Weekend at Stratton

23Feb/090

I went to Stratton, Vermont this weekend and I have to say, Stratton is probably one of my favorite mountains so far. It's not the biggest mountain, but I like the terrain there. I had a blast doing glade runs this weekend. I was hesitant at first because I had several not so great experiences in the past, but I think I finally got comfortable navigating through glades. I'm pretty addicted to glades, so that's what I'll probably be working on every time I hit up Vermont. I think my problem before was that I was too fixated on the trees ahead of me instead of looking at the path I was on. Now I'm able to completely focus on the path. What helped for me was looking ahead and deciding in advance which turns and lines I were going to take. I'm still not able to handle really dense glades though, nor can I handle it when it gets to steep. The blue glades at Stratton were great.

Aside from doing the glades though, I was pretty disappointed that I didn't force myself to ride switch more. I can ride switch, but I feel very slow and not completely sure of myself. The best way to get better is to obviously practice more, but when you see all your friends zooming past you and disappearing into the distance, it's hard not to switch back to your natural stance and catch up with them.

This is my second season with my own setup. I think I'm ok considering it's my second real season of snowboarding, but it's starting to feel like I'm hitting a plateau. I think what I really have to do is just grow a pair . . . I'm not trying new tricks because I'm afraid to get hurt, but I'm not going to get better that way.

Anyway, the best part about the weekend apart from the awesome conditions is me winning a free raffle: two two-day lift tickets and two nights stay for two at Stratton. Freaking awesome.

I didn't take any pictures, but here's a picture of me and with some of my fraternity brothers who were also there that weekend (I'm the fourth from the right, in the white and tan outfit):