First Snowboarding Experience

So, I have always wanted to try snowboarding. Okay, that’s not exactly true. I hate winter and I hate the cold and I hate snow, so I wasn’t actually that interested in the sport at first. I love trying different sports and just moving my body in general. I tend to be best at the sports that don’t require too many extensions of my body, which is why I thrived most when I was on the track and field team.

When I was younger, I used to love playing SSX Tricky, which is a snowboarding game, with my siblings. We were all into it so much and had a blast playing it together. Obviously video games like that only show you extreme versions of a sport to the extent where you’re like “I can’t do a 180 jump while sliding down snow…snowboarding is impossible.” My view of snowboarding for so long was (1) super cold and (2) way too difficult.

Then, I met my boyfriend. He snowboards with his friends every year. I thought it was so cool! And I wanted to go with him sometime. For years, we never planned out a trip. I also wasn’t as serious about trying it until in November of 2020, when I met a girl who goes snowboarding with her friends often. She told me stories of her snowboarding trips, and I was all in. I wanted to go and try it so badly! She invited me a few times, but our timing never worked out.

Finally, this past Saturday, my boyfriend and I planned to go snowboarding. We went to a place called Osorakan Snow Park. I’m so glad that I went with him for the first time. He taught me so patiently and thoroughly. I was surprised that one of the hardest parts of snowboarding is literally just standing up. He showed me and told me to try, but I didn’t get it. He explained in words and I understood but my body still didn’t get it. You have to put all of your weight into your heels, balance your weight between your feet, and stand straight up while on the side of a mountain.

After many failed attempts, I finally stood up without his help! And then he said “great, now sit back down.” He kept telling me over and over, “if you can’t stand up, you don’t know how to balance your weight. If you can’t balance your weight, you can’t snowboard.” He wasn’t wrong, but I was so tired.

It was only after about an hour of practicing that I was able to stand up and could do it pretty smoothly and on command. After that, it was time to start actually moving. Luckily I caught onto this much faster than standing up. We worked our way down the mountain a little at a time, practicing different techniques the whole way. I fell down A LOT. Then we finally got to the end, and it was time to ride the lift.

Ski lift at Osorakan

So, the lift feels so good when you’re sitting on it and looking down at the skiers and snowboarders below, but getting off of it is the other hardest part of snowboarding… I fell 3 out of the 5 times I used it. It was not fun… but starting from a higher place and having so much more mountain to ride down was worth it I suppose. That’s something I still need to work on though…

After taking the lift up the first time, we went about a quarter of the way down the mountain to the food court to get some lunch. I wasn’t very hungry from all of the working out – I rarely get hungry when I do sports. But we ate and then went back out to snowboard some more.

After about 3 more times in the afternoon, my legs started to give out from all of the falling and standing back up. I had to call it quits and rode the lift one last time to get back to the parking area. My boyfriend was so kind and stayed with me at my pace all day, so I sent him off to ride some by himself. In the meantime, I returned my rental gear, changed, and got a hot matcha latte.

I definitely want to go again! I had an awesome time and feel like I could actually handle myself a bit more this next time.

The weirdest bit was all of the other foreigners there speaking English. I was probably the only foreigner speaking Japanese. Because of this, someone thought I was trying to talk to their friend just because I was foreign. But I was actually just trying to get past them…

Spring is just around the corner, so I’m sure I won’t get any more opportunities until next year…but I can’t wait to go again!

Until next time!!