Looking Back, Part 5

My flashbacks nearly complete, and I can soon go back to looking forward and writing in the present, there are still a few more incredible experiences I wrote about as 2009 gave way to a new year.  Something about doing something for the first time in your life:

Lesson in Winter # 2:  How to Snowboard and Celebrate New Year in Eastern Europe

This was about my first time ever experience on a ski slope!!!

Snow boarding.

Ahh.  Well you see, K had it in mind that I ought to try some snowboarding while the rest got on their skis, and he got on his own snowboard himself - only because during Day 1, there happened to be a spare snowboard.

We ended up renting a pair of snowboarding shoes for me.  They're these gigantic, stiff monstrosities that make you walk funny, but they are specifically built to be strong around your ankles so that they connect to the snowboard, giving you better control.

First lesson was key, it was about how to fall.  You are going to fall when you try snowboarding for the first time. Or the second time.  Falls are a part of it, so K had to teach me the basics of falling.  When you fall, fall on your butt, feet up in the air, hands close to your chest.

This was key, because I did find myself in the next two days on occasion falling on my hands, and the impact of falling, and my body weight falling on my wrists was quite painful! Ouch!

The rest was learning how to man that board, at least as basic as you can get.  First was to know how to break, which meant going on your heels, so that one side of the board would be scraping the slope, the snow, the ice, controlling your descent down the hill. 

To maneuver yourself in the direction you want simply meant pressing your weight on the right foot or the left.

I discovered by my second day of snowboarding that you, just like the skiers, have to sort of make this S-shape as you slide down the slopes, following the curves of the mountain, as the slopes curve from left to right.

Day 1 was actually okay.  We were utilizing only about 30 meters of the entire 2.5km slope, just walking up and down all afternoon trying it.  Not too demanding for a first timer who's never been on a ski slope, never done any winter sports, and never snow boarded until that day.

I was quite elated, and excited that I tried it, and managed thirty meters.  By my last ride down that tiny sliver of slope, I didn't even fall once :) 

It was not until Day 3 of our trip (Day 2 was spent at this magical thermal spa in Porprad),  that I nearly killed myself on the slopes of Tatransky Lomnica.  This time, P and I got a full pass at the slopes, which meant we had access to all 2.5 km of the mountain, as often as we liked.

Erm. Not good for a new snowboarder.

Attempted the ski lift.  Was terrified. Of everything. 

The heights, the freezing cold, my snowboard strapped to one foot, and bracing myself for the landing that took ages to come.

By the end of that afternoon we did discover that that slope at the very top was a more advanced slope - for the  ... well - advanced.  Not for beginners.  However, P kept insisting on playing Marine Colonel with me, and we actually traversed that difficult slope three times together.  The drops were steep, and just getting off the ski lift was designed so that you actually skate gracefully off the lift and straight down the slope.

Not I.  I couldn't maneuver myself at all, and each time I tried I fell flat on my face, at the risk of the next skiers arriving behind me hitting me.

There was also something about the weather conditions that didn't make this high slope the best one that day - there were many parts of the mountain that were of ice, rather than snow.  I found myself falling on this hard ice countless times that day, and it was so, so, so painful I could barely bring myself to get up and finish the slope.  By the third try, I was so terrified I was nearly paralyzed with fear, but I kept going, just to finish the 800 meter advanced slope.

By the time we got to the bottom, my nerves were shot, and I had to sit down and asked to P to go on without me for the next one.

After a 15-20 minute break, still sort of shaken, I braced myself and prepared for another ride.  I was relieved when P suggested we try the lower slopes, which were 1.7km long, but were less steep, they were for beginners.  The first drop for me was difficult, as the basic slope intersected with a difficult drop that I nearly fell into, I was so scared, and had such trouble controlling my board towards the left to avoid the steep, 35 degree angle drop, that I took of my snowboard and went on foot for 8 meters just to avoid that scary drop.

The rest was actually fine!!!

By then, it was already getting late, and we only managed to get through the basic slope twice that day.  But it was better, and it was a good way to end my second day of snowboarding.

I was a beginner after all, and a beginner's slope was really ideal for me.  On my second day, I was only beginning to learn to master the board, learning how it worked.  On baby slopes that were sometimes nearly flat they were almost like plains, I felt I finally had control of my snowboard:  when to break, when to make an S shape to the left, when to allow my board to go to the right, as you follow the shapes of slope.  It was good.

Ahh what a relief.

Day 1 was the last day of 2009, and what a great way to cap off my last day in 2009 by doing something I'd never done before:  Snowboarding.

And that's about where my story ends, and what a pleasure it's been recounting my impressions of the first few days of 2010, with all the experiences I went through. 

It has felt like quite a special way to greet the onset of a new decade, because I had done several things I had never before done in my life during this New Year's weekend.  I had gone and stretched my limits, stepped outside of my comfort zone by going snow boarding, stepping into a thermal spa with my head exposed to temperatures close to freezing point, partied with 23 Polish people, and traveled to the Slovak Republic.

What an interesting way to kick off 2010.

By Day 4, Sunday, third day of January, it was time to head home to Prague and bid farewell to cozy Poprad.

Happy New Year, everybody!


Here's to Doing Something For The First Time.