My first time... Snowboarding :)

Snowboarding.... yippie yeah! I'm gonna do this, its gonna be so cool telling people I did it, something to boast about and a sport you would only see people enjoy on televisions. I was all pepped up for this activity, when we reached South Lake Tahoe and saw the steep slope of Heavenly Resort. This was just a weekend before my trip to India in Dec '07.

The morning was a little rainy, skies looked gloomy and the news of light snowshowers at the Heavenly's put me off a bit. Now what? We found out that we could Snowboard at another resort close by... don't remember the name of the place, since I was really put off :( We reached the base of the slope where we had to do the payment for the equipment rentals, lessons and the lift charges (err some 120 odd bucks damages)

After spending some 10 minutes to get my feet into the boots, I did a moonwalk to the counter to deposit my wallet and the other loose stuff, keeping my confidence with me. As I walked out of the rental, I was surrounded by a crowd of people with skills from "hell no! do I get my money back" to "I can snowboard on your home roof" types. And the "I will do it easily, since I did skating last evening easily" me somehow walked on the new orientation of my feet (yeah! it felt like my feet were moulded with steel) towards my friends, who were waiting for me.

Within minutes, we were asked by our group instructor to follow the path to the lower lifts, from where we would be taken to the top. The excitement grew! We reached the top. Let the fun begin....

Our lesson started off (atleast for me) with the walk to the practice area. Yes, walking in those boots and keeping up the pace, and my dynamic center of gravity and the slopy path and the slippery snow and the cold wind and the shaky confidence and the.... damm, this is not easy :(( Somehow I managed to walk to the group and reunite there! By then he had already started off with the first lesson and cracking a joke on me in my absence.

Lesson 1 was easy, fit one of the boots on the board and wait there.
Lesson 2, move in a straight line with the board on! What?!? I never can do that with my walking, you kidding me? Well I tried it and did it quite well.
Lesson 3, walk up a gentle slope with the goddamm board on! HOW!? Ok its simple, your one leg is stuck to the board and the other is free. Climb up with the free one, and fix the board into the snow to get the grip. Huh??! Ok I reached 70% of the slope (= some 2 metres) and stuck there.
Lesson 4, slide down the slope. Nooooooooooooo!! this means I have to trudge up the 2 metres again? Ok let me wait here and let the others do it and I sat down.
Lesson 5... and I was sitting down
Lesson 6... and I am still sitting.
Lesson 7... I need to move, its getting cold in here and might become red.

I had to move away from the group, since I was blocking their slope path. Using my two arms and my one free foot, I walked... no wait, I dragged... no wait, ok I moved to my friend already sitting there, who had given up at lesson 2. Yeah! it was fun, we ate some snow, it was cold... hmm soon was joined by another friend of mine (he took a while to cover his insurance costs) and the 3 of us enjoyed snowboarding, not on the television, but watching it live!!

Mohit, I told you, having Steak at the steakhouse was a better option! Anyways, in the next trip to Tahoe :) The burger was not a bad option though while the lessons 14+ were on :)

Joke of the Day, sorry Year! Mohit took an additional $2 insurance for the equipment :))