I have spent a good amount of time the last couple of days either eating powder or tumbling down the mountain, and the excitement had to be measured on a logarithmic scale.

Wednesday I talked to Keith and he said that he was going skiing with a bunch of friends Thursday through Friday, and I was welcome to tag along, and so I called Collin (a kid I know from Wyoming) to see if he was interested. Keith was planning to go to the town, spend the night, ski, sleep, ski and come back, but Collin and I decided we’d try to get there in time to hit the slopes, and then spend the night, go again, and then come back. Unfortunately, it was about 1:00 AM when we got everything together, and had to catch a 6:30 train.

Little sleep that night - too excited, and no sleep on the train. We get there around 10, get everything in order, get geared up and go for it. The night before I read an online “tutorial” on snowboarding, but that can only “prepare” you so much. I (admittedly a little recklessly) ignored the tutorials suggestion, and just jumped on the beginner course. A lot of wipe-outs, goggles and hat flying everywhere, but I figured the best way to learn is try it, do your best, and get my hindquarters handed to me by the mountain.

By the end of the day, I was going down the intermediate run (very slowly and wiping out a lot), but I was enjoying myself. We got some food and checked into the hotel. Speaking of which, the room we got was enormous and way way better than our apartments. Also, very Japanese.

Second day, and lots of Tylenol and Ibuprofen later, we get on the mountain just as they open, and I’m starting to go a lot faster, and catching about 1/8 the number of edges as I was the day before. Go up to the very top (all intermediate runs), and the view is spectacular. Almost as beautiful as the Rockies, but not quite.

We had to stop around 3:30 to get our rentals in and catch the last bus at 4. We get home around 7, and I stuffed my face, went to bed, and then when I woke up, all my joints had turned to bone.

Will I do it again? Absolutely. As much and as often as my body can afford.