I know you  must be at the edge of your seat wondering what befell me on the slopes last Sunday.  Well, T and I took a day trip to Mellau, Austria where we knew there would be some snow.

We had played around with his snowboard in his backyard over Christmas vacation.  That was an experience – especially with Abner chasing me down because he suddenly decided that he wanted me to hold him AND snowboard and almost getting run over in the process.

T did the honors:

And yes, I wore his boots and board (which I am quite sure is at least as tall as me, if not taller).  So you can imagine the difference I felt when I rented a board for my shorter figure.

We went to the nearby (and free) bunny hill where we worked hard on the basics – riding down, turns, and stop. It was a little annoying that the hill was so short because I burned a lot of energy just having to walk back up the damn hill again and again.  But it was the only way to keep practicing.

We worked well through lunch to take advantage of having the slope completely to ourselves as well as to push my body as much as we could before we did have lunch – just in case my legs were shot afterwards.

We had Goulash Soup for lunch – which is literally heaven in your mouth.  I will have to put up a Food Porn receipt that I have.  In the cold of winter – I have yet to taste something so goddamn delicious.

We rested for a bit (and cooled off because I was sweating like a pig)

And then we tried to see if I could even get the board back on my feet:

Turns out I could and so we kept on going for about another hour or so.  We tried to do a video (as I was actually not completely sucking at this point)

Also you may notice that I only know how to stand on a snowboard from my knees…..but I least I am able to get up on my own!!!!!

But as you can also see – I still fall a lot.  T decided that filming me was too distracting so he did photos instead:

I think I look pretty good for a very, very, very, VERY green snowboarder.  But it’s a start.

I left the slopes that day feeling sweaty, exhausted, sore for days, but immensely happy.  I found myself excited to begin the path of something fun that I can share not only with T but with other friends 🙂

I am also glad for my previous experience in attempting to conquer the slopes via skis.  That weekend totally kicked my ass six ways ’til Sunday but sometimes I need a blow to my hubris 😛

Anyway, tune in next week to hear the results of skiing with a bus load of people!

Bis Mittwoch!