Personal Narrative: My First Snowboarding Trip As A Family

Snowboarding has reached a height in popularity that has some didn’t think was possible. The snow boring industry has grown by a tenfold by now grossing 5 billion dollars a year. Many companies have invested millions of dollars into

It was pleasant enough to be able to stand comfortably outside in a light jacket or sweatshirt. A perfect day to glide down a powdery mountain along with my best friend. The anticipation was building as I sat in the back of Mrs. Smith’s eighth grade classroom. In a matter of minutes I would be packing my gear into the car and traveling toward impending doom: Sundown Mountain, twenty one runs of exhilaration and danger. At that point in time I didn’t know whether to be excited or nervous. Snowboarding was completely new to me, not too much different than skiing except for the fact that my balance would be shifted differently. I struggled enough as it was keeping my balance on skis. How could I possibly be able to successfully maintain my balance on a board?

As my upper body shifted to the right, everything from my waist and below stayed true to the course, including the ski poles. I ran over the handle of my ski pole, with my stomach. The pole was pushed up into my lower abdomen, propelling me off of the slope entirely, I was airborne. I landed on my back, completely out breath, and dazed to the point I had no recollection of where I was. The next moment was particularly scary for me, all I can recall was the ringing of a whistle in my ear, and the red lights flashing from the ski patrols snowmobiles. Unsure of any injuries, the ski patrol had braced my back and neck, strapped me to a board, and began to tow me down the mountain.

Throughout time, the progression and evolution of snowboarding has increased greatly. It has gone from non existence in the late 1970’s, to one of the most watched action sports in a matter of thirty-five years. The upward takeoff and popularity of snowboarding relies on two people, Jake Burton and Shaun White. Jake Burton back in 1977 had the vision for what snowboarding would be, but Shaun White had what it took to manifest that vision. Evidence has shown that time brings change in sports, history has repeated itself with snowboarding, this history reflects the time & changes that has occurred in America.

We were all encouraged to choke down as much food as possible. Any kind of energy was essential. A melancholy atmosphere hung heavy as the journey progressed. Minutes walking slowly progressed into hours, the sky seemed to darken steadily. All of us were oblivious to the danger shrouded by the dim evening. Only moments after scaling a rather steep ledge did nature dice to turn sour. A deafening rumble made each climber perk up. Snow began to descend at an alarming rate. Thunder began to mic the steady beating of a drum, causing more concern among the ranks of climbers. The powdery snow became more of a risk than ever, climbing under pressure and leaving nothing to stand on. Third base was more than three hours away. Three hours wasn't possible at the rate. Snowfall this bad could be detrimental to the climb’s success. Snow obscured vision and numbed faces. Shouts and orders deemed lost in the screaming wind; people’s figure became shapeless blurs frantically shifting, hoping if they struggled against the wind hard enough, they might find someone. Of course, this was to no avail. Not a single person doubted their demise would come at this point: the stakes were high and no-one could play too well against Mother Nature. The snow crept up to knee-level, making it harder and harder to travel. Death and I were face-to-face. To some, they couldn't bare the idea of dying up here; they had families and friends, children who need parents and

From the valley, the trail is the going to follow a gentle grade, as it passes through the meadows, trees, and willow thickets. The trail then takes you to a steep rockslide climb, and then spills over to the eastern side of the Maroon Peak. Once you reach the top of the slide, turn around, and enjoy some spectacular views of the valley beneath.

Despite enjoying the antics of the little ones, I couldn’t procrastinate much longer. It was time to face the music and meet my cross country ski instructor. I was surprised to feel nervous, after all how difficult could cross country skiing be? For years, I have avidly watched the Olympic Winter Games and the cross country athletes appear to circumnavigate the course without difficulty. Surely I would be able to kick, stride and glide with the best of them. My fearless instructor Bryon introduced himself to the group and welcomed us to our session. With a calm confidence he assured us that we would love our new sport and be tackling the trails in no time. Hesitantly, I followed Bryan and within seconds I was on the ground doing a fantastic Bambi impersonation. This was trickier than it

After about a half hour of walking down the mountain I sat on my snowboard to take a break. When I stood up the board slid out from under me and started making it’s way down the mountain without me. In turn, I was forced to chase it, as it caused other snowboarders and skiers to dodge and avoid my board and me. The people who caught my board were in there twenties and did not have any sympathy for the situation and laughed at me for being scared to fall off the mountain. If I ever try snowboarding again, I will know not to take off the snowboard while on the mountain and that’s how I learned my

I was 12. I had heard the stories from my Uncle Randy about ski trips, but I wanted to try it for myself. He finally decided I was old enough to tag along. The two and a half hour car ride felt like a lifetime. It was my first time at Chestnut mountain in Galena, and I was very excited. The sun was shining bright. The temperature was in the mid to lower 30’s, which was perfect for skiing. When we got to the locker room, I started putting on all my gear. Excitement filled the air as other skiers geared up to take on the slopes. When I finally got my rental boots tight and buckled up, my uncle looked at me and laughed. My uncle is a short and stocky man, a great

Ski Patrol rode up with us coincidentally. When we got of i immediately fell, I wasn't used to riding with only one foot in. About 5 more rides later my brother was ready to ride the lift with me and my friend. I never really found out the kids name I just called him dude and stuff like that, Normal stuff 10 year olds call each other. The third day was really fun, my friend didn't come because he got hurt at the end of the second day. My mom wanted to be able to talk to us while we were on the mountain, so she bought walkie-talkies and earbuds that had microphones on it so that we could talk to each other and me and my brother could tell each other if we got separated or lost. This happened one time he went up the wrong lift without me and i had to find him on my way down. We were getting really good for our first time. We started trying the blues and were going pretty slow. At the end of the weekend it was time to go home. At 4:00 the lifts shut down and we changed into comfortable clothes and drove home. The next morning I was really sore and bruised up from all the falls. We later went back to another resort named Cataloochee. This time I took a friend by the name of

I’m reading Warriors Tallstar’s Revenge by Erin Hunter. My favorite setting is on page 304. Erin explained, “he scrambled past a hawkthorn, skidding as the slope steepened. Bracken slowed him down, dragging at his paws. He pushed through it, relieved that the slope was flattening out, and paused at the bottom to taste the afternoon air.” This reminds me of our grandpas big sliding hill. While I was climbing it to get to the top I slipped on a patch of ice and started to slide down the hill. I had to use my hand to make myself stop but I got to the bottom of the hill first. I rolled over smelling the afternoon air mixed with the burning

Cory Sorensen Paulson 6B English May 4, 2014 Synthesis Essay Snowboarding is a great way to stay in shape, relieve stress, and it floods one’s body with joy and happiness; and if something makes you happy, engage in it till it doesn’t bring happiness to you anymore. The benefits of snowboarding are exponential when it comes to the performance of your mental and physical capacity. Mentally, snowboarding triggers the parts of the brain that feel the sensation of being happy.

When we arrived my family was having so much fun that we didn’t notice that we had been there for over two hours. We had three sleds since there were about eight people there with us and only five of us were mostly using the sleds. Everything was going well until my second cousin decided that she wanted to go with me. I sat in the front and she sat in the back because she was afraid of falling off and having the sled run over her. She kept falling off because it was her first time going on a sled because she had just moved from India. As she started to get the hang of it we began to mess around and turn as were were going down the hill because we thought we were being cool. After we had both gotten the hang of sledding together we wanted to go on the steepest part of the hill because no one was going on it and we thought that it wouldn’t be scary. That’s when everything went downhill,

Throughout time, the progression and evolution of snowboarding has increased greatly. It has gone from non existence in the late 1970’s, to one of the most watched action sports in a matter of thirty-five years. The upward takeoff and popularity of snowboarding relies on two people, Jake Burton and Shaun White. Jake Burton back in 1977 had the vision for what snowboarding would be, but Shaun White had what it took to manifest that vision. Evidence has shown that time brings change in sports, history has repeated itself with snowboarding, this history reflects the time & changes that has occurred in America.

All of us ended up arguing about it how we would go down it all together or one at time? Eventually we decided that we would all go at one at a time we jokingly said just in case one of almost dies we can get to them a lot quicker. My friend Josh goes first he made it all the way down and gave me the okay signal that i could go now. When i started making my way down it felt amazing the wind blowing in my air,how everything passed by me in a blur and that feeling of adrenaline, i honestly believed i could do anything well i was wrong. My Longboard started to wobble and i immediately panicked, I was going to fast to slow myself down. so i tried to jump into a grassy area, but that did not work out the way i planned considering i slammed into a brick mailbox Going easily past 21 mph. i don’t remember much about what happened afterwards. I remember being winded i could hardly breath and i couldn’t move i saw blood coming down from the side of my head going onto the concrete floor. The last thing i saw was my friend Noah running from the top of the hill towards me and my vision turning into a blurry