Boarding is only half the fun

My slaves, I mean pupils. Here's a video of Christine falling off the chairlift.

Hand slapping drinking game

Punishments for losing included taking vodka shots outside

More pictures and videos

Frankly, after conquering Blue Mountain on snowboard, and still going up every week, I'm pretty bored with the mountain. I've been to Blue over 30 times in 3 years and I've long since memorized all the trails. I'm still working on my confidence on the board and going faster as well as doing some small jumps and riding switch, but when I go to Blue now, it's all about the socializing and relaxing aspect. I have no need to rush and try to do every run on the mountain every time b/c all the runs are the same and I go all the time. I'd rather ride greens and blues with good company, take nice leisurely breaks, and take it easy.

I went up on Friday with the club and if it wasn't for the fact that this was the weekend trip with the DVD crew (beach volleyball people), I probably wouldn't have gone. It had snowed/freezing rained the night before and it was a mess outside. It was warm and the snow was melting and there were huge puddles in intersections and it was just miserable walking to the bus. I had anticipated that the road conditions were going to be crap and it was going to take us 3 or 4 hours to get there, it was going to rain on the slopes, and it was going to be all slushy, but surprisingly, we got there pretty quick (~2 hours 15 min.), the sun came out, and the snow conditions were bearable. There weren't many people on the bus, I think only 15, and most people generally do their own thing. Erik and a friend of his came on the bus from the Friday bus, so I rode with them and Serena who I met during the whole "bus didn't come back" fiasco. Erik and I joked that we're the first graduating class of the club, as we learnt how to board through the club last year :)

At 4, I grabbed my stuff from the bus and took the shuttle to the North side of the mountain and then proceeded to walk with all my gear and bags ~1.25 km to the chalet that we rented. That was a fun walk, especially in my snowboarding boots as I was too lazy to change into my regular boots and carry them. I think I can attribute the popped blister on the back of my left Achilles tendon to that walk.

I was the first to arrive after Son and Dawn, who were organizing the trip. I showered and took a nap in one of the bunks. I didn't bring sheets, so I just wrapped myself in the provided comforter like a sleeping bag.

The rest of the people slowly arrived. Christine and Hannah left at 4:30 and got to the chalet at 8:30. In comparison, Vic left at about the same time, but got there at about 6:30. They claimed to have done some errands in town during that time, but they did call us to ask for directions. We ended up with 13 the first night and between 10 double beds in 8 rooms (there were 2 bunk beds, and both the top and bottom bunks were doubles, which was strange), we fit everyone comfortably. The couples (incl. some girl-on-girl action) coupled up and the singles got their own beds. A few people couldn't make it b/c their flights into Toronto were canceled b/c of the weather and Michelle's parents didn't want her going up on Friday b/c of the roads, which was an unnecessary worry since the roads were actually pretty good. The night consisted of Swiss Chalet, poker, uno, and xbox (who knew the original xbox could be modded to play emulated games!). A few of us didn't see the bedrooms until past 5 am.

Saturday was boarding day. My 5x7 season pass doesn't cover the day during the weekends, so I had to pay, which sucked, but whatever. Most hit the slopes around 9, but I slept in and b/c of the late night, started at noon instead. I spent pretty much the entire day on the bunny hills teaching "banana nut muffin" (Hannah, Christine, and Michelle) to board. This was an interesting experiment, as the first time I ever touched a snowboard was just over a year ago and even then, I just got 2 short informal lessons. I'm not sure if I'm doing things right or not, and I'm not sure how to really teach it, but things went decent. Others helped as well and everyone was getting tips from everyone :). All 3 of them made really good progress! By the end of the day, all 3 were able to do both heel and toe turns and could string some of the turns together! That's pretty amazing for pretty much their first time out. Michelle was even able to make it down the whole (second bunny) slope doing turns the whole way without falling!

Christine had bought a board (and coat) right before the trip b/c her Dad boards and she figured that she would pick it up so that she could go with him. In an extremely impulsive mood, probably highly influenced by peer pressure, both Hannah and Michelle bought boards the next day on the way home! That was pretty crazy! They're thinking of going again on Friday.

That night, our numbers inflated to something like 20, and consisted of dinner made from all the random food people brought, beer, wine, poker, xbox, phase 10, uno, drinking games, Zoolander, Casino Royale, and girl talk. More fun off the slopes than on :). Everyone was pretty buzzed and exhausted from the slopes. People *cough* Hannah *cough* started passing out just past midnight. Somehow I didn't get to bed until past 6. With the additional people, including some that didn't intend on staying over, there were people on the couches and most people doubled up on the beds. The guy on the bottom bunk in my room was a huge snorer, which was annoying. At one point, I had 3 girls on my bed and I was pretty sure that the bed was going to collapse and kill the guy underneath us. The guy was a really deep sleeper b/c he didn't wake up at all, or at least faked snored a lot...

I think I might have had my first hangover (not hangarover). I had a minor headache most of the day. I didn't drink that much (maybe like red level 8), but I had been really sleep deprived for the last couple days. I donno, I generally deal with headaches pretty well. They don't really bother me and for the most part, I just ignore them. I might have had a hangover before, but just attributed it to lack of sleep. We hit Pizza Hut for brunch, where I got my patented cheese-less pizza, which even Hannah said wasn't weird at all after trying a piece, and then we headed home.

The newbies were complaining of being sore, as to be expected. I wasn't though as my body's been conditioned to it already. I joked about playing volleyball when we got back into town, except that I actually did as CCF had their last game of the season. The popped blister is kinda annoying right now though as I can't really walk without pain since a scab has formed and walking stretches it.

Next year we're going to Quebec! Hopefully more people have learnt how to board by then!