If you haven’t been to Pillow Fight at Stevens Pass…GO! Today was so, so awesome. There were about 50 women and we split up into different groups–beginner, intermediate, intermediate-advanced, park-beginner, and park-advanced. The groups were small and each had an instructor, and everyone I talked to said their instructors were great.
Here is our rad instructor Mercedes telling us to pick out our line and keep our front shoulder downhill.
This was the first time I had ever had any instruction and I was really looking forward to it. I feel like I’ve kind of come to a standstill in my riding and wanted some new tips to get to the next level. I joined up with Mercedes, the instructor, and a group of women in the advanced group. I was thinking of joining up with the beginning park group, but we had gotten so much snow, I couldn’t let all that powder go to waste.
We were able to demo Burton boards too, so I grabbed the Feel Good ES –it was a 52 I think. The first run we did was underneath the chair at Hogsback. We learned how to go over rollers and be light on our feet so we rode over them and onto the next one, instead of getting shot in the air–like it was a kicker. The chute we were going down was a little tight and I found it was hard to navigate with a longer board–I am used to a 47.
After a couple of runs down in the trees at Hogsback we headed to Tye Mill. At Tye Mill there is this 15 foot cliff underneath the chairlift. I’ve always checked out the run wondering what it was like. Mercedes got the group together and we went on the run I had always looked at. We didn’t launch off of the cliff…fortunately…but we did go down it taking an easier route. It was at this point, with all of the good snow, that we just had to point the board and go. This completely freaks me out. Pointing it. But we all did it and it was so much better than falling leaf or side slipping. I learned that if you keep your knees soft and plan your line, it’s not a death wish. It was a little scary, but so much fun.
Another place I’ve always wanted to check out was Tye Bowl. I’d always see it on the lift and it looked like fun. And we ended up heading over there. It was sweet!
On 7th Heaven, Solitude
Lunchtime and I switched out the Feel Good for a Forum The Sauce. The Feel Good was just to big for what I was used to and was very stiff (which was good for charging), but in stuff that was tight it was difficult to maneuver.
The group of ladies I was with were amazing!
After lunch we decided to check out 7th Heaven. I have never been up there before. It’s double-blacks and from what I have heard, it’s only good when there is fresh snow.
Hiking up to get to Solitude
We had to hike up with our boards on, and then traversed to Solitude chute. We worked on planning our line, and turning with our front leg –I had been trying to turn with my back leg all this time–dang…using your front leg is so much easier. Being up on 7th, I realized how easy it would be to fall and then keep going down the hill–unable to stop.
We ran Solitude a couple of times and then took 7th Heaven to Tye Mill. It was a bit of traversing, but a lot of powder and super fun. From Tye, hiked up a cat track and rode down through more pow. By the end of the day the snow was really heavy and sticky, but we had deep snow all day long.
We hit almost everything on the mountain that I’ve always looked at and wanted to try out. It was so, so sweet. Plus everyone was super supportive and encouraging. Some parts of the day (like getting off of the chairlift at 7th Heaven and charging straight down some narrow chutes, I thought I was going to die), but I did it! Yeah!
Getting instruction was so good, I felt like I was learning so much faster and I knew that I wasn’t going to go off a cliff accidentally. Mercedes pushed us all just enough so that we went just beyond our comfort zone…but not too far that we got frustrated. Maybe I can get more lessons for my birthday…or Christmas…
I can’t wait for tomorrow, although I’m not sure if I’ll do the same freeride class or go over into the park. These are the kind of decisions I need to have more of.
