In the beginning...

These first few posts are actually pre-dated, having been written after I first took up snowboarding, but I thought I would date them as and when things happened to make things appear in the correct order!

So, a little bit of background, it was over Christmas 2008 that my friend H had suggested a snowboarding holiday with some friends. It was something I'd always wanted to do but never had done and at the age of 33 I was very much in the "can't teach an old dog new tricks" camp so had to decline (especially as they were going within a month so no time to learn).

H's response was that a month was plenty of time to learn, and that it was an experience not to be missed and a top laugh - and so my journey began!

By the 5th Jan we were booked, 1 week in Les Deux Alpes on the 24th Jan - less than 3 weeks to go!

I had my first lesson that night, 2 hours at the snowdome in Tamworth. It went really well, I first learnt to balance whilst heading down the slope on both toe & heel edges (imagine standing on a slope with your board lying across the slope rather than up/down it - heel edge is when you are facing down the slope & so digging your heels in to control yourself, toe edge is when you are facing up the slope and digging your toes in to control yourself. Digging your heels/toes in acts like applying a brake, the harder you push the slower you go)

We then learnt to do "falling leaf" which is basically the same, coming down on toe or heel edge, whilst moving side to side in a "falling leaf" motion.

It was a lot of fun, I fell over a couple of times but in a controlled manner to prevent myself shooting off down the slope at speed.

The next day I became a member of the snowdome, it was money well spent as it meant I got a third off my future lessons, also a load of vouchers for guests and drinks and stuff.

Now all I had to do were a few more lessons & pass my finisher which meant I was allowed on the slope unsupervised!