Falling Bad
Although my third day became my bell weather day, it almost ended before it began. My old nemesis "Overload" rose up again. As I got off the lift at the top of "Overload" I noticed a skier sitting directly where I aiming to snowboard. I don't know if this distraction caused my fall, but I fell and twisted my ankle pretty badly. I suspect I fell forward, my memory is a blur though. Falling forward appears to be more dangerous for ankle injuries as your back foot is completely free. If the board holds fast in the snow, the front ankle will be the pivot point. A twisting forward fall off the lift seems like it will seal the deal of an ankle injury as the board will not cartwheel around with your twist, because the back foot is not buckled in.
My ankle hurt bad in a way that tells you it's going to swell. I found though that I could still walk without a limp. As a veteran of many an ankle injury from playing soccer, I was able to conclude the game was still on. Not an auspicious beginning though, and I continued down "Overload" with the usual falling routine, until I came to the open intermediate slope. I successfully S turned my way down the intermediate slope, and was happy to learn I could still ride a bike, metaphorically speaking.
Lift Advice
I headed up the upper lift to the mountain ridge, intending to find a nice intermediate run, but first, would I survive the lift-off? An experienced boarder advised me to jam my back-foot against the back bindings, as I got off the lift. He told me to ignore the grated or foam pad on the board, because it's usually located too far forward. Consider the binding a wall that will make your back-foot like a tar-heel, (No, I'm not from NC; the metaphor fits) when you jam your back-foot against it. This is the best way to control the snowboard while the back-foot is unbuckled.
I add to this advice, get off the lift slower than the skiers. As the lift approaches the lift-off it speeds up, which makes the fearful beginner's heart race. Relax! Because the lift speeds up so it can proceed extra slowly at the lift-off point. At lift-off get up slowly. Grab a hold of the chair with your hands. The skiers at this point will be pushing off the chair. You, however, hold fast to the chair, jam your back-foot against the binding, and aim your snowboard as parallel (i.e. straight) as possible to the downward slope. Only then should you push off the chair with your hand. Try your best to keep your board straight and parallel to the slope as you snowboard off the lift. Oh, and, don't let anyone distract you, and than you'll have more success then I did. Of course, if someone has fallen on the lift-off and is in your direct pathway, you have a real problem.
Progressing with the Falling Leaf
After a practice run down "Rainbow Ridge" beginner and "Shaft" intermediate slopes, I decided to seek a new intermediate slope adventure down "Tailings". I say "Tailings" gave me my first taste of a black-diamond because the first 100-yards were very steep. I was glad I practiced stopping because I got a little nervous when I started down "Tailings" and found it too steep and icy for my skill level. The "falling leaf" helped me down those first 100-yards, then the slope eased up and I enjoyed S turns.
My first black-diamond attempt came as I snowboarded down to the lodge for lunch. "Exhibition" was the widest of the three black-diamonds that ended at the lodge. And I chose that to be my first snow-board "black-diamond". Yes, I was a little nervous. It was my first black-diamond and in full view of the lodge. If I had an embarrassing bad fall everyone would see it. When I made it to the "Exhibition" trail head I was reluctant to go down because there were no other snowboarders on the slope, only skiers. I finally asked a boarder stopped near by if "Exhibition" was a special challenge for snowboarders, as I saw no snowboarders headed down that trail. He replied that he planned to go down "Exhibition" and that it posed no additional challenge for snowboarders. I commented that I had never been down a black-diamond, and he advised me to "feather" my way down.
"Feathering" my way down my first black-diamond does not make for exciting commentary, but it served in the progression of improvement by acclimating me to the typical steepness and terrain of black-diamonds. Yes, I "feathered" my way down, resting my quads as required. Nothing memorable, until the slope eased up as it made its final descent to the lodge. I caught this final run off a heel-to-toe-C turn and toe-edged my way all the way down to the lodge. How similar my final decent appeared to me like the run of a surfer riding a huge wave towards the beach. Yes, it was fun.
Black-Diamond Pride
Well, to clarify, the end of the run was fun. And I didn't really count my run down "Exhibition" as doing a black-diamond - no S turns. I was content to spend the rest of my last day snowboarding down my favorite intermediate run, "Miner's Delight", until my duties as Uncle Steven got in the way. After finally gaining enough snowboarding skills to make a run down "Miner's Delight" with my sister, bro-in-law, and nieces (all good skiers) I found myself suddenly on Uncle duty. Mom wanted an opportunity to ski by herself, so the little ones were split up between dad and uncle. Uncle Steven thought he was safe, as he was given the less competitive niece. But she very soon informed Uncle Steven that she wanted to go down a black-diamond. There's was no way my pride would let me refuse the request. So I found myself heading down the black-diamond "Gilbert's Gulch" - three times we went down "Gilbert's Gulch. And to my amazement, I was able to S turn my way down, one time without falling - until arriving at the lift. Victory! Now I always remember "Gilbert's Gulch" as my first real success on a black-diamond.
I say that both "Gilbert's Gulch" and "Miner's Delight" were great fun to snowboard down. And I really like the versatility of the snowboard. We adventured to other black-diamonds that were too steep and icy, but the adaptable snowboard helped me save face. On the crazy black-diamond "Dutch Treat" a time or two my C turn failed because I hit a snow mound or ski rut. I saved face by aborting the C turn and adjusting into a "falling leaf". From my ski experience, if my turn failed, my face would end up plastered with snow after sliding 50-yards down the icy slope. Yeah, the adaptable snowboard is really cool. After a run down "Ego Alley" (too steep and icy) and "Spillway" black-diamonds I had my fill of black-diamonds. The day was done.
Yeah, I was ready for a warm fire, a hearty meal, and a good nights rest. But I felt less tired at the end of my third ski-day than on the previous days snowboarding. This despite spending the day on intermediate slopes and challenging black-diamonds and also snowboarding much farther. How could I be less tired? The answer to this mystery, I say, is the S turn. I managed many more S turns on the third day. The S turn allows the muscle tension to shift back and forth between the quads and the calfs. No more heel-edge quad-muscle-tension exercises for 50-yards. Now the S turn would take me from the more controllable and quad busting heel-edge to the less controllable but muscle relaxing toe-edge. In three ski-days I had managed to break through the snowboard learning curve barrier (o.k., the allusion to Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier is a bit too much), and was now snowboarding in a less strenuous and more controlled way.
