Snowboarding Plans for the 2011/2012 Season

by Fraser
Updated:

It’s been a long time since I’ve mentioned my plans for snowboarding this coming season. Last time I discussed this, I was aiming to spend the whole season in resort – or at least a few months. That’s not going to happen. By my own words that makes me a wimp – for not having the guts to follow through with the plan. I haven’t dwelled on this – so I won’t dwell on it here, but it’s worth a little coverage…

leg_original_break
There are two reasons that I use to explain this. The first one is ugly. The car driver in my accident was judged to be at fault – so I stand to receive some compensation.

That type of affair can take a long time to reach conclusion; in this case it hasn’t yet. It’s an ugly reason because I’m not a fan of the “compensation” culture that we live in. Seems as though the accident stopped me from snowboarding, I figured that using some money to go do a season wasn’t so bad. But I can’t avoid the fact that pursuing this is optional. It’s a choice; I don’t have to do it.

It’s also an ugly reason because I’ve allowed it to hold back the plans; I wasn’t willing to “sell up” and throw my life down a different road entirely, which is what I would need to do around now, or sooner, to get things going.

The second reason is a bit more legit. To this date, I haven’t snowboarded since the accident. I don’t anticipate any problems, certainly not by 2012, but then again I was planning to start snowboarding in June/July – but was advised not to. Then in August I was advised not to, again. I had it in my mind that I would have been back on the horse before planning multiple months in a resort…

Lurking beneath the surface of things that I probably don’t want to admit to myself – I think that as my leg has continued to improve and I’ve returned to the normal things that people do, I’ve allowed “snowboarding” to return to its previous, comfortable position. Something I love to do, but it fits in around other stuff. When I was out of action for three months with a lot of time for thinking – chasing the things you love got more airtime in my head. I didn’t follow through. Wimp.

I’m still stoked though. Whatever the reasons – things have changed, plans have changed. It happens. I don’t feel worse for it, I don’t regret it – I’m loving stuff at the moment and I can’t wait to snowboard. So here’s the new plan…

Breckenridge 2012

Nothing is booked yet, but two weeks in Breck is shaping up to be solid – probably around the end of January/first week in February. To be honest, I don’t know much about Breckenridge as a resort, other that it’s pretty damn good. High on my list, I’d really like to get one or two powders days in when we’re there. I’ve got that new board, the Capita Charlie Slasher, and I want to try it out. Of course there are no guarantees, but I hope Breck can deliver with this.

In general though, I just want to snowboard. The last time I did any serious riding was back in 2009. Since then I did spend two weeks in Morzine, 2010, but I sprained my ankle the first full day on the hill and that pretty much put an end to the shredding. As above, I didn’t snowboard at the start of 2011 either. That’s a big gap; there have been a few trips to the snowdome, but that’s it, a few Friday night sessions in nearly three years…

Breckenridge? Despite not knowing much about the mountains, I have made a short visit to the town, for half a day, during a mini-tour of Colorado. No snowboarding, it was early October. From what I saw, Colorado is an awesome place, so bring it on.

Artificial action, indoors and out

Right now, I’m in Italy. Relaxing. Since June/July of this summer I’ve been planning to try snowboarding at the snowdome in Castleford. It’s been put back, I’ve been getting advice from a physio, but I feel ready now. I’ve done some skating, some running on concrete, my leg is getting stronger all of the time.

Now I need to warm up. Testing the leg is the first priority, I want to know what it’s going to feel like to snowboard. Hopefully I won’t notice it, but I doubt that. The other thought in my head is that shredding for 4 hours in a big fridge is one thing, but snowboarding everyday for two weeks solid is something else – more of a physical toll.

Beyond that, I’d like to make a return to feeling comfortable on a snowboard, doing what I used to be able to do. Then, if it’s all going well, there are a bunch of new things that I’d like to work on…

Between now and the end of the year, the plan is to do as much snowboarding at Castleford and Halifax as time and leg will allow…

A weekend in the Czech Republic

Strangely, my first real-mountain experience of 2012 may be a weekend in the Czech Republic. A friend is getting married and they want a stag weekend that involves snowboarding, as well as drinking. For a bunch of guys that haven’t tried it before, this is apparently a cheap way to get on the slopes. I’m intrigued to see how this pans out…

A week in Europe?

It would be awesome to follow up the trip to Breckenridge with a week in Europe. Vacation time from work is limited, so this may not be an option. If it does go ahead, it will be sometime in March. The question is, where to go?

So what are you up to this season?

Got anything good planned? New destination or returning to a favourite spot? First time away or a seasoned vet? And what are you hoping to get out of your riding this season?

You may also like

Leave a Comment

Subscribe for discounts AND A Chance to win $50!

Sign up to our newsletter for entry into the annual $50 gift card draw.

Subscribe for discounts AND A Chance to win $50!

Sign up to our newsletter for entry into our annual $50 gift card draw.