Fantastical Magic Riding Stick

Babes. Beers. and Backcountry booters.

Day Three

So day three. Pretty simple to say that one of my most favourite things in the world is snowboarding. To me there is nothing better. It's simple: being outdoors, high altitude, and (if you're lucky) in the sunshine. You get off the hill at the end of the day and you cannot help but smile, especially if you have learnt something new. Well... really, especially if you've learnt something new.

I got into skiing when I was kid. A young child of 4 my Dad threw me on a pair of ski's and hoped for the best, and he definitely got it. I was hooked! I was stoked on being able to ride down the side of a snow bank and thought I was going to be the next big thing on my skis. By the time I was 12 snowboarding was the cool thing to do and I desperately wanted to be a cool kid and so was my worst day of my life on my board. My Dad was screaming at me at the end of the day telling me to get my ass off the hill, I was too stubborn and I wanted to master the sport in a day.

Turns out you have to fast forward about 7 years of flittering from skiing to snowboarding....

Amazing backcountry pow day in Whistler. 2007.

So here I am 19 years old finished a year of college and not wanting to go back. Where should I pass the time? Big White. 2 seasons on the hill spending all my time snowboarding I had won my first competition and I was shocked and ecstatic. After a brief hiatus I was at Whistler living what I thought was my dream but really I had lost sight of my first love. Drowning in a pool of parties and alcohol I had to get out and dry out. It took me over a year before I would go back to it and remember why I loved it. But I do.

A season in New Zealand and back to my home mountain of Mt. Washington I can't imagine my life without snowboarding.

Today, with a fractured sternum I don't regret any day I spend on a mountain. It's my healthy addiction and I am better and more sure on my feet every day that goes by. Once again snowboarding is tied into friends and smiles, building back country booters with girls and boys. Really, who could ask for anything better?