For the longest time, snowboarding has been something I have wanted to do. What I did on my first day may be called snowboarding in the sense that I had a board secured firmly to my feet, but I'd much rather call it snow crashing. Precisely because regularly tumbling down the hill, numerous faceplants, an occasional back and/or front flip and the ever so rare double 360 front flip on the face are not generally what is called a successful day on the mountains. Plainly put I sucked, big time. All my illusions of being a natural were completely washed away by the eighth time I crashed and burned.
Cervinia is amazing. Imagine every picture postcard you have seen of any European hill town, or imagine any idyllic snow covered village in the Alps. Cervinia is that. Half in Italy and half in Switzerland, it has the longest slopes in Europe. When you see the French national ski team doing their practice sessions 100 feet from you, you know you are in the right place. Starting off from Milano at seven in the morning we reached Valtournache, the city before Cervinia at ten. There we found that avalanche warnings had been issued and the roads closed down because of a freak storm. So in a very Italian fashion the driver asked us to get down and told us, you can get the next bus. Well eight hours and a few bottles of wine later we were still in the street with no way to get to Cervinia because the roads were still blocked. So we check into the first hotel we find and guess who our neighbours are ? The French national ski team. It might have been me but it was just the women's team I think... :P
The next morning, lo and behold, the skies have cleared up, the sun is shining and there has been a meter of fresh snowfall. In short, ideal conditions. So at 11 in the morning we reach Cervinia, check into our apartments and rent out the equipment, namely special shoes and a snowboard. Then we ask for lessons, but because its Sunday, no instructors. We figure (me especially) it's ok, we can try on our own, how hard can it be ?? We just keep on the blue tracks and we'll be fine.(The slopes are classified in colours : Blue for Beginners, Red for Intermediate users and Black for the Ski Jedi mofos)
So we head to the ski lifts. At Plan Maison (Level 1 - 2555 mtrs. up) we find out that all the blue slopes are closed because of last night's mayhem. So we head on to Theodulpass i.e level 2. Here one slope that is half blue and half red is good to go. Now level 2 is 3301 mtrs. up. So once there, there are only two ways down : the board or the lift. So of course I choose to go down the slope. What with my inherent core balance and strong legs I should be fine.
I got my ass kicked up and down and sideways and in ways I didn't even know I could be beat on. When you stand up on the board the first time you have this feeling of elation. It's like, "Wooohooo!! I'm doing it!!" Then as you slide down about 50 mtrs. in a few seconds, you start smiling and exactly then, POW!! You go ass/face first into the snow. Sometimes both, don't ask me how, it happens.
Now the fun part of crashing is the acrobatics. Aerial somersaults, cartwheels, flip side 360's etc. You see people do them on TV and go I wanna do that!! Well I did. I did crash at the end of these tricks instead of land on my feet, but they still count for me! Fortunately, the falling and crashing was fun. Because of the insane snowfall the previous night the slopes were covered in a powdery cushion. So no matter how hard I crashed, and I had some really bad ones I always got up smiling partly because of the acrobatics and partly knowing I wasn't going to get badly hurt.
In my defense, the first time I ever clipped on the board, I did try to ride a red slope. Although unsuccessful, I guess that has to count for something. After some lessons the next day I find out that snowboarding is infinitely hard to be good at in a few days let alone instinctively. My instructor burst out laughing when I told him I had been on a red slope the first day. He asked me if I was crazy, then not waiting for me to reply, shook his head insisting I was. After a successful day on the practice slopes I was much more confident. Knowing the technique is essential to snowboarding. Your knees and legs are basically useless. It's all in the hips. The shoulder must always remain parallel to the board exactly along its axis. If you lean too much that is the direction you crash in. When you push the hips back you turn to the left facing down the slope, when you thrust the hips forward you turn right facing up the slope. That's it, those are the three positions on the board, hips front, hips center and hips back.
Day three brought another snowstorm. Not the kind that shuts down everything but the kind in which you can't see more than 10 feet and your footprints disappear every 3 minutes. It was snowing since the night and hence we assumed that the slopes would be closed. They were not. So at 1 in the afternoon I head back to the practice slopes. Walking through the storm, wiping the snow off my face every 30 seconds I was amazed to see kids there as well. Little ones, like six years old going at it. So I strapped on my board and went at it. About 3 hours of hips in, hips out later, I was able not only to go down the slopes without crashing, but also stop and stay on my feet. So now that I can manage just a tiny bit, what's the first thing I do ?? Head to the slopes of course. Taking the last chairlift of the day I reached the top. It was windy, heavy snow and I couldn't see shit, except that the slope was substantially steeper than I imagined. With one last breath I went for it. Hips in, Hips out, remember the center of balance, no flailing arms all these instructions playing in my mind. It was good and then I crashed. It's not that I did not expect to, but I was disappointed. On the bright side I had covered almost a third of the line. A few more crashes later I stood on top of the last descent before I reached the base. Determined not to fall I pushed off. It was magic. I swerved right, the left then picked up speed and just as the slope mellowed down I leaned in and turned to come to a perfect halt.
That one moment was worth all the crap I'd put myself for the past three days. That one brilliant slope, that one perfect stop. It was a thing of beauty for me, a pure rush of joy. That is also when i knew I am addicted, that I have do this again. And so I will, soon. I look forward to it.
