Snowboarding

[slemslempike]

I went snowboarding today! irrtum and I went to the dry ski slope near the Trafford Centre, and had a taster session. It was very good, although I was not. There were four falls in the group when we did the downhill bits. Three of them were me. I also fell over when we were doing the warm-up running around thing.

To get there from the Trafford Centre we had to negotiate crossing the dual carriageway, running when the lights were red. On the way back we discovered that had we attempted this feat at the other side of the roundabout, we could have made use of the handy pedestrian crossing. But battling with traffic prepared us for our afternoon of Extreme Sports!

(I don't suppose snowboarding actually counts as Extreme, and even if it did, I think doing it on the nursery slope would negate that.)

We also had to battle somewhat grumpy staff who were giving us clothes and equipment. My trousers had thick elasticy braces, and I felt like a fire fighter! Also, my jacket had these bits that came out under the sleeves and hooked over my thumbs, so that there was no chilly gap between wristband and glove. Nifty. We had to ask fellow tastees to help us with the boot laces, as the staff were less than forthcoming.

The slope was large and cold, with unconvincing pictures of mountains on the back wall, and really annoying music playing that sometimes made it difficult to hear the instructor. (He was very nice, but I blame him slightly for my final fall by wielding a large and scary red pole.) We started off running around a circle swapping boards (this is when I fell over for the first time), and then strapped one foot to the board and started scooting along the bottom of the slope. Eventually we walked the boards up the slope a bit, and then slid down to the bottom, which seemed quite fast and was very fun.

I enjoyed it a lot, although my non-strapped foot was agony within about five minutes. I felt slightly better when a few other people also said that they were hurting, and it wasn't just my general unfitness. I'd like to do some more sometime, though I would worry that I wouldn't keep up with even a beginner's class as I was behind even in an hour long session. But fun!

Comments

[whatho.livejournal.com]

Oh wow! That's a great thing to do. I've skied on a dry slope before, but never snowboarding. I think I'd get a lot of carpet burns.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

This one has proper snow, rather than the grid thing. It was ace. There was a snowplay area for children, and a luge. I would like to go on the luge again, actually.

[snowballjane.livejournal.com]

That sounds great - I think I might cope with that despite my skiing freak-out over the terrifying heights.

I would worry that I wouldn't keep up with even a beginner's class as I was behind even in an hour long session

In my experience quite a few people are often really on their third "intro" session, or are coming back to it gently after a long break, or are pretending to be beginners to stay with their friends, so the true first timers do feel like they end up behind.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

irrtum and I were the only ones in the rented gear, so that does suggest that they others were reasonably well-practised skiers at the least. I feel slightly less bad now! Though my back still hurts from falling over.

At the Manchester one, they have Real Snow! Well, not real. But not the brushed thing, either. The nursery slope was to the side of the main slope, so there wasn't even much of an up above us to freak me out.

[snowballjane.livejournal.com]

I collapsed with jelly-legs on a blue run after accidentally glimpsing just how far up the mountain we were, even though the slope itself was quite gentle. I think I could cope with being inside a building in Mnachester much better.