Even though we haven't had much
snow up here in northern New England, Charles, Michael, and I have been making the most of it! We have hit the slopes at Sunday River every chance we get, and Saturday was no exception. Charles worked teaching kids to ski all day, Michael had an all day class with David, and I tried to get my
mojo back while riding with my glasses on- yikes!
Michael's class started off with a group of 5 or 6 experienced riders (the term used for what you do on a snowboard) that were 7-14 years old. They were evaluated for their abilities and spent the morning working on some technical skills like working on turns, turning on the snowboard on the snow (180's and 360's), and other control techniques. The afternoon was the fun part, with just Michael and one other classmate. They learned to do
ollies (jumping off flat ground), buttering (like a wheelie with the front of the board), and riding the box. The box is a large, long wooden platform that you slide across on your board. The trick is that you usually ride your board with one of the edges cutting into the snow- if you do this on the box, you flip over. I got a chance to see his skills after the class and got the picture in this post. After that, we finished the run down the trail by riding across the top of the half pipe. Michael is super excited to take another class, which looks like it will be next Thursday. Wednesday, I might try to ride the box...
