snowboard

May

2019

An Important Lesson In Safety. No Helmet, No Ride.

Flashback 5 years: I walk outside to see L wearing a mixing bowl on his head. When I questioned him as to why his answer? “I wanted to ride my bike and couldn’t find my helmet.” Even at 3 years old he knew, no helmet, no bike.

The rule still applies to anyone at our house, always has, always will. Bike, scooters, skateboards, quads, basically anything that they sit or stand on with wheels. Even a snowboard, and skates, which don’t have wheels but still require helmets. I don’t care if you are moving 10 blocks or 10 feet. Your helmet is on your head.

Sadly this doesn’t seem to be the norm anymore. Nearly every day in the summer I see kids riding with no helmet. I’m not talking about older kids and teenagers. No, I am talking about kids L, and Big H’s ages, 8 and 6. Or even worse, Little H’s age, 3. This isn’t the kids’ decision, that is clearly the parents. I just don’t understand it. In Alberta, it is the LAW, at least on a bike; and more recently for everyone on an off-road vehicle or motorcycle.

Helmet Rules

A few summers ago we had what seemed like a constant battle at my parents’ house, she had picked up some used bikes for the boys to use at their house. Great. Except she didn’t get them helmets. – When I was growing up I wouldn’t have dared to not wear a helmet. If the fall didn’t kill me my parents certainly would have.- Every day the kids would be on them, and every day I was the bad guy telling them no they don’t have helmets on. I don’t care, I have to make my point the same rules apply everywhere not just at home.

They do finally have helmets, Big H is at least a size too big, and Little H has an oddly shaped head and is impossible to get a helmet sized properly on him, which is another battle I have been tackling while there. But luckily this year they are much more focused on the swings instead of their bikes.

Learning a Lesson

ATV helmets there isn’t even a little bit of a grey area. I worked at the Polaris dealership until a few years ago. The amount of kids that are allowed to ride without a helmet BLOWS MY MIND! My kids are not allowed to even ride their battery-powered quads without a helmet. If you let them ride one without a helmet they will want to ride them all. It just is easier for them to wear it always. This has never been an argument with our kids, it has just always been the case. When riding B and I always wear our helmets, monkey see monkey do right? However, Big H and L learned really fast a few years why they always wear a helmet. B was loading the side-by-side on the trailer going about 2 km/h and hit a rock. The result?

Stitches and a Harry Potter scar on his forehead. Imagine if he had been going regular riding speed. L now preaches helmet safety, because he doesn’t want to crack his head open like his daddy.

I’m not trying to come across preachy. To me, it is just common sense.

No Helmet, No Ride.

If you’re looking for more bike safety you can find it here or here. For more on ATV safety check out here. Or you know, use your head.

Nov

2018

How To Spend A day At Marmot Basin As A New Snowboarder

I remember the first time I ever tried snowboarding. I was 16 years old and indestructible. Well more or less. It took me probably an hour just to stand up. The next day I was so sore I could hardly move. Regardless, I loved it. I went a handful of times over the next couple of years, and only once to Marmot Basin . Then, when B and I got together, the babies came and I had little to no free time. Still, do to be completely honest. So I wasn’t able to hit the hill for years. Probably 7 or 8.

When L and Big H were gifted snowboarding lessons from their aunt and uncle last Christmas I was so excited. I was finally going to get back to the hill. But this time, I was going to take lessons myself.

B and I booked lessons at Jaspers Marmot Basin at the same time the boys took theirs. We booked the two-hour group lesson for beginners. Even though I had snowboarded before, it had been so long since I had gone, and B had never even tried it.

Included with the lesson was a Full Day Rental, Lower Mountain Lift Ticket, and of course the 2-hour lesson on the bunny hill. You can upgrade to include the full lift ticket if you want, but realistically it probably isn’t necessary for a beginner. – The kid’s lessons included their rentals, lift tickets, lessons, lunch, and time in childcare as well. –

The website suggests arriving an hour beforehand to get your rentals. I suggest longer. We were there an hour and a half before and were a few minutes late for our lessons. Weekdays are, most likely, less busy than the weekends.

When the lessons started, we had about 8 more people in our group and our instructor, Christian. Dispute the large group he was able to devote time to each student and help them as needed.

He went through the basic steps of standing up. Toe edge and heel edge, and switching between the two. Practising each thing a few times between adding in the next step. When you reached the bottom of the little hill you took the magic carpet back up to the top and started all over again

By the end of the two hours, my husband was done. Exhausted. Not at all surprising. So, we headed up to have a bite to eat where we met up with my brother and sister-in-law (who had injured herself on the hill). Her and B stayed there for the rest of the day.

Now, I have an irrational fear of chair lifts, which makes for a great time on the chairlift. So my brother fed me some liquid courage before dragging me to Eagle Express Quad Chairlift.

After the panicking inducing departure from the lift, we followed the Sleepy Hollow run down to Old Road back to the chalet. It took me about 2 hours and ALL of my energy.

At that point, we grabbed the kids and headed back to our hotel in Jasper for the night.

I have been to a couple of different ski hills over the years, but Marmot Basin my favourite to date. Next time I return I plan on doing lessons again, to increase my skills and maybe learn something new before heading up that dreaded lift up the mountain.

Do you have a favourite ski hill in your area?