A Big Box O’Fun

My freestyle repertoire is rather small. But recently, I added to it.

I’ve had my eye on trying some boxes. These are rectangular items in the snow, in a terrain park, upon which you slide on and then off.

There are three things that scare me away. One is how to get on the box. Often, there’s a small ramp of snow up to the start of the box, except that the ramp may have a gap, so that you have to do a little jump onto the box.

The second concern is what to do on the box. Will I fall off? If so, will that hurt?

The third concern is how to leave the box when the time comes. Will the drop-off be too far? Will I land improperly and thus fall?

Well, I was going through a terrain park of small features, and saw the perfect box. It was low to the ground. There was no huge drop-off at the end, and it seemed to be nearly flush with the snow at the beginning.

The most enticing part of the feature? This wasn’t just a standard box, which is perhaps a foot wide. This box was the size of a small car.

Not exactly, but it was about 4 feet wide. So in other words, slide on, and there’s no chance that you’re going to slide off to the side. Navigating this feature would require getting on the box and simply keeping the same pose: look forward; don’t bend at the waist; and bend at the knees. With that huge margin of error, I could do that.

So on a second look at the box, I get closer scrub off some speed. Then I do my best freestyle competition imitation, and head straight down the fall line, onto the box.

I slide on. I slide off. Yipee!

It’s nothing great in the history of freestyle, but it’s enjoyable and encouraging to add a few new skills to the toolbox.

Maybe the soft snow of Spring will invite further experimentation.