Snowboarding at Glenshee - 2/2/2008

Saturday morning started way too early as headed north to take advantage of the bad weather's benefits. Yes, snow in Scotland. It was Amy's idea (never a good start?) to go snowboarding. Brian had never been. I had been once with Amy's sort of instruction and a lot of quality time on my bum.

Bram brought skis so he could keep up with Amy. The plan was for Brian and I to acquaint ourselves with the snowboards and see what I could remember. We decided first to get half day lift tickets and then not to get lift tickets until we were sure we would use them. The last time at Glen Coe, I never figured out how to stay on the button tow lift. I'd get a yank start and end in a heap within 5 metres of the start. Thankfully they wouldn't sell me the half day tickets until 12:15. We had time to decide.

Sensibility prevailed a minute later. We ambled over to one of the other buildings and signed up for a lesson.

Nine other expert snowboarders joined us for a congested lesson at the bottom of one of the beginner slopes. We learned how to walk with the snowboard attached to one foot, which was quite a lot of work on an uphill and even easier to screw up on a downhill. Our instructor taught us how to slide down the hill on the back edge while facing downhill and on the front edge while facing uphill. The backwards one was a lot harder mentally than the forward one, but it did give the benefit of standing up easily. The last thing he taught us was the joy of leaning.

At the end of the lessons, we were ready for the expert slopes, but still not ready for the lifts. With only about three hours of snowboarding left, the lift tickets didn't seem all that useful. We did some hiking and sliding down the hill where we had our lesson. I chose my starting location each time when I got fed up with trudging up the hill with snowboard.

Lunch time came and we met Amy and Bram in the cafe. It was nice to get a break from the long hikes and short slides.

After lunch, I was good for I think three hikes and slides. I could tell fatigue was setting in because I struggled to do simple things like fasten the snowboard clips and that was accompanied by some related crankiness that seemed to entertain Brian more than it annoyed him, at least when I apologised for it. Our instructor from the course passed us on the lifts just before our last run, sort of laughing and sort of sympathising.

I wanted to try the really shallow beginner slope to see if I could rally some energy. My fumbling with clips got worse and then I couldn't stand up on the board. I agreed with reality and called it a day. On the way off the slopes, I stopped to talk to a couple of puppies that didn't like it when out-of-control snowboarders zoomed past them. I apologised for my own transgressions in that regard and we met Amy and Bram on the way back to the car.

Amy's muffler fix kept it in place, though not quietly. We made it back to Edinburgh in one piece, had a nice dinner and then helped Amy fix it again when it fell off just outside Brian's.