My Nemesis
Find your way to "Rainbow Ridge", there's plenty of room for beginners to move around. This was sage advice from my sister and even more so for the beginner snowboarder. This was my second snowboarding day and I had hopes of making good progress. And I did, but not with out set backs. To find my way to "Rainbow Ridge" I first had to find my way to the upper lift, which meant boarding down a narrow green slope called "Overload". "Overload" became my nemesis. Why? It was narrow, which gave me no room for S turns. The trail also ran down to the left that meant for a goofy boarder like myself, I had to remain on my weaker toe edge to stay on the trail. Last, the run was not steep enough to create enough speed for the boarder to have any control. Too much speed is bad. A little speed is good for control. Yes, I fell and fell down “Overload” until there was no slope, then I had to unclamp my back boot and walk like a duck until the slope came back. "Overload" widened out for a small section where an intermediate slope merged into it. I managed o.k. on the wide section, but then it narrowed again and I resumed falling down-down-down-resting, falling into deep snow. Uuuugh! A snowboarder fallen in deep snow is like a fish out of water because your feet are essentially tied together. Ladies you’ll be like a mermaid in distress. All you can do is flop-flop-flop or admit defeat and take off your boots. Pride kept me from taking my boots off, so I kept flopping till I reached thinner snow, then I was fine down to the upper lift. Despite my recovery I decided it best to delay my ascent to the higher ridge until after lunch.
Stop-Stop Practice Stopping
After lunch I made my second attempt to the mountain top. "Overload" was still a problem, but I decided to walk down the really slow portion of the slope. At the merge I took my first intermediate run to the lift and found I did rather well, as the intermediate slope was wide enough to allow wide S turns. Up top of Homewood, elevation 7880-ft, I made my way to "Rainbow Ridge". The start of "Rainbow Ridge" was the exact same story as "Overload", until it opened up into a wide section that seemed to last forever. Finally, I had made it to the beginner snow boarder's paradise. S turns came easily for me on this run, and my confidence was up. My S turns down "Rainbow Ridge" were equivalent to the skier parallel skiing down the slope. I zig zagged my way down using the entire width of the run. Knowing that I would have to ski down an intermediate slope to get to the lift, I thought it wise to practice stopping on my toe-edge as well as my heel-edge. I practiced boarding across the run on my toe-edge, coming to a complete stop - well shy of the trees, proceeding into a toe-to-heel-C turn, boarding across the run on my heel-edge, coming to a complete stop, proceeding into a heel-to-toe-C turn, then repeating the process. Confidence in stopping is absolutely essential for snowboarding the steeper intermediate and black-diamond slopes. Yeah, practice and practice stopping – complete stops.
Rescued by the Falling Leaf
My critical error here was to snowboard to the very bottom of rainbow ridge, passing a wide intermediate, leaving my only intermediate option the very narrow and icy "Shaft" slope. I managed a C turn entering the run, but on the run I fell, fell, fell, and fell until I realized there was no way I was going to manage S turns down this narrow slope. At this point of discouragement I attempted a "falling leaf" or "feather" and found that I could successfully navigate down this steep narrow icy slope by heel-edge feathering my way down. But my quads were not happy. I tried a toe-edge feather to rest my quads, but it was impractical as I couldn't see where I was going. So I continued with a heel-edge "falling leaf", stopping every fifty-yards to rest my quads least they cramp up.
Progress Report
After riding "Rainbow Ridge" again and unintentionally repeating the narrow "Shaft" intermediate run, I got the courage to head down the much longer but wider "Bonanza" intermediate slope. "Bonanza" had a really steep part that I had to use the "falling leaf" to get down. After that the slope eased up, and I managed a few S turns. I fell less and when I did fall it was partly from being tired. A few more runs, and my quads began telling me it's time to go home. This required me to go down the rather long narrow steep and icy "Ore Car". Yes, I had to use the "falling leaf" the whole way down, taking rests every fifty yards. At one point, I called out to a boarder behind me "I need to rest" to warn him that I was slowing down to a complete stop. He passed me and stopped at 30 yards beyond me, and I was surprised to be greeted by my instructor, Yetz. I updated him on my progress. I told him how I managed "Last Resort" intermediate falling about four times and how useful the "falling leaf" was for narrow or steep slopes. And that the one drawback of the "falling leaf" is that its a quad buster and that my quads are telling me - "it's over. It's time to go home." And home I went to end my second day.
