I was very surprised by how much the altitude affected me. This was by far the highest I’d ever been. Still, I wasn’t going to let complete physical debilitation prevent me from enjoying at least one run down on my snowboard.
Making the event more interesting was that I’ve never been snowboarding before, nor have I ever tried skiing. If I’d been feeling better I might have had time for lessons (well, that, and if I hadn’t been mule-headed) but instead I fearlessly went up with no training whatsoever. I did manage to make it off the lift without falling; after gliding to a smooth stop and snapping my other foot into the board, I managed to immediately fall on my butt. And continued to fall every few feet as I went down the mountain.
Even so, I had fun, because I was doing about as well as I expected. By the time I got to the bottom I felt like I was starting to get the hang of toe-side turning, just a little bit, so I definitely think I’m going to try this again.
By the time I did make it to the bottom, though, I was exhausted, and I stood there for a long time catching my breath. Long enough that my friends came and went several times as they enjoyed the slopes and fast lift passes. At one point Ethan stopped by, and I offer this photo as evidence that I at least used my snowboard enough to get it covered in snow. (Thanks Jenn for snapping this photo.)
