We got a coupon book from Mr. Tux when we signed up for them to provide our tuxedos for our wedding. The coupon book is great! We used a coupon for a free "Learn To Turn" package for both of us. The package included free rentals, a free lesson, and a free lift ticket for the lower mountain. We didn't pay a dime for the whole day!
Originally I was thinking of bringing my skis and using the coupon for an entire mountain lift ticket while Jodie did her lessons, but then I thought this was the perfect opportunity to try snowboarding. I'm really glad I decided to go the snowboarding route. It made it so Jodie and I were on the same level. It was her first time skiing and my first time snowboarding, so we were quite content to stay on the lower mountain. In fact we didn't progress to the chair lift until around 2:00 pm. We were in lessons in the morning, and then still needed to work on a few things using the "magic carpet" lift before trying the chair. Apparently, the days of rope tows and "J" or "T" bars are gone, and these conveyer belt things are the standard "bunny slope" lift.
I didn't really know what to expect from snowboarding. Part of me thought I'd pick it up pretty easily because I've skied before and I'm generally pretty good at picking up things like this. But, another part of me feared I'd be quite bad because I'd never skateboarded in my life (the few times I tried to even stand on a board went very badly) and a lot of people compare snowboarding to skateboarding. At the beginning of my lesson, I struggled quite a bit. Though I was one of the better people in the class, I was still struggling to go straight for a few feet and make one turn. By the end of the 1.5 hour lesson, I could occasionally link two turns together.There were a couple things I found very surprising about snowboarding. I was surprised to hear the rider is supposed to weight the front foot heavily, when intuitively I would have thought, and my body seemed to agree, the rider would want to weight the rear foot more. I also was surprised to find out I ride "goofy", meaning with my right foot forward. I had heard the term "goofy" before, but I had always assumed riding with the left foot forward was "goofy". There are a couple questions they ask a first time snowboarder to help them decide which foot should be forward. First, what foot do you kick a soccer ball with, and second, if you ran and then slid on a slippery surface, which foot would you put first. I definitely do both those things with my right foot. It is quite surprising to me that most people don't, especially since most people are right handed and so am I.
After a lunch break, Jodie and I stayed together somewhat and used the "magic carpet" for awhile. When the 1:00 pm snowboarding classes invaded the slope, there really wasn't much room to practice. Even though I was still struggling a lot, and falling regularly, I suggested to Jodie that we take the Monadnock Chair lift up. She agreed with a little convincing. I figured the trail was a green circle, so it would just be a lot more of what we had been doing already. I was right, for me, it was a lot more falling.
By the end of the day, I was feeling quite beat up from the repeated falling, but I was doing pretty well linking my toe-side and heel-side turns together. I was finally able to ride down the slope in a reasonable fashion.
Jodie did amazingly well. She had vowed never to try downhill skiing, especially after getting a small taste of downhill on some cross country ski trails. Thanks to this coupon, I was able to convince her to give it a try, and she did great! And liked it! Jodie has a difficult time when she's not in full control, and sliding downhill definitely fits in that category. Once she learned to turn and stop, she could control herself to her likening. She also is afraid of falling down. Who would have thought, but that made her learn much more quickly because she really didn't want to fall. She actually made it through the whole day without falling, which must be a record for a first timer. Though, it might have been nice for her to fall a couple times just to realize it's not that bad. Trust me, I can attest to that!Summary:
Number of falls for Jodie: 0
Number of runs without a fall for Pat: 1
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