Hello everyone,
Here’s a treat, I’m not going to talk about the Tram, Challenger, Dakota or any of my favorite spots on the hill, rather, I was visited by the entire family for our delayed Christmas exchange celebration. My brothers are very accomplished snowboarders, but there was a girlfriend and a friend who had never snowboarded and a nine year old nephew still getting the hang of skis.
This was Saturday and the sun was shining brightly which simply added to the new experience for our new soon to be snowboarders.
We started by going through the rental shops to get all the appropriate gear, the crews at the ski rental and snowboard rental were really helpful, Kyle’s got a great team in there. We had hopes of lining up for a group lesson (which is how all beginning snowboarders should learn the sport, rather than from their significant others), but the crew just missed the 9 a.m. roll call by about two hours and so we were on our own for the first magic carpet ride.
Eva the friend and Jen the girlfriend were doing great with less than professional instruction. They easily loaded the carpet, got to the top, strapped in and after a few missteps were actually getting both getting solid heel-side turns. Xander, the nephew wasted no time and probably had three laps on the first carpet while we were working with the beginners.
It didn’t take long and the team was ready for something more challenging, the bigger, 500 foot carpet. We loaded up and spun a couple of laps on the easy terrain that was still nice and smooth from the groomers. I’ll be honest, as much fun as it was watching the team get their snow legs, I snuck a couple of laps in the Family Fun Zone terrain park, which is right there from the carpet, the terrain might be flat, but with their features I had my hands full, especially the wall slide at the bottom.
By now Xander was ready for something bigger and we loaded up Swift Current for a ride down Magic Carpet. I’ve mentioned the new improvement on the Jay Walk before with the wider lane with a more sustained pitch, but truly today was the day it really paid off.
Mr. K is the ideal run to improve your skills, it is groomed every night, it is wide and has just enough rollers to keep the beginners moving.
Following the excitement on the hill, all eyes shifted to the always popular Dummy Jump. This year I was a spectator with my mom as Chad handled all the details and Brandon provided the entertainment on the mic. It was a great day for all and I’ll rank it as my most interesting day on the season following all the powder I’ve been getting.
We’ll see you out there,
Dax
