For Purple Mountain Majesties

When the snow is gone and you're not going to travel to another hemisphere for riding, the inspiration to keep in shape can be hard to come by.

Last week I picked up several hundreds of dollars in inspiration from a framing shop. I had taken several pictures while riding in Colorado, and had someone else take some photos of me while riding.

I used Shutterfly to develop two of the photos into 16 by 20 inch prints, and then took them in for framing. One is of the mountain, with ski runs cut into the forest. The other photo features me sliding down the mountain, in the foreground, with the valley and more distant mountains in the background.

For now the two works hang from the wall of my basement, in front of my stair-stepper.

Is "Snowboarding Etiquette" an Oxymoron?

After playing a fine outing on the golf course, my companion for the round waxed eloquently on the virtues of golf. Not the physical aspects of it, but the social environment, the rituals of etiquette, and so forth.

His point? There's a tradition in golf the demands treating other people with respect, accepting adversity with grace, and in general being an all-around decent person. He also pointed out the widely viewed image of snowboarding as a devil-may-care, break-the-rules, and out-of-my-way activity.

So is "snowboarding etiquette" a contradiction in terms? Is there any grace in the sport, any social element to an activity that is fundamentally you and the board?

Thanks for the conversation, "Dude." You've given me something to add to my list of things to think about during the off season.

Season Passes Go on Sale

Though we've lately been afflicted with heatstroke-friendly weather, winter's coming! Yesterday's mail brought a notice from a little ski hill down the road: season passes are now on sale.

Though Mt. Minihill is conveniently located, I've opted for a slightly larger and taller area for the upcoming season. It's more of a drive, but still worth the trouble, at least for a weekend day.

Still, the news from Mt. Minihill is an encouraging reminder that even when it's too hot and humid to enjoy a round of golf, snowboarding season will arrive in time.