Snow

What is the deal with the snow? Why is it for some reason like magic to me? I mean I was born and raised here in Colorado it isn't like its the first time I've ever seen the snow before, but every snow fall is a truly special thing to me. The first snowfall of the season (at least for me) was late last week. Around Thursday or so and I've been trying to tell you guys my feelings on the snow ever since. Something about it though, the basis of many poems, every time I try to explain it in plain English it starts turning into a poem real quick.

It isn't my fault though, how does one describe the snow? Would you speak of how each little flake is as individual as a human genotype? One could speak of how the snowflakes tumble amongst each other in such crazy chaotic, yet utterly predictable ways. You could speak of how the coldness at first refreshes but soon after stings upon your skin. One could speak of the first morning of the year when you awake to find the world transformed. How a thousand little insignificant but entirely individual little flakes of frozen water all gang up and in the course of a few hours change the entire world. For many of you I know that what would be on your mind is not any of these little observations of how the snow behaves as it falls, or how it looks from a distance, but rather how it feels to slide across.

I can tell you with absolute certainty that if you haven't had a chance to experience the feeling of freshies on a powder day, well, you just haven't lived yet. I wish I could somehow show you in words what this can be like, but my best attempt will just absolutely fall so short from what the experience is like. I'll try to give you a bit of an idea of how the day goes for me usually.

First of all you gotta get up much earlier than usual, like maybe around 6 a.m. not too bad but my eyes usually sting for the first couple hours. Wake up your bros and throw your board and gear into the car and its time to start driving. Anticipation builds slightly on the way but it isn't like a first date, you for some reason never realize what its going to be like. Its like you can remember what the whole experience is like but your memories don't do it justice so you just kinda sit in the car almost bored and feeling kind of inconvenienced for having to wake up early. The ride takes a long time, you prolly stop and grab some food or something but after about an hour and a half you pull into a giant dirt lot and step out of the car to change your shoes.

Its cold, the wind doesn't do that nice little refreshing thing that slowly turns to a sting it just stings right away. You take your shoes off to put on bigger and more cumbersome boots. They are way better than ski boots but they ain't no Nike cross trainers. Your feet get cold while you put em on. As you start walking you'll find that walking is just harder here, the boots and jacket and everything are heavy, your carrying a snowboard, and the air is thinner. So far you might be wondering why we've spent money and time to do this, well none of us do, we know why. We never said it was easy, but come on,, its not that hard.

Walk up to the line where the chairlift is picking people up and you will find a surprising level of relaxation in the air. These people seem so chill. Drop your board and strap your forward foot in leaving you in just a bit of an awkward position. You move like pushing a skateboard but its not as comfortable, you'll figure it out after you do it a few times. Making your way through the line only takes a few minutes, Your eyes may still sting a little for having to wake up early but if they do right now as you await your turn to get onto the chair, this is the last time you will notice it. Finally you see the people right in front of you get scooped up by that chair lift and its your turn to scurry over there take a seat on a moving chair. You'll notice people who just relax and just expect to do it right always do and people who allow fear or anxiousness to creep into their mind always find a way to mess it up(an underlying theme in snowboarding).

You do the awkward skate board motion a couple times, stop at the line and feel the seat scoop you up and slide you off of the ground. Over the course of the next ten seconds you will be hoisted up above the trees, suddenly the world you live in and all that you can see will open up in all directions to reveal epic mountain tops and snow covered tree tips. You have just stepped into an entirely different world. It is like a fantasy land with wizards and warriors and dragons, a world where your honor is all that you have. Every moment in this place is a beautiful and peaceful yet wildly vivid battle that rages inside of you. It is impossible to describe yet I know you somehow know what it is that I am talking about, it is so surreal. You will find yourself surveying all of the incredible details of the surrounding mountain peaks in disbelief. Even as you look upon it you cannot believe that there is something that crazy, and beautiful out there. It takes a second for it to stop looking like really good special effects, the realization that this place is really real, and that you are really here takes a minute to form in your now utterly stoked mind. Problems that absolutely eat you up inside when you are in your normal life seem so unimportant here. You look upon others who are just as happy to be here as you are as they make their smooth little S's down what you are realizing are very tiny pieces of a nearly unending thing. The world looks different here, It looks how it was supposed to look everywhere but due to our own shortcomings we usually fail to see. The beautiful thing about it is that you cannot resist being brought into this moment right now. After a few more relaxing, but possibly very cold minutes of sitting on this chair next to either good friends or often total strangers hanging high above the the intricate terrain below you an end to this ride finally comes into sight. Do not be sad with every ending comes a new beginning, believe me, nobody comes here to ride the chairlift. We come to ride the mountain. When you sit down on that chair it opens up your memories of why you are here, what this is all about, and you know something you don't know when your stuck in traffic in the middle of the city. As you near the end of the lift be sure to get your front tip up and just stand evenly on your board. Again you'll find those who just trust themselves and relax do just fine, and those with too much fear always find a way to fall down here. You sit down in the snow and strap in your back foot, then its time to start ridin. This is why you are here, this is why everyone has come. Its not to see the mountain tops, its not to enjoy the breakfast burrito with your friends on the way, it is this next thing that you'll do that is as good as anything else out there. we all carve our own personal heaven out in the shape of individual S curves but even as we do we also know the agony of understanding that hell does exist out there somewhere too. It isn't about heaven and hell though, it is about the complicated splendor of this one individual moment and this one individual path that we all will make through it. Physically mentally and spiritually you will be challenged on this battle ground your one adversary comes into light in this place, it is clear up here that it is you against yourself and most of the everybody wins.

I cannot even begin to describe to you what it is like to choose your own path through the snow covered forest, to see and feel the intricacies of the amazingly complex terrain, to see the sights, to feel the responsiveness of your edges and the smoothness of the powder. I can only try to explain these things to you, I can only tell you that it makes you exist in this moment,, Right now is where you must remain. It makes you see what is important, and forget about the stupid bullshit that usually seems so prominent in modern day life, like taxes or something retarded like that that you usually think is important. When you come here to ride there is an epic battle that exists within every snowboarder, it is a battle between fear and trust, between the truth and illusions, between this moment that exists now, and any other moment that may have once existed, but no longer does. If you really want to learn what it is that I speak of you aren't going to get any closer than you are at this moment by reading. If this brought back memories and your ready to ride well, hell yeah, or, If this sounded awesome and made you want to experience something new, well..... Either way, snow is on the hill now ladies and gentleman so do it to it. Who knows maybe We can meet up and enjoy some ramen noodles in the lodge or something. peace and luv, and to the dreamers like me,, sweet dreams.