Jorg's Brain Log

Finally back behind my laptop. I was on winter sport for the first time of my life. It was a great experience! Not only was it great to do some snowboarding but I also learned a lot; about myself, others, general stuff and not so general stuff.

My girlfriend stayed home with the kids and I went together with Sanne and his girlfriend. So all in all, I was pretty much boss of my own time, not influenced by urgent needs from the kids or other appointments and agreements. I planned to do a lot of snowboarding and the rest of the time find some rest by reading books and watching movies that I brought on my laptop.

We drove from Eindhoven to Solden (Austria) on Saturday 7th of march in a good pace. Starting at 6:30 and arriving in Austria around 13:30. But the last 100 km took us around 3 hours, so by the time we came in our rented pension we were pretty tired. A quick pizza and beer for dinner and after picking up our rented gear and after that it was pretty much over with the energy.

On Sunday morning it was our first day. And after studying the map of the ski region it was pretty clear that our pension location was very good. Only a 3 minute walk to the first elevator! After paying a ridiculous amount of money for a 6 day ski pass, we walked to the lift and went up. It’s a pretty fast ride of around 10 minutes that brings us from 1300 meters to 2300 meters at the giggibach pistes. Sun was shining, weather was good and I had a knot in my stomach from what I was seeing.

I think I have snowboarded before for around 12 times or so. But all the time it was on a great indoor piste. 550 meters long, elevator inside and everything. And I thought I was prepared and ready to go. I must admit that when I took the lift to the first blue piste (the easy one!) and I looked down I really second guessed if I was ready and why I was going to throw myself from a mountain. After attaching the bindings correctly and standing on my board for several seconds, my adrenaline-jorg took offer and a little voice said: go go go…

You can prepare as extensivly as you want, but nothing beats just trying the real thing! First lesson learned: If you’re afraid to fall, you will never learn anything!

After a few times up and down the piste it was becoming more and more easier to manoeuvre all the ways I wanted to and I even began to relax a little bit on my board. As soon as I relaxed on my board, the board took the way with the least resistance and that was not the way my body was going. Major wipe out. Lesson 2: Don’t be too comfortable soon, prepare for the unexpected!

After 3 hours non stop on the piste it was time to take a lunch. Down at our rooms we relaxed and ate a bit and at the same discussed what we were going to do. We looked at the map and decided it was time to find the highest point and take the long way back. What sounded like a great idea, became a long trip down feeling like a triple marathon. Because we did the 12 kilometer route in the afternoon many people already destroyed the snow with their ski’s making bumps and holes everywhere in the route. Bumps and holes are maybe fun for skiers but not for snowboarders, or at least boarders called Jorg!

Lesson 3: Don’t take the road much traveled! It’s boring and you don’t learn a thing!

We came back exhausted after this long trip, but all in all in was a good first learning day. There were many more lessons coming up in the next 5 days!