Jasper, Alberta
I’ve been dreading writing this post. Although I profess to be a lazy traveler I’m really quite stubborn and I don’t like it when I don’t excel at things. I really thought I would be good.
I’m not an uncoordinated person. I swear!
And yet most of my friends didn’t think I’d be very good. Maybe it’s because snowboarding isn’t easy and I have no patience.
But let’s start at the beginning.
I was in Jasper the same time as Kristen from Hopscotch the Globe, and while I was off eating she was experiencing the great outdoors. Feeling a bit lazy I was happy to try snowboarding as it’s practically shameful that I’m Canadian and have only skied.
Look at me, does this awkward marshmallow have any hope of getting down the hill??
Marmot Basin offers beginner lessons for all new to skiing and snowboarding in Jasper and our instructor was awesome and patient. But it was unusually cold that day and so my nose started running and then I started getting chilly and at the twenty minute mark I fell on my knees – really hard.
I’m aware this all reeks with an annoying whiney tone but I’m a bit of a whiner and as I awkwardly tried to pick myself back up I realized I wasn’t having fun. It was the same feeling I had when hiking Colca Canyon in Peru.
I’d rather be doing something else.
And so rather than stubbornly wait out the morning, miserably cold with snot running down my face I went back into the lodge and watched as Kristen mastered her first lesson. I’d like to say that while I watched from indoors I had a sense of regret seeing so many people enjoy the hills – but all I felt was the tingly warmth of indoor heating and a dry nose.
And while many people have consoled me saying that the first lesson is always tough but the next is better I have realized next time I’m just going to get fresh air by going dogsledding.
Disclosure: I was a guest of Jasper Tourism through a project with the Navigate Media Group but they did not request I write a favourable review or realize I should have gone dog sledding, which is far less effort than snowboarding – well at least for me – I’m sure the dogs put in a lot of effort
That Time I Sucked At Snowboarding in Jasper is a post from: Bacon is Magic
