iRide
Zaskoda’s Snowboarding Journal

It’s Friday. I haven’t been up since Sunday. However, last Sunday, at Keystone, was my 100th day snowboarding - of all time. After checking the weather reports the night before, I decided to go ahead an wear more than just my snow pants. It seemed cold, so another layer was warranted. Well, I under estimated. After scraping 8 inches of fresh snow off my truck, I ran inside and put on every layer I could find. We’ve had a lot of fresh snow fall around here; but it’s very very cold.

All in all, it was a good day. However, I am always surprised at how quickly Keystone gets packed and icy. I love a lot of things about Keystone - the nice new gondola, the A51 terrain park, a lot of extra terrain in the back; but the snow generally isn’t on the list. I often times give up faster lifts and extra terrain to shred A-Basin less than 5 minutes away.

So, now that I’ve hit my 100th day ever, I will probably stop counting. It was a fun metric for a while, but I’d like to redefine my goals in terms other than days on the slopes. Here are some things currently floating around in my skull:

• Get avalanche survival certification.
• Ride some back country. Maybe start with Loveland Pass.
• Ride somewhere I need to wear snowshoes to reach.
• Do a snowcat trip.
• Do a heli trip.
• Land a backside 180 and a 360. Currently, I’ve only landed front side 180s.
• Truly ride the pipe, maybe even learn to throw a trick or two.
• Ride Heavenly, Taos, Brighton, Kicking Horse, Whistler/Blackcomb, Park City, and Mt Bachelor.

Maybe I’ll think of some more goals later… but I think that’s a good list to start with.

Nino and I headed out for some more student/teacher time on the Mountain this past Sunday. I’m proud to say that she is now linking turns cleanly. There’s not much left to do for a while; now she needs to ride and build up her confidence.

Another interesting aspect to last Sunday: It was my 99th day of snowboarding - ever.

As many readers probably know, I had hoped to get 100 days in last season, and landed only 56. I’ll likely shoot for 100 days of riding another season - when I actually live right next to a hill. Meanwhile, I think I may celebrate my 100th day somehow. Perhaps I should wear a costume?

By the way, the image attached with today’s post is a sneak peak at some re-branding work being done for Dallas Snowboarders. Enjoy!

Well, I have a new favourite blog. What can I say, this girl knows how to get my attention. She lives in Vancouver, so I’m already jealous. She’s a shredder both on the snow and a surf board. She has a passion for videogames, photography and filming. She trips to places like Costa Rica and Japan. This cat is alright.

Furthermore, I just really like the layout and design of her blog. It makes me want to clean up my site. I usually end up reading most folks posts in an RSS reader… but it’s always nice to run across a clean design.

All passes from Colorado Pass are now using RFID chips. I’ve been up 6 days this season (98 days total!) and I must say, the use of RFID in this case is great. No longer do I struggle to make it easier for the lifties to scan the bar code on my pass. It’s a pain for me because the plastic coating on my coat’s pass sleeve tends to mess up the scanners. Now I just gesture to the general area of my body where the pass is and if the liftie comes close, it beeps.

I ended up getting two passes printed. My new pass didn’t show up in the mail until after my first ride day, so I had a new one printed on the spot at the slopes. It voided the old one, so I decided to tear it apart and find the RFID tag. I was kind of surprised, it’s as big as the entire pass itself. Check out the attached photo!