Snowboarding: Snow Valley

Logan tossed a sippy cup of milk on the floor, it rolled under the seat, and was forgotten. Sealed tight, the milk could have been there for a month. Then, it rolled back out from under the seat, a sunny day built pressure inside of the cup, and KABAM--putrid milk explosion in the Jeep a few days before a planned three hour drive to the mountains. Scott swore to me the smell was out. He scrubbed, and scrubbed, and was confident the Jeep was safe. Here's the thing, though: I have a habit of sticking poor Matt into moldy smelling cars. Just Matt. Not sure why. So, when Matt climbed into putrid milk car, we should have known the smell was going to come back with a vengeance. Within five minutes, the smell attacked, and we drove from San Diego to Snow Valley with the windows down. Unfortunately, Jen, who needed the window open the most, was stuck on the side of the Jeep with the broken window. Somehow, we arrived at Snow Valley in one piece.

When we stepped out of the car, we were hit by a wall of heat. It was unusually warm and we quickly realized we would be snowboarding sans jackets. The snow was slushy, but my heel-side turns were looking nice right out of the gate. Then... in typical fashion, I forgot to get off of the lift. I just didn't stand up in time and when I realized I was about to ride back down the hill, I flung myself off the lift and onto the ground. Obviously, I was prepared to jump! Snow Valley has a great beginner area for practicing jumps, and we headed over to that side of the lower mountain. 

So.... when we wrote "land a jump on a snowboard" on the B.L.L. list, we didn't specify what constitutes landing a jump. That, my friends, is good news for me. After several attempts, I managed to throw myself into the air, getting a lot of height, but consistently "landing" my jumps on my back and sliding down the hill on my butt. Jen, on the other hand, managed this little beauty before we left for the day.

Scott's day ended early when another boarder took him out on the hill. The guy hit a jump without checking the bottom, saw another guy under the jump at the last minute, flung himself to the left to avoid the guy on the ground, and hit Scott squarely in the back of the knees. As if in slow motion, Scott crumpled backwards onto the snow. I've never seen a takedown quite like this one on the mountain. Scott, sporting black and blue legs, decided to hang in the Jeep for the rest of the day. That, unfortunately, seems to be a developing trend in our adventures.

After a while on the practice hill, I wanted to head up higher and work on linking my turns. I love that instructor in Minnesota because I am officially able to board well on both my heels and my toes, can now link my turns, and rarely fall unless I intend to. Snowboarding is so much easier when you can use both edges of the board. 

Oh, and on the way home I got stuck in the stinky seat. After nearly vomiting for three hours, you better believe I found a way to get rid of that smell as soon as we got home.