On Monday the thirteenth of January, my Bob Marley alarm went off at 7:00. It didn’t wake me considering I had been lying in bed thinking about snowboarding for at least an hour prior. This was the beginning of week two, our first whole week of instruction and riding improvement. Although we had two lessons the preceding week, I knew this would be the first true test of my and my peers’ snowboarding and teaching abilities. Our good and bad habits would be under our instructors’ lens. There was nowhere to hide.
The early bedtime I decided to take Sunday night rewarded me with energy and a positive outlook for the day to come. Practically jumping out of bed I made my way up to the kitchen where I found myself making breakfast alone. Coffee and a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich prepared my body for the long day to come. I put on all my gear and was the first one out the door, eager to get first tracks on this mild and snowy morning. I had heard the day before that it was possible to catch a lift as early as 8:30am depending on the lift and lifties. Willing to wait around for a bit, I made the five minute ride down to the Snow Ghost lift at a quarter past 8:00. I was not the only one eager to get out for first tracks after a 40cm weekend of snow. I waited, roughly 8 chairs worth of skiers and snowboarders back, ready to find the fresh snow that had been delivered overnight. That morning, before our 9:30 lesson, I was able to get five incredible runs in. It was the perfect way to start my week. I even saw Harry and Leigh whom, coincidentally, yelled down from the lift above as I went for a front 180 off a side jib underneath. I bailed in a small explosion of powder, looked up, and gave them a wave. Covered in light fluffy snow, I made my way down to the VCM to meet up for our first lesson.
I buttered into town where I saw a group of NBS peeps scattered and huddled around, eagerly waiting for the first lessons to begin. All of the snowboarders gathered around and then we were split into two groups. I was in a group instructed by Dom, a positive and enthusiastic ginger UK dude, and also a great snowboarder. Dom took us up the Snow Ghost where we began to fall into our rhythm of snowboarding. First came the warm-up lap, a twice a day occurrence (first run of the day and first run after lunch). We then immediately began focusing on proper snowboarding technique. Our day consisted of riding improvement and mountain exploration and was centered on the first of three core competencies: centered and mobile stance. Doing drills such as varied body position and traverse hopping, we all worked diligently on improving our stance to those that were both centered and mobile.
Our second and third days consisted of a similar wake up pattern, but a little later these mornings due to exhaustion from the preceding days of lessons. After we made our warm-up run, we began working more on our centered and mobile stances, and started talking about the second core competency: turning with the lower body. My and my peers’ riding abilities had already increased dramatically since our arrival and we were all starting to get the hang of the teaching method and active hands on learning. With the first riding competency becoming well refined in our abilities we all shredded down the mountain in a relaxed and efficient fashion. We still though, had a lot to learn, as we would come to find out. We began to get into teaching methods during our second and third days. We spend a bit of time in Happy Valley, the beginner area of the mountain, where we were given full rundowns of a level 1 instruction session. Dom was able to explain all of the necessities of teaching, from the basics to linking beginner turns. This was the first time since I had been in lessons myself many years ago; we were able to see what our futures might hold as snowboard instructors. As the third day closed, our skills were visually more refined and the groundwork for our teaching abilities was laid. The night ended at the bar for most of the NBS crew, I stayed in and fell asleep before everyone else got home.
A scary occurrence happened Thursday. During morning portion of our lesson, Tim, a talented snowboarder caught an edge and suffered a concussion. I did not see it happen but it must have been pretty gnarly considering Tim was evacuated down the hospital in Kelowna for further examination. Tim took the next day and the weekend off and was back on the hill the following Monday. For the rest of us, we continued working on our riding skills and focused on the last of the three competencies: balanced over the working edge. By the end of Thursday we had all shown vast amounts of improvement, which warranted a Fun Friday the following day. That night I headed over to the other accommodation site where I spend the night jamming on instruments and chilling in the spa with Lambo, Luko, and his housemates.
Friday was a fun day, as Dom promised the day before. We learned a lot of cool tricks that day. Some of these tricks included tripods (using both hands to balance on the tip or tail of the snowboard), euro-carves (carving as low as possible to the ground), and 180s to name a few. It was indeed a fun day for all involved. I did have some major bails that day, as did everyone else. But in the end no one was seriously injured, just a bit bruised here and there. After relaxing for a bit at the house after the long day of riding, everyone from NBS met up for our weekly meal out. We ended up going to the Bullwheel, where the burgers satiated our ferocious appetites. Ben was kind enough to buy me a beer at dinner, lubricating the oils for a night of fun at Sam’s! I again was not able to outstay any of my peers and was the first one in bed that night. Everyone got home a long time after I had gone to sleep.
Saturday and Sunday consisted of free riding both days. Great weather Saturday warranted park riding in the morning followed by a BBQ at the Raven accommodation. The BBQ had its moments, the most interesting of which involved various drinking games and a bottle of EXTREMELY HOT, hot sauce that Luke had acquired in Los Angeles. Its dark brown appearance fooled the lot of us. Many of the hot sauce’s victims woke up with tingling tongues the following morning. On Sunday, Brent and I took the morning to film in the park, working on a bunch of different tricks. The afternoon consisted of multiple failed attempts at the road gap we successfully built. Sadly, the run in is at this point, flawed in that we do not go fast enough to clear the road. You could imagine the implications behind this issue (we have video proof). With sore legs, I watched Sunday night slowly trickle away, and with its closing, brand new week sure to carry tons of new and exiting experiences was ushered in.
TJ