Everybody's Goin' Surfin'

My snowboarding "student" took a surfing lesson while in Hawaii.

While I was not able to make the trip, the home video shows that there is reason to hope for the next snowboarding season. Not having surfed, I can't compare surfing with snowboarding. Still, it would seem that having the ability to balance on one would be a good sign of being able to balance on the other.

In fact, some of the best surfers are snowboarders. Some day I'll post excerpts of an article to that effect.

Blue Can Be Easier Than Green

Sometimes the more difficult terrain is actually easier to ride.

Consider this: on a green trail, you will have new skiers and riders, whom you will have to dodge. Whether it's the child skiing in the permanent snowplow wedge, the parent skiing behind a small child with a harness, or the adult learning to ride or ski, a green trail can present an undesirable obstacle course. And of course good manners would dictate that you keep far, far away from such people.

Green trails can also be the place where the unthoughtful and rude seek an unofficial racing course, endangering everyone in their path--including you.

Riding a green trail can also hinder your learning progression. If you are working on carving turns, you may find that a green slope doesn't give you sufficient speed to make a proper turn.

And finally, a green trail can present a problem for riders if it gets too flat. Skiers have poles to bail themselves out. Riders have only trouble at that point.

So after some warm-up runs on the green routes, you may find yourself having an easier time of it on the blues.

Where's Mom?

Anyone who has children or, well, has been a child, know that after a certain age, children wouldn't be caught dead in public with their parents. Perhaps that's one reason why I don't see too many parent-child pairs out on snowboards.

When I do see a parent with a child, both on a snowboard, it's usually the dad. There's been only one time that I can remember seeing a mother and child together.

No theories at the moment. Just noticing.