Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Teleboarding season begins

My teleboarding season begins now. I'm heading off to killington with a friend and looking forward to 28+ open trails.
I hope your season is off to a prompt start too!


Friday, March 18, 2011

tele fest @ bretton woods tomorrow

I hope to see you tomorrow at the last New England Telemark festival of the season. If you buy a lift ticket at bretton woods tomorrow upstairs instead of at the normal ticket window, it comes with free equipment demos, lessons, & beer. You'll probably see a few teleboards there too, including me.

Monday, February 28, 2011

Slope testing day 1

Last night I got in a first teleboarding night with my friend Aaron, who volunteered to help test my book. Thanks, Aaron!!!

I gave him an *extremely* rough draft to read. He gave me some useful feedback on the spot, and let me photograph him struggling with unfamiliar equipment & techniques. I think that photos of an actual beginner making typical mistakes, and then getting it right, is exactly what a teleboarding book needs.

We were on the 4-10pm shift, so pretty soon we lost the light, put away the camera and draft, and decided to pass some distance under our feet. A wide and shallow slope is good for learning, but a long one really is ideal.

Even though Aaron getting clocked in the head by a moving chairlift didn't help anything, our mission was a huge success. Around 9:30, I got a good look at the bottom of Aaron's board, carving a wide arc as he sped past.

Slope testing day 1 summary:
- Aaron went from zero to grinning intermediate in 6 hours.
- I have a bunch of tweaks and new material for the teleboarding book.
- You can learn technique from a book, but you get to teach yourself finesse.
- Helmets are a great idea.
- It's nice to have a good friend that will take some risks for you.

Keep thinking snow!!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

time passing

As I recover from yet another smuggs trip, I'm realizing it's been almost a year since my last post. Since then, I've done a bunch of teleboarding, made some new ski buddies, tried yoga for the first time, learned how to make telemark turns, misplaced my helmet, and made it through many snowless months.

This season has gotten off to a great start for me. Starting the weekend before Thanksgiving, I visited Killington, Sunapee, Sugarloaf, Wachusett (in many short visits), and, recently, Smuggler's notch for 3 days. We're still getting an unusual amount of snow in Massachusetts.

Lately, I've been riding, forming ideas, and doing everything else except writing.

I hope this serves as a reminder that we should use the time and opportunities that we have. If you're in New England, we're getting snow now, so go ride it! Or go ride some snow somewhere else!

A few days ago, I gave my friend some advice on how to make a better telemark turn, but it turned out that I was really giving myself advice. I heard the words in my head, took my own advice, and improved on the spot. So here I go again:

Get out there and take a risk. Leave your ski poles on the rack. Jump off a mogul. Compliment a stranger. And post to your blog even if you don't think your thoughts are fully formed yet.

That's all for now, but I've got some partially formed tips and stories for the next posts.