Over the years I’ve had the pleasure of visiting some lovely ski resorts and I love watching the riders swish down the slopes, spraying a rooster tail of snow as they cut back and forth.  It looks so liberating and I’ve always wanted to experience that freedom myself but never had the nerve to get on the slopes. This year, that changed and I finally tried snowboarding for the first time.

My friend, Derek, is a snowboard instructor with Olympic Ski School at Steven’s Pass in the northern Cascade Mountains of Washington state. He was working a clinic for new instructors on how to teach novices like myself so he invited me to come out and be their test subject. I immediately agreed, then instantly started worrying. At 49 years old, would this be fun or folly?

As the weekend approached, I was absolutely terrified. I love adventure sports and have been sky diving, swimming with stingrays, zip lining and river rafting. But what if I can’t do this? I’m crazy to try this for the first time at my age. Will I make a fool of myself? What if I break something? What was I thinking?

The first step was to get fitted and rent my gear. That was painless and I felt better knowing that I at least looked the part. When we arrived at the mountain, Derek introduced me to the group of six instructors who would all be dedicated to getting me riding. They asked me about my sports activities and put me at ease with casual conversation. Maybe I can do this.

We started with the most basic skills: standing on the board and how to get up from the inevitable fall. Then I progressed to “skating” with one foot in the bindings and pushing with the other, kind of like a skateboard… on ice. They explained “toe side” and “heel side” and taught me simple “J turns.” They demonstrated then watched me and made suggestions. It turns out that I am “goofy-footed,” meaning that I ride with my right foot front, so the instructors all  kindly switched to goofy to help me get the movements down.  I started feeling a bit more confident!

The next step was to ride the “Magic Carpet” up a small hill where I strapped in both feet for the first time. It was time to put all my new skills together. I’m sure I wasn’t the fastest learner, but by lunchtime I was able to get down the bunny slope without falling (much). In the afternoon, I practiced by myself for a bit, but my confidence waned without their watchful eyes.

On day two it was time to tackle the chair lift. Again, my instructors verbally told me how, then demonstrated getting on and off. With my heart racing, I took a deep breath and stepped up to the Daisy chair loading line. The view on the ride up was spectacular! But I still had to get off of the lift at the top and snowboard back down. And guess what? I did it! Not very gracefully and I fell quite a lot, but I did it!

I may not be ready for the X-Games, but I can now say I’m a snowboarder thanks to the excellent instruction I got from Derek and the boys at Olympic Ski School. I can’t wait to ride again and with a little practice, watch out Shaun White! If you would like your own ticket to ride, contact the winter experts at Covington Travel.