Down a Slippery Slope

As soon as I heard we were going to Salt Lake City (or rather, in the area), the first thing that popped into my head is SNOWBOARD!

Seeing that I’ve never snowboarded in my life, it seemed best to take a lesson first. Right nearby the Hyatt Escala resort that we stayed at, is a school called Canyon Resort. There, I opted for the full day beginners lesson that lasted from 9:30am – 3pm, and includes lunch.

I was so excited for the lesson, I rushed out of the amazing Hyatt restaurant breakfast after a few bites to make sure I made it on time (I ended up being 45 minutes early!!).

First thing was to get rental equipments. I picked up snowboarding boots (SO weird to walk in them, but at the end of the day, they felt so much like an extension of yourself), my board with crazy bumblebee print, and then helmet. I had to separately rent the goggles, but ended up being persuaded to purchase a new pair for $40 instead. I guess renting would have been the same amount, plus rented pairs normally are all scratched up. In any case, I’m now invested!

Once we got all that sorted out, we were put into our groups. Oddly enough, there were plenty of people who were taking skiing lessons, but hardly anyone taking snowboarding! I ended up being in a group with just one other girl. Love it!

Our instructor was super nice. She made sure that our boards fit us comfortably before doing anything else.

We then headed to the mini slope area where all the beginners start off to get used to our gear. This was the toughest part of the day because apparently, snowboards works the worst in flat areas. I was seriously struggling in this part, and thought the day would be SO tough if I couldn’t even master the first stage of the class!

Riding on the Magic Carpet, woot! Kind of a scary feat, and I think snowboarders have it harder than skiiers on these things.

Lunch break at the Red Pine Lodge. Treated myself to chili and fries, yum.

After lunch, we headed to the real slopes. But at that point, Joseph, who had been taking all the photos of me, had to stay at the lodge so there were no photos of me actually going down the slopes.

I will say though, that going down the mountain in a real decline is a LOT easier than a kiddie slope with hardly any. I fell on my butt quite a bit, but they were never extravagant and I was in control most of the time. My instructor was super patient with us and gave lots of good tips on handling the sport as a beginner. However, not all instructors in the facility was as great as her. I overheard one instructor losing his temper at a young teenager a few times down the slope, and let’s just say I was glad to not have been his student.

Snowboarding is nothing like I’ve ever done. I am so glad that this opportunity came for me to try it. I literally dreamt about snowboarding for a few days afterwards, I was that energized about it! I don’t know when I’d get a chance to snowboard again, but I’ll take it whenever I can.

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