Whilst I was in Banff I passed my 100th day riding. I feel pretty fortunate to have been able to ride so much in the four years since I first stepped into a board (yes, my first lessons were with step-in bindings – fortunately I have progressed with technology and have been using strap-in bindings ever since I started riding on real snow).
I have ridden in 8 different countries across countless resorts (oh, ok there have been 18 resorts). Not sure which resort is next, but at the moment I am counting my pennies to see if there are enough to them to let me stay in Whistler in April. Or maybe to come back next year. Spending a season in resort is the most fun I can imagine having, I definitely recommend it.
Today was my first day back in Whistler. Banff was an amazing 2 weeks with riding from first to last lift, 3 different resorts, parks, rails, jumps (despite the fact Lake Louise banned kickers), snow, sun, crashes, injuries, poker, a wedding, new boots (for 3 of us), new board (for Warren), the biggest breakfast known to man (on our rest day Saturday), steaks, ribs, Kokanee Gold, free Kokonee from the Kokonee girls, dancing, doing my washing in a laundrette and enough bus rides to last a lifetime. Obviously I was far too busy enjoying myself to actually write any decent posts so I have masses to write. For this post I shall restrain myself and tell you about my top 5 favourite crashes (involving people I know) during the holiday:
5 – ME. I jumped of a natural kicker on day 1 whilst not wearing my helmet. Warren, who was riding ahead of me, turned around and all he could see was me lying on the floor and my goggles still arcing through the air after they had departed company with my head during the head-on-snow impact. Fortunately no injury was sustained and my goggles dutifully landed next to me.
4 – Warren. Trying to hit a natural kicker underneath a chair lift, he lost it on the run it and supermanned off the piste straight towards the trees. Fortunately he doesn’t have the ability to fly and gravity took over before he hit a tree, but it was proper funny. For me at least.
3 – ME. I was trying to nose poke over an edge, but misjudged it and managed to end up riding down the piste on only the tail of my board. This did not last long before I was riding down the piste on my backside.
2 – ME. Smashing my whole body off a 5-kink box. I went back and hit the box again a few days later when my body was up to it.
1 – Warren. I was at the entrance to the park in Lake Louise where they scan your pass to make sure you are allowed into the park. The scanner went beep as it registered my pass and then there was a crash and the fence I was standing next to disappeared. I turned round to find Warren buried in the fence after he had lost his edge approaching the park entrance at about 200mph. Unfortunately for him, this also hurt but not enough to lose riding time.
I did try and think of entries from other people, but sadly I could only come up with these 5, so Warren and I have a monopoly on best crash. If you would like me to rethink then post your entries for top 5 crash of the holiday and I will publish a revised list!
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