My first 2 days on the Mountain

Martinborough Senior School Ski trip - Whakapapa ski field Mt Ruapehu, NZ - 5th of August 2009

We finally got all the kids onto the Mountain and kitted out into their skiing and snowbaording gear. It was a zoo of people who decended on Happy Valley, Whakapapas primo dedicated learners slope. The amount of those requiring decovery lessons appeared to have the ski school a little swamped and our instructer, Sven (not his real name) was less than ideal. Anyway, we were taken thru the standard drill of front foot 'skating' and up hill traversing and it seemed we actually didn't have both feet strapped into our bindings until halfway thru the lesson.

Sven went thru the routine of how to slide sideways down the hill using your heel edge and away we went, tumbling down the slope trying to perfect a heel edge turn and stop. My second 'run' resulted in a hard landing on my tailbone and had me wondering why I had foresaken surfing for this cruel winter sport!

But gradually I started to find my feet and found my heel edge enabled me to slow down and turn left when required.

Next was the toe edge turn, a forehand - bottom turn for a surfer. But unlike surfing a toe edge turn for a snowboarder is way more difficult than the heel edge turn. Having to commit yourself to lean into the slope takes confidence but is worth the perseverance because I found turning onto my toe edge also increases your speed, perhaps due to having the board pointing slightly further down the fall line.

After the lesson was complete and I retreated to the cafe for a drink I was still somewhat unsure about this 'snowboard' thing and had the serious fish - out - of -water feeling. My tail bone was very tender and to add to the drama I couldn't find my son who had his discovery lesson in another group.

Finally the lad turned up and we shared a well deserved Mizone drink and a couple of punnets of chips.

Re-fuled we headed for the area by the chairlift for our first un-aided run down the slope together. To my surprise the energy supplied by the food and my now relaxed attitude resulted in improved feel on my snowboard. I was able to get down the valley only falling 2 or 3 times. I could turn onto my heel edge easily now and my toe-edge turns were starting to take shape as well. ANd having my son there to talk about each run on our accent up the chairlift was fantastic.

My son finally retreated to the cafe with $10 from my wallet and I proceeded to do one more run down Happy Valley before the day ended. I decided to start on the right side hugging the lift line initally and then sweep across to the left using the nice dip halfway thru the run. I then flicked onto my toe edge and scooted along the face of the slop all the way over the to pomma line on the far side. back onto my heel edge, sweeping left again down towards the first chairlift pillon and down to the liftline. A big heel-edge stop and I completed my first run without falling off!

I couldn't wipe the smile off my face that evening and the anticipation of the next days boarding was flooding my senses. It was decided due to the average lessons recieved on the first day to put the majority of the kids back thru a discovery lesson, only those who could turn both ways and could stop effectivly were invited to move up the mountain for a 'next-step' lesson. I opted to say at Happy Valley so I could spend the day with my son who hadn't quite mastered the stop and turn procedure.

6th of August 2009


The first hour and a half of the morning was taken up with the repeat discovery lesson. Thankfully our instructor Anna was a huge improvement on our mate Sven and some of the tips she gave were invaluable. I spent a fair amount of time helping the offspring do up his rear binding and carrying his board on the chair.

But we were soon using the lifts with our boards attached and the rate of progression through out the day was rapid. I was constantly getting down the whole run without a tumble and eyeing up the RockGarden intermediate slope. My son however was still doing the bomb the hill, then stop by falling on your butt routine. Thankfully by the end of the day he was getting the heel edge stop sorted and could turn and move around using the heel edge and switch stance heel edge.

The day ended all too soon but we left Ruapehu with ear to ear grins and lots of new skills, vowing to return very soon.

I had such a great time I was already planning on purchasing boarding equipment for me and the boy. To do a sport that is this much fun and involve my kids is very appealing!