Adventures in Snowboarding

I've been blessed with athletic ability my entire life, so when the idea of learning to snowboard became a reality, I thought- why not? Many of my friends are avid snowboarders and gave me wonderful advice of how to avoid face-planting, however all of them told me that it's inevitable. I learned that first hand this week and it was SO MUCH FUN (the learning part, not so much the face-planting part, ha).

One of the perks of being a grad student is vacation time. This past week was my spring break, so my friend TAV and I drove to the closest ski resort and hit the slopes Tuesday. I couldn't have asked for a better day to learn the basics of boarding. After a full day of falling on my arse, or nosediving into snow, I graduated from the bunny hill.

Yes, that's me on my butt. 

Let's just say I was sore for about the next two days- mainly in my arms from lifting myself out of powder all day long, yeesh.

I had a few choice words with myself after a few major spills, but overall my first time snowboarding was a success. A friend told me to really judge your snowboarding ability on three separate visits, so I was pretty proud of myself for tackling the normal green runs.

Moving on to visit number two to said ski resort. I went with a few more friends today. We had a great time and there was a fresh 8+ inches of powder. I can't even begin to describe how awesome/satisfying/fun cutting hard in fresh powder is! All I can tell you is I was flying down the side of the mountain and my board cut through the fresh snow as if it were melted butter. So cool!

With the fresh snow however, came gray skies all day and really heavy snow. I mean soaking, wet, heavy snow- the stuff that can chill you to your bones if you're not dressed in waterproof gear. Luckily, hailing from Wisconsin, my winter gear was absolutely toasty. I wish I could say my second time boarding was as rewarding as the first, but I still learned a lot.

I learned that twisting your knee is extremely easy to do and I would highly advise against it. Unfortunately, I slightly tweaked my knee late in the morning and was timid for the rest of the day. This more than likely contributed to my lack of satisfaction, but nonetheless I didn't want to push it too hard and do some serious damage. I did however, accomplish my goal of taking the highest lift to the summit and tackling a blue run from the peak!

TAV and KAR at the top

Overall, as with any sport, snowboarding is full of mind games. It's an extremely humbling experience, but the sense of accomplishment after killing a hard run is priceless.

If you've ever considered learning, do it-now! 

National Park Update

Just under a year ago, I posted about my desire to visit my first National Park (revisit the post here). I wrote about visiting Crater Lake, thinking because of its proximity to Rainy City, U.S.A., that it would be the first I would visit. Well, little did I know I would be living in Washington for the summer and would actually visit Mt. Rainier National Park first. Now that my work is done in Washington for the summer and I’m back in Rainy City (well, technically I’m on vacation back in WI for a week) I miss seeing the gigantic façade of Mt. Rainier on the horizon.

I was lucky enough to visit the Park twice this summer. The first to tackle a day-hike on the Crystal Peak trail. Being from the Midwest, this means a few things; that I a) am obsessed with mountains b) take way too many photos of said mountains and c) cannot shut up about how awesome mountains are. Visiting Mt. Rainier up close and personal (or so I thought at the time) resulted in me absolutely falling in love with the park. Here are a few photos from my first trip:

Little did I know I would be visiting the Park again in July. My friend K.A.R. and I lazily drove around the Park and took in the sights from the car, enjoyed the winding (terrifying at times) roads, enjoyed a picnic and explored the highest point you can reach without a pair of gaiters and crampons. We parked at Paradise, where the National Park Inn and visitors center is located. From a fifteen minute hike up a paved path full of tourists, we took an heinous  ample amount of photos from here:

Needless to say, I fell deeper in love with the mountain and can’t wait to go back. Perhaps to climb someday…before my joints start really punishing me.

Random thought: Mt. Rainier is technically an active volcano, so is it still technically correct to call it a mountain?