Red Green Repeat Adventures of a Spec Driven Junkie

Bad to Great: Skiing and Snowboarding

The hardest part of learning is getting through the “bad” part. It’s even harder the second time around because you know how much effort the “bad” part takes to overcome.

I believe this also keeps people from learning new things, especially when they have mastered one domain.

For me, I mastered skiing from a young age on local hills and I was content with my abilities. I tackled everything the local hills had, even moguls!

When I went with new friends to ski another hill in another town, the hill bored me to tears.

That’s when I thought:

Why not switch to snowboarding?

At the time, snowboarding just came into fashion and the local hill had rentals with lessons.

I switched to a snowboard and immediately:

Fell on my face.

The only thing in common between snowboarding and skiing is the snow! Everything is different.

I failed at basic things, like getting on the tow rope, staying on the tow rope, getting off the tow rope, things I mastered on skis long, long, ago!

Once, when I fell on the tow rope and took out everyone else (the worst kind of beginner!) I saw another skier go down the hill, my internal muscles switched the exact way I would do their motions.

Crashing Tow Rope

I went from King of the (Ski) Hill to The Person Everyone Dreads on the Tow Rope.

The next day didn’t help either because my body was so sore that I could not move or relax. Sitting hurt, laying down hurt, standing? Forget it!

Learning to snowboard after learning to ski hurt physically, psychologically, and my pride.

Going back to skiing and never snowboarding again would be an easy choice.

I did something else:

I never skied again after that day.

I went all in on snowboarding years later and slowly improved by taking gentle slopes, watching videos, climbing the hill like I did when I learned to ski.

Re-learning was tough and at the end - all the ski skills I gained came into play:

Reading the Mountain and Other Skiers

That was the other thing common between skiing and snowboarding I finally realized - sharing the mountain.

Learning to snowboard after mastering skiing was tough because I knew everything in skiing, especially how tough to get good at skiing was.

Now, I can snowboard AND ski - so I have at least two options whenever I’m at a snowy mountain.

Always take a chance to learn something new after mastering one thing. It opens up new doors, or at least world of pain.

😅