First Turns of the Season

As a kid, you waited and waited for Christmas, didn’t you? As you grow older, that sense of anticipation may be replaced with the wait for your first turns on the snow. Happily, I didn’t have to wait until Christmas.

Today I made my first turns, though this is probably the latest that I’ve ever had to wait in a season. The problem hasn’t been the snow, but a variety of work and family issues, as well as the fact that the local hills started their season later than they have in some other years.

A snowfall last night, combined with bluebird skis, got me in the mood to make a quick run, even if it was on skis.

Skis?

Yes, skis. I haven’t yet retrieved my board from the shop, where I had to take it after some of the fastening hardware had worked itself loose. Besides, my one-day excursion on skis last year convinced me that I didn’t want to lose the ability to
ski.

Ski boots vs. Snowboard boots
Once I got to the parking lot of the ski area, I realized, once again, that there are trade-offs no matter what you put on your feet. I like being able to tighten down my ski boots, but hate how heavy they are.

Snowboard boots are much more walkable than ski boots, but the distance from my car to the base area was short, so I opted to change in the parking lot. Doing that was actually easier than carrying the boots–they’re bulking and 8 pounds each–to the lodge and changing there.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Poles
I must have looked fairly odd, since I was sporting my year-old Obermeyer jacket and toting 30-year old cross-country skis with orange-sized baskets. To make me look further out of place, the poles are all knotty and made out of bamboo, looking like you’d use them for an old-school fishing day. Never mind, at least they have straps. (My regular ski poles have detachable straps, which have disappeared somewhere into the clothing black hole.)

Though snowboarders, lacking poles, can get into trouble in the flats, they’re sometimes better off in the lift line without them. On skis, you’re pretty much at the mercy of your poles to get you up to the starting line. But if the snow near the lift is as hard as ice–as it was today–poles may not be as helpful as a free foot that the snowboarder uses to skate with.

Ice skating and Skiing
So how did I do skiing? It was a bit rough. For the first half of my 90 minutes, my preferred method of starting a turn was to go back to the wedge. Only later did I start moving towards making direct-to-parallel turns.

The experience made me think that skating (ice, in-line, or otherwise) is good practice for skiing. Of course, it doesn’t help at all with snowboarding.

Anyway, after I was done, I called the shop. My board is ready. Next time out, it’s back to snowboarding for most of the season. But regardless of what equipment is on my feet, it’s great to be on the snow.