Snowboarding-Mt. Baldy

           

           The first step in crossing “land a jump on a snowboard” off the B.L.L. was to bring our new gear (purchased dirt cheap at the Sport Chalet Labor Day Sale) to the mountain and try it out. Well, actually, the first step was to buy shady, but also dirt cheap, lift tickets off of craigslist. The next step was to haul the gear and shady lift tickets up to Mt. Baldy and pretend like we belonged there, shady lift tickets and all.

            We were a little concerned about going to Mt. Baldy because several reviews insisted that the resort was not for beginners, and we are definitely beginners. That wasn’t our experience at all. It was beautiful, clean, and fun, if a little bare bones. The lifts are definitely outdated, but they didn’t bother me. For the most part, everyone was friendly, even the guy who ran me over with his skis. Overall, I think I preferred Mt. Baldy to Mountain High.  At least I didn’t try to ride the lift back down the mountain this year. If for no other reason, Mt. Baldy wins in a comparison for me based on the lift exits alone.

THE AMAZING VIEW FROM THE TOP OF LIFT ONE

The long and the short of it, from my perspective:

Part way down the first run I was already exhausted and had pulled that muscle that runs from your ankle up the back of your calf on each side! FYI, Scott assures me that this muscle is actually called the “heel to calf muscle” in scientifically minded circles… a quick Google search was unable to back that assertion up. [EDIT: The husband finally admitted to being full of  you know what after initial posting] In any case, between my bindings, boots, and board, something wasn’t fitting or working right.

Jen’s board, on the other hand, is awesome. I know this because she was kind enough to switch boards with me so we could determine that the issue was, indeed, my gear, and not my ability.

Matt lost the toe strap on one of his bindings-bummer! But-no injuries to speak of, and I’m pretty sure that is a big improvement on his experiences last year. To be honest, I rarely see Matt on the mountain, except in a blur as he passes me several times during the day. I’m guessing that means he is progressing well though and I didn’t hear any major complaints about the gear.

Katie-frankly, I’m not sure how her day was. The girl didn’t complain, or gloat, so it could have gone either way. I don’t think she was a fan of the lifts though.

The Outlook:

         So, magic eight ball, will we be able to land a jump by the end of the year? Outlook is good. Jen wants me to state that she is “amazing at snowboarding…the best you have EVER seen including Shaun White.” I’ll take a slightly more conservative approach, and just say that we both made it down slightly more advanced runs than we were trying last year, without falling, and we can now stop when we need to. If Scott could land a jump last year after one lesson, I’m pretty sure that we can manage a tame one by the end of this season. 

I’ll leave you with a question to ponder. Is hitting a REALLY icy patch, spinning in uncontrollable 360’s until you hit a pinecone, and then somersaulting backwards down the mountain BADASS or simply BAD? My neck says bad… part of me hopes it was badass.