How was your season?

I'm sad to say that I've offically hung up my boots and stuck a fork in another great season.





Some great milestones this year:


- New board and bindings totally opened up new possibilities for me


- Didn't quite make it out west but logged almost solid 20 days of good riding anyways (a lot for my line of work)


- Did a mini camp and really progressed it to the next level in the park this year


- Made some stupid videos that seemed a lot scarier when we were doing them





Now I guess it's time to roll down the windows, fire up the grill, and wait for it to get cold again.





In the mean time I'm going to:


- Patch up my jacket and pants for one more go next year


- Take advantage of some end of season sales


- Sign up for summer camp cause I can't bear to wait a whole summer to strap-in and drop.





What was your season like?

How was your season?
The season out in California, which is still going on (barely), was pretty lack-luster. I got about 64 solid days in and only three of those were what I would consider even a remotely decent powder day. Which was a shame as I had about 30 amazing pow days out of my 80 days last year.





For me, the season was marked by really fast groomer shredding and going back to my roots jibbing natural terrain features like stumps, rocks and logs. I have to say, I actually enjoyed the early low-snow conditions. It reminded me of my first few years riding during the 9 year drought. The park riding here wasn't great as there really wasn't enough snow to push up decent features but the rail and box riding saved it. I'm not all that into park riding anymore but I think I progressed fairly well on some of the rails on boxes here. I'm pretty confident with frontside board and lipslides now but after a season of abuse I don't think I'll ever be confident spinning onto rails...oh well.





I waited and waited for the powder to come and it never really did. Like I said, I had three powder days and only one of those was really good. We hucked ourselves like there was no tomorrow that day....it was fun.





The highlight of my season was an end of the year trip to Colorado. I had never been and I was able to get to check out Vail, Beaver Creek and A Basin last week. Not the best conditions or weather but I definitely had a good time.





I'm looking forward to the summer biking and skateboarding in around the mountains here in California, not to mention running a couple of rivers. Unfortunately, with the lack of snow the window for river trips is going to be painfully small. We'll just have to organize a surf trip when the rivers start drying up.
Reply:My season kind of started late. Here on the east coast, it was pretty warm in January, but overall it was awesome. I went from a beginner to a high intermediate snowboarder, which I'm proud of, and I had a great time going out with my friends!
Reply:bad and sad, was kicked out for two months because of an injury and hardly any snow here in europe... ;-(
Reply:Ha Ha i'm a skier
Reply:I got 57 days of which about 2 were big powder days :)





I'm in Tahoe and, considering the conditions compared to two seasons ago - and even last season - it was pretty good. I heard many people moan about how this was "the winter that never happened". If they just got out and rode and made the most of the conditions, they would have had a fine season.





Highs for me were improving my carving dramatically and achieving something of a mental breakthrough with getting air in the park.





Lows were bailing on my AASI Level II for the second season in a row - lots of work needed there.
Reply:Your season sounds awesome. ^__^





This season was my first snowboarding season. Was awesome, despite all of the setbacks traveling to where there was snow and a mountain. lol I live in Texas, so I had to go to New Mexico to snowboard.





Was pretty fun. Hopefully, next season I'll get to go again! :D
Reply:I went skiing once this year but it was a great trip. Living in SC means that you have to travel a long way to hit the good stuff. I went to Winterplace in WV and had a blast. I'm 43 and I've only been skiing for a few years now. I like the blue and green trails. Winterplace has a combo trail that is over a mile long. I loved it.





I saw a different snow board there from the 80s called a swingbo. It rides like a skateboard. Check out the link.
Reply:Wasn't as good as I would have liked it to be. Here In cali we didn't have as much snow as normal and the snow wasn't as great as it could be. Slush, ice, you get the picture. I'm sure it was nothing like the conditions over on the east coast, but I was disapointed and hurt my tailbone a lot which still hurts a lot. The last time I went which was last Sunday, it was so windy that a lot of the powder was blown off. It was pretty disapointing. Not sure if maybe the lack of snow has anything to do with global warming and all, but I hate to see it like this. Last year we had so much snow it was insane, this year not even close. But besides all that, I had a great time shredding and I hope everyone else did too.
Reply:the best so far but i guess that's because it was my first lol. I have done 40 solid days but didn't make it out west either. Oh well i am starting to save up now to go there next season....:-)
Reply:it wasn't the best year of my life, but it was still ok.
Reply:Although I didn't get to snowboard as much as I wanted to, this was the season that got me back into snowboarding.





2-3 years prior to this season, I got tired of going to the SoCal resorts. The crowds were mostly pretty ridiculous at Mt High and Bear Mtn. This meant long lines, people to dodge, and I also wanted to learn freestyle but wasn't confident with all these ppl around. Also the runs were shorter. I used to have a season pass at Bear Mtn years ago so it just wasn't fun going to these resorts anymore. Also lack of funds (broke college kid back then) contributed to lack of snowboarding.





But this season I got back into loving this sport again. My little cousin from Hawaii wanted to go snowboarding so I took her to Snow Summit in January. When night skiiing started, there were less people. I wanted to do one last run before leaving so I rushed up the mountain and back down. I bombed down Miracle Mile (their longest intermediate run) as fast as I could. I had a blast because I didn't realize I could go this fast! I usually just cruise down because I didn't want the run to end so quickly. I went up again and did the same thing while literally the whole time going down I was screaming wooohoooo! lol





This got me more excited for my weekend trip for Lake Tahoe in Feb.





The 1st night I was there I went to Squaw Valley. I only did 4 runs, but these runs were so longgg (compared to SoCal). I felt I got my $20 worth after 2 runs. 1st %26amp; 2nd run I was warming up / getting a feel. Before my 3rd run started, I told my bro, Im bombing down this sh!t (kinda my nice way of saying I don't want him holding me up, lol). And I did just that, I went straight down shredded as fast as I could without stopping/crashing. This run was by far the raddest snowboarding experience I ever had. By the 4th run, I was pretty exhausted, as I just tagged along my beginner friends. I tried to practice my switch but jet lag and lack of sleep caught up to me.





The 2nd day I went to Heavenly alone for only the morning. It was pretty warm (wish I only wore my tshirt). I learned the importance of snowboard wax because I got stuck alot on their flats lol. I got lost sometimes since Heavenly was huge and the trail map was confusing. I hit some intermediate moguls which were fun. I also reached my comfort zone with boxes. What wasn't fun was when I tried to go down a double black diamond mogul run (gunbarrel?). I saw snowboarders go down and I thought I could do it. I also didn't want to be a wimp and take the gondola down. That run just tore me apart lol. At least I ended up beating one of those other snowboarders.





I was already beat the next day but my bro wanted a riding buddy at Heavenly. Weather was totally different as it was raining wet snow at the base. But as we got up, the top of the mountain was all powder snow. This was the first time I got to snowboard on a little bit of powder. There was probably 6 inches of powder but it was annoying that there was hard ice under neath it with patches of it exposed. I didn't know how to snowboard in powder at first, plus my goggles were fogging, and actually ate it and hit my head back (didn't have my bro's helmet which I usually use but my bro was with me lol). I got up after a minute and continued to ride few more hours but i didnt feel the full effect til I got home to San Diego that night (my neck hurted for 5 days). We got tired because we hiked half the time on this mountain. Also got lost due to snow/visibilty (at one point I thought we were going miss our flight). Doing the intermediate moguls again was fun.





I went to Big Bear 3 more times. I also got 2 new snowboards last month. I got last year's Rome Flag 160 as my freeride stick and this year's Omatic Todd Richards 155W for my freestyle stick (couldn't pass this up as it was only for $119 at SA for a $389 board, total impulse buy). I also got new Rome Arsenal bindings. I only tried each board for a couple hours, it was already super hot at Bear and one of those days some kid collided against me which slowed me down that weekend.





For my last horah (sp?), im still trying to get with a friend so we can go to Mt Hood next month. So Im hoping my season isnt over yet! i wanna my new boards so baddd
Reply:hey! ugh im so sad to leave skiing:( well my ski team went to states this year! it was sweet:) it was really fun! we didnt do great (team found out about close friends death and went downhill from there, appearently we couldnt work through it:(..)but hey we made it there and we didnt loose one meet! next year im joining the varsity ski team at the hs again and doing a ussa ski team.. i just got new fischer freeflex bindings and fischer rc4 07s and those new soma tech fischer boots :D ugh so excited to try them out! im going to a mt hood ski race camp this summerrr:) whoaa! i live in michigan and unfortionetly didnt leave it but next year im going to lake tahoe! whoa!:)
Reply:omg so not fair-can't wait till i get my licnese so my parents dont have to cart me around everywhere :D


-Had a pretty good season up at mt. hood meadows-there is still some fresh powder up there (at least last time i checked)


-Learned some new jump tricks


-Taught my little cuz how to ski...she was SO adorable. I took her on a black diamond and she did the wedge all the way down shouting "look Katy, I'm doing it" OMG so cuuuutteee.


-Went skiing in shorts-that was fun...till i hit a tree (ouch)


-Broke my helmet; didn't know you could do that


-Did some ice skating up at mt. hood (LOTS of freezing rain this year!)


-My friend took a picture of me going off a jump...holy crap I had the facial expression of a 79 year old who just got a face lift


-Looking forward to a crappy summer ski season up at Timberline (dam global warming!)
Reply:I only got about 8 days in this year, unfortunately, because my season was cut short due to an injury. Traffic was really horrible in Colorado this year, and that was quite frustrating during peak season. I got a couple of decent powder days, but nothing really great. Only made it out to Vail once and didn't get a chance to check out Blue Sky Basin at all. :( Still, it was a lot of fun, and I actually got into doing mogols on my board. I got pretty decent at them. I also really got into going through the trees. I did get lost once at Keystone, unfortunately, and ended up in a spot with fallen trees all around me, and I had to hike out. Not cool. And then I fractured a vertebra getting big air, but landing on my back at Echo Mountain which ended my season. Still healing from that one. :(





A lot of setbacks, but still a fun year.
Reply:mine was good
Reply:my season, apart from the bad snow, was sick! i really nailed 360s this year and came close to a five one time. i got to go up at least once a week and progressed a ton. the only thing that could of made it better is it being year round
Reply:my season was ok but it could of be better but i like to know how was your's
Reply:id have to say that it kicked @ss and was pretty awsome
Reply:was better last season.



nanny