Snowboarding so far for 07/08

This snowboarding season has been great so far. We have gone up to Mt.Hood almost every weekend. We even go a few extra days in on the Holidays! At first the season started off slow. MHM (Mount Hood Meadows) opened on November 23rd with the lightest base of snow ever. Just 17inches. They had the snow makers going 24/7 and had staff pushing snow off the parking lot and edges of the trails to cover the bald spots where the ground was showing. We were all wondering exactly how the winter was going to recover since from what I understand the snow pack starts building a lot sooner than it did.

...But suddenly we got hit with a huge snowstorm. By the next week we had feet of now powder. Since then the storms have not stopped. Every weekend we go up there are several feet of new snow! Needless to say we have been having a lot of fun.

Snowboarding in powder is great but really different. Of course its smoother and gives you a lot more control, but you also have to change the way you ride a little. You also have to make sure you don't stop on any flat spots cause you end up getting "powder stuck". Your board stops and then you start to sink. Its very hard to get up and out of it. Thats a problem skiers don't really have since they can just walk through it. I got stuck in waste deep powder that 2nd weekend and it took all my energy to get out of it. I had to lay on top of my snowboard and paddle out like I was on a surf board. Since then I make it a point to have enough speed to make it through any flat area!

Marni is becoming a real pro. She went from falling down all the time last year to falling down once in a while. Now she is finding longer and steeper hills to slide down and getting better with every trip. It wont be long till she is slipping down some black diamond runs with the best of them.

I'm getting a little better myself. Still trying to work out the jumps. I really wanna fly through the air like a bird and I am almost there. I have been learning how to "drop" of hills/small cliffs, and been getting good at hitting natural jumps straight on. Its a lot of fun when everything goes just right. A little painful when they don't but no worries. You gotta take a knocks to get better.

This photo of Marni and I was taken New Years Day 2008. We try to take a new one every year. At this point I have so many photos of MHM and our snowboarding trips I don't know what ones to post. I may have to stop taking so many and focus on some video. But for now I will post a few more, then later I will put what I have for video up on my YouTube account. One last thing... Sadly I broke my new Rome Design Snowboard. Snapped the front of it going into a dip. I ended up having to walk about a mile and a half back to the lodge that day... Through the snow... That sucked. I am still waiting to see if they will be cool and replace it under warranty. Seems like it broke pretty evenly along the die cut of the base. Fingers crossed. Remember you can click on any of the photos for a full view!