Adventures of Melbosa the Snowboarder

[Melbosa]

Hey guys, I'm back.



Spent a week in Banff, trying to relax and take a breather from the soap that is my normal life.



Left Sunday, April 2nd, to stay in the Banff Rocky Mountain Resort, which I fully recommend to anyone planning to stay there.  I know both Lazy and Mr. A have been there before, about 9 years back.  Spent the beginning of the week lazying around, walking Banff, checking out Canmore, and taking some hiking in.



Wednesday went to check out Norquay hill (right in Banff), to see what time their night ski is, turns out its only Jan-Mar, and its the lowest hill around, so thought we'd skip that one (was only going for the night ski anyways).



Before I get into the actual snowboarding, thought you guys should know I haven't done this in about 15 years, so was really rusty.



Thursday we headed out to Nakiska (the one they built for the olympics in Calgary).  About 150 people on the hills so that was really nice.  Rained down at the base, but snowed pretty much the rest of the hill.  Being that we couldn't find the actual Greens (they are a bit hidden on that hill), we headed up the Blues.  Well the three boarders (myself, one guy that never did it before, and one that was just a bit above bigger) foudn that maybe we needed some lessons to get back into this "snowboarding" thing.  $33/person wasn't too bad, so we took it.  Great instructors on that hill.  Very patient and easy to learn from - a side note:  Snowboarding is easier on the legs I find, and easier to stay on the hill for longer durations than Skiing, but a lot harder to learn for anyone willing to try it.



So yeah, here we are all finished our training and gearing to go... so we started on the greens, working our new found knowledge.  By the end of about 4 runs, was back into th egrove.  No longer needing my hands to lead my direction, no longer needing my upper body to focus my lower on actions (might not make any sense, unless you've boarded before).  So thought I would take one more run, by myself, at a screaming speed - now that I have my grove back, stoping and such is no big deal.



So here I am, coming down the run, and I hear a yelp from my right.  Coming right for me is a skier off a blue run, not slowing down, screaming "Look out!".  I spin on my heals of my follow leg, and toe slid to stop, as he almost clips my right arm.  I had a lot of momentum, and was heading for the tree line, so I pivotted on my lead leg to turn and move into a heal slide.... well that didn't go as well as planned.  Went down on my right, trying to tuck in my arm fast enough.  Not fast enough actually, as my elbow hit the snow, jammed hard into my ribs, and popped my shoulder out of it's socket (which as some of you know isn't the newest thing for me - shoulder I mean).



Before you ask, no broken ribs, but did take me out of the running for the rest of the trip.  Damn skier never stopped or apologized either.  Just keep going.  I ended up in the emergency room Saturday night to make sure everything was ok as I had a 4+ hour trip back on Sunday with a chest that was stiff and sore - wanted to see if there wasn't anything serious before that trip.



The rest of the gang hit Lake Louise Friday.  Said the hill had about 300 people on it, but some real jerks.  Then they hit Sunshine Saturday, which was about only 450 people, and said it was a blast.  Course this really bummed me out, cause all I could do was stay in the room and watch/play xbox (which would have been a lot cheaper at home to do) on the tv.



So yeah, that was my week.  On the flip side, got a great deal on a HH Spring Ski jacket, took a trip up the Ghondola at Banff, and picked up a T-Shirt at Saan store in Canmore (lame I know, but I have to try and make this trip feel worth while).



Worst part?  $117 Snowboard rental that I only got 5 runs out of (was rented here in the city for 3 days of boarding).

[Lazybones]

Bummer man... Well at least you got some sort of BREAK from work.. although not the good kind.  :wink:

[Ustauk]

I hope this doesn't undo the physio you've had to fix your elbow