Ode to myself

backflip

Yes, ode to myself. Just finished my second knee surgery and the surgeon said it was time to let go of snowboarding due to my knee conditions and bow legs. It was fun while it lasted, but also the easiest of all my hobbies to retire from. It's darn expensive, hard to get together and do with other people and my schedule, and as fun as it gets, doesn't have the replay value for me unlike at a skatepark where I can go and go and go - hit after hit. At the hill I have to wait for chairlifts and if I am lucky enough to find a jump I like it takes all day to hit it 15 times. That bothers me. That and I hate the cold. Oh well eh? Now I will save my knees for more hockey and bmx. That's a thought I enjoy.

Here's a few photos to celebrate the retirement. Self indulging loser!

Thanks to Chitaroni and Ray for the photos

Camp Fortune

Myself and Chris went up to Camp Fortune for a Sunday's worth of boarding. They let me pay as a student which was nice. Still expensive as hell though (and I didn't know it closed at 4pm). After checking out the hill and being intimidated by the other park goers, I decided to start playing on this giant hip at the base of the mountain. Nobody else was riding. A few jumps and I had some confidence back. Then I went through the park and had a good time since I wasn't too terrible. I am no snowboard guru but have seen a handful of parks and Fortune's turned out to be the best laid out and probably most enjoyable and expensive that my limited self has seen. Why do they always put the parks near the chairlifts? To embarrass the weaker riders? Or to entertain the crowd with better riders? I don't get it. It's not like a skatepark where grandma and her the whole wealthy family won't be there to watch you fail. Skateparks are perfect in that the only people there are people who can help or motivate you. Not some douche bag in a one piece that drives a leased Denali. Either way, I amped myself and started to go a lot bigger than I have in a long time. It was the perfect hip in my opinion. So much fun I stopped taking the chairlift and walked up the hill in exchange for quicker hits of the hips. Seriously, nobody was riding it. So I could have enjoyed that thing all day to myself, for free? Damn. Speaking of damn. I saw this kid loop out trying to up this barrel obstacle in the background. He looped out as his board hit the barrel, he was leaning so far back, and then as he accidentally was backflipping over it, his face came around and smashed the barrel while he was upside down. He then landed dead flat with blood pouring out of his nose. He was dazed and started to yell for help. Of course I was the only one there, and I was right at his feet. I calmed him down and took his board off. I stayed with him until ski patrol got there. Funniest thing I have seen in a while. When I realized he might have only had a broken nose, I laughed hysterically in his face. He was a good sport about. He was Asian after he hit the barrel. I am unsure if he was Asian before though.

                                                    excuse the video placement here. no idea what I am doing

myself on my favourite obstacle I have ever snowboarded (I am pretty sure I am doing a method grab?) this to me is the equivalent of a good bmx table

first ride; snowboarding

I am sure glad I was able to get back into snowboarding years after having stopped. Just weekend warrior type stuff. But still, something fun and different during the harsh winter. Something that at times feels like riding bmx, motocross, or pretend surfing. I got my first ride in the with the crippled Chitaroni and his frugal setup. Also my first time at Edelweiss. Not all the runs were open, but the conditions were great and the hill itself was enjoyable and well priced after 3pm on Sunday ($18 to ride until 9pm, not bad). That was my freshen-up ride for Tremblant this coming weekend. Should be a doozy. After having tried to film Jay on his skis with my gopro, I got motivated to find a DIY youtube video to enhance my gopro film-ability. I made a cheap and shotty monopod that should do the job. I don't want to miss Jay's tricks. He's got a deep stylish bag that I want to capture. Meanwhile life in Casselman has been feeling like Saskatoon recently. Cold. Windy. Icy. See you at Tremblant!

Captain cheap-o's GT Boutique pant belt let go. Packing tape did the job.

Just another update

Winter is awful. It's unstoppable. So I am trying to embrace it. These photos make me miss summer, but get me really excited for this winter. This year promises to be the best already. I'll make sure we have lots of photo/video on the hills and stuff. Start organizing the road trips. It's on.

get ready for Tremblant, photo by Ray of moi