I wasn’t enjoying it and the first ride of the day was always kind of scary, but not as bad as when I started. The iPod really helps, listing to music doesn’t let me hear the noises of the chair lift and keeps my mind occupied. But here at Loveland Basin it was back to the small and slow chair lifts and those are the scariest ones. My favorite run requires for my chair lift to pass above another chair lift, it’s really high and goes so slow and once it reaches the top it’s always windy at the top and that makes it pretty scary.

Lots of fresh snow to play in

Up high above the tree line, there was so much space to practice and not get in anyone’s way. I was really enjoying the higher sections of the green runs, but not the lower sections which were crowded, packed down and icy.

I love snowboarding Loveland Basin above the tree line

So much open space

May 1, 2010 – Loveland Basin

Another day alone on the slopes! I guess I just can’t stop. When I arrived at Loveland Basin this morning I was greeted with fresh snow. The snow was still falling and I was experiencing my first powder day. At some point it was really coming down hard and I could barely see where I was going, ran in to a few snow banks and on one run I completely come down the wrong trail because I couldn’t see the way. Today were the coldest temperatures I have experienced so far while snowboarding. I was bundled up and comfortable while snowboarding, but the ride on the chair lift was pretty cold. At some point people must have headed home because I was all alone on the chair lift and had the slopes all to myself. But in the afternoon the snow stopped falling and the sun came out and I finally linked some curves in the fresh snow. I can’t even tell you how it felt, it was beyond awesome! Kind of like when you’re going through a set of sweet curves on your motorcycle and the bike just falls in to each curve effortlessly, and you lean left then right, then left again, the speed is just perfect and you are in total control of the machine and as the bike leans you realize you no longer feel like you are sitting on your motorcycle, you feel like you are a part of the motorcycle – the bike and I become one entity. So it’s just like that but it’s on a snowboard, on a mountain with snow below. I totally understand why so many people that ride motorcycles also ride snowboards. The feeling is almost the same. Not only was I finally linking turns, but I snowboarded with no real break for lunch from morning until the lifts closed and I wasn’t even that tired!

Powder day

It was hard to see at times with all the snow falling

Blue sky and sunshine

My fresh tracks

I love fresh powder

May 22, 2010 – Loveland Valley

My mom was in Colorado visiting me, so the last two weekends I was busy. I had no intention of snowboarding anymore since Loveland Basin had closed and the only ski area that was still open was Arapahoe Basin, which I heard didn’t have a lot of easy runs and I wasn’t ready for hard stuff yet. But since CJ hadn’t seen my progress we decided to do one last day on the snowboards at A-basin. Unfortunately when we got to A-basin it was so windy, that we decided not to waste our chair lift tickets on an not so ideal day, and come back tomorrow.

I carry a dog leash in my pocket to drag my snowboard, carrying it too much work

CJ shows me how it's done - a perfect carve

As we headed up to the highway we decided to stop at Loveland Valley which was closed now and do some snowboarding by hiking up the hills. Well, it’s a lot of work this hiking and snowboarding especially at this high elevation. The snow was very hard here, but I did manage to show CJ what I have learned the last few weeks. After about 2 hours we were popped and ready to head back to Denver and enjoy the 70 degree temperatures.

Getting better, too bad the season is almost over

May 23, 2010 – Arapahoe Basin

CJ and I headed to A-basin and we were so glad we didn’t attempt to snowboard yesterday with all the wind. Today was great weather, and only slightly breezy. It was warm and the snow was melting, there were big puddles in places. The melting snow also made getting off the chair lift problematic, since the snow would melt and my snowboard would catch on the wood and I’d roll down the hill head over heels like a newbie. At least I wasn’t the only one doing this, others seemed to have the same problem.

Last day on the lopes, it was a very warm day today

As for A-basin, I had a hard time on some of the easier runs, I’m just not good enough yet and there were just too many people here. I had a couple of good runs in the warm sun, but next weekend I’m riding my motorcycle, so today is the last day on the snowboard until November when the snow returns to the mountains.