First few days snowboarding on Stratton Mountain

Adil Latif | Snowboarding- Training to compete | ON 20th December 2008 | 0 comments

Our first day on the mountain I was still sore from the splitboarding, and it had been a year and a half since I had last been on a snowboard. We traveled up the gondola to the top of the mountain. As soon as we got off we were battered by wind and snow and it felt like a proper blizzard. I was nervous as Travis hadn’t yet seen me board and conditions like this were the worst since I would have all my senses bombarded by the weather which would make it hard for me to have a good feel and ear for the mountain. 

I strapped in with lots of difficulty. Thankfully once we descended off the summit the wind lessened and I got into my element. I surprised myself by staying upright on my board for longer than a few minutes at a time. There were stretches of the mountain where it was quite narrow and crowded with people.  Travis suggested we hold hands to begin with in such situations. As a rule I don’t really like this form of training but I bent the rules with Travis as I thought I’d be nice since it was our first day. Surprisingly it was quite a relief to hold on and I wasn’t too bothered. In fact I  even enjoyed it as it felt quite relaxing. That was up to the point we passed a few kids and one of them asked if we were a couple.  

As it happens, I’m 95% blind, Travis is 80% deaf. We were in the canteen and Travis thought he'd step outside to get some air in his lungs.  On his way out he stopped to look at me and asked if I would keep an ‘eye’ on his kit.  I looked towards him and responded by saying that I'd give him a ‘shout’ if anything went amissing and we both giggled like little girls. The woman in front of us was oblivious and a little puzzled.