Snowboarding at Crystal Mountain Ski Resort, WA

This was my fourth time snowboarding and I still had a lot to learn. The trip was organized by a group of snow-loving co-workers. We started out early in the morning, driving to Crystal Mountain Ski resort near Mount Rainier, which is about 2 hours from Seattle. It was a sunny Saturday at the mountain, packed with skiers and snowboarders from all ages. The surrounding was overly snow white mixed with green pine trees. Far away, the white slopes were filled with tiny skiers and snowboarders; it looked like salt and pepper.



It was still at freezing temperature on the mountain but after a couple of runs and with the sunlight it felt warm, in fact it was too warm that I had to take one layer of my clothes out because I sweated too much. I still had difficulty turning and riding on my toes which were more challenging than riding on my hills. Because I only knew how to ride on one side of the board and didn't know how to switch sides, I used only one part of my leg muscles which wore me out easily and really burned my thighs when going down the slopes. I had to take a lot of breaks. I asked my friends who are snowboarding veterans about how long it took them to learn how to snowboard. They said it took them about 10 rides before they can snowboard comfortably. So I felt not too bad for my fourth ride. I hope to get better next time and look forward to the day I can master snowboarding skill.