I didn’t grow up on the mountains, in fact, this gal grew up in the ultra flat Midwestern USA prairies of Iowa. That isn’t to say I didn’t crave learning to snowboard and tearing up the slopes and park when I was younger. Unfortunately, the opportunity to learn didn’t arise until I was 29, moving to New Hampshire, When my boyfriend brought up the idea of learning to snowboard, I was NOT going to say no. I struggled greatly at first, but kept getting back up. The past three seasons I have gone almost every weekend if not multiple times in a weekend to the mountains, building from the basics and was FINALLY able to hit my first double black diamond run at Sugarloaf this season. Not just surviving it, but actually being able to handle it well and have a BUNCH of fun.
To me, snowboarding is a way to get out into nature. I grew up always spending time outside as much as possible, whether that be on hikes, playing sports, or just chilling. The winter was always a rough time since those things were harder to do and I hated feeling cramped up and bored inside for 4 to 5 months of the year. Snowboarding ended that loathing of winter and it has now become my favorite season of the year. If I’m not working, sleeping, or snowboarding, I’m thinking of snowboarding or watching videos on skills to work on next. Scratch that, that happens a lot at work too… My goal is to continue getting better and honing those skills, learning new tricks and just all around having a blast on the mountain with friends.
Speaking of friends, that’s the other big thing for me on the mountain. I enjoyed snowboarding so much with my boyfriend that we actually were able to get a good number of friends either back into skiing/snowboarding or getting them into it for the first time. I love trying to help them streamline the learning process since I learned on my own, giving them helpful tips and seeing them get up to the level I currently am at. Snowboarding/skiing now dominates our winter and I couldn’t ask for a better crew to share that experience with. Hopefully I can keep spreading the joys of being on the slopes like I learned to love only four years ago.