For me, who has been ski-ing for 30 years, snowboarding is a curious phenomenon. I’ve seen ski-ing fads come and go – mono ski-ing to name just one. In Europe it seemed initially to be a generational thing, particularly embraced by brash French teenagers who took pleasure in harassing skiers and turning the slopes to sheet ice. When the trend seemed to be staying, I felt I should at least try snowboarding before turning old before my time and condemning ‘the youth of today’. A ski-ing holiday in Canada, with just my partner, seemed a secretive place to try our hand with a 3-Day Learn to Snowboard package.
I could argue the conditions weren’t right. We managed to coincide our lessons with the coldest part of our 2 weeks in Banff, minus 37C, with practically all parts of my body in regular contact with the snowy slopes. Nor did our instructor rate our equipment. We both were told to get our boards re-waxed after the first lesson – at one point I was standing on a reasonable slope just glued to the spot with the instructor struggling to shove me along! And with small, narrow, feet I found myself swimming around in well worn hired boots.
In spite of the cold, and less than ideal equipment, Banff was a great place to learn to snowboard. The instruction was excellent, the slopes were quiet, and above all snowboarders are not looked down upon as they are in Europe. Only one guy had a ‘bloody snowboarders’ moan at me as I sat recovering from a fall in the middle of a slope – and he was British. We had a couple of hours instruction in the morning, and left to practice in the afternoon.
Conditions aside, I just didn’t get on with snowboarding. In spite of good balance, and being accustomed to a barrage of knocks and blows through playing Women’s Rugby, I just couldn’t seem to stay on my feet, suffering a heavy fall every time I felt I was getting anywhere. Being a reasonable skier, I possibly found it soul destroying to be falling over so regularly. My partner, who was not so confident on skis took to snowboarding like a duck to water, although possibly due to a skateboarding youth. After 3 days I’d had enough. I was black and blue, and had to be helped in and out of the bath! Deep down however there is something about the rare surfing sensations I experienced that tempts me to try again.