Mastering the art of Snowboardism

Being unemployed in Queenstown means that you officially become a snow bum. This literally says that "you have nothing better to do than go up in the mountains". It is also the cheapest thing to do, because I am completely set for this and don't need to spend any other money on this. It's a bi-winning situation.
I have to admit - although I'd rather be working right now, I have to say being a snow bum isn't the worst of lives. Alex has his course on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, which means that at least these days I get up as well to get to Coronet Peak, and although I don't ride as much as him, I do get my runs in.
On the other days, we prefer to go to the Remarkables, which has a bit more of a personal feel to it. The Remarks also feel less busy than Coronet.

In the 9 days that I've been up there, I have really improved well. From the flat beginner's area at Coronet Peak, which I didn't leave the first day to practice turns, I gradually went higher and have now ended up on some rather steep intermediate slopes in the Remarks. I can't complain! I am not yet Elegance itself up there, but hey, that's practice, practice, practice.

The snow has been very good these days, even the locals were shocked to see the next (Arctic) front come in and cover even downtown Queenstown in a thick, white carpet. This usually happens only once a season ... and now it has already happened in 2 weeks. Wickeeeeeeeeeed - as they say here :-).

Of course, being up there much more than usual, comes with the necessary little sores and so on. Last Tuesday my ankles really hurt a lot so I went to the physio yesterday. Jodie-the-physio, who is a snowboarder himself, told me to ice my ligaments (where I have a minor sprain), do some exercises to learn to control my toes (which is really funny) and to build up the muscles around the ankles, and told me to change the bindings on my board. I hope this is a help. I shouldn't snowboard for 2 more days. Tomorrow he's going to strap my legs a bit and Saturday I'm going to give it another go, and next week go back to the physio to see how it goes. In any case - I still have the entire season ahead of me so I am not too worried. By the end of the season I should be able to ride the Homeward Bound slope with Alex, or even do a heli board trip :-). Expectations, expectations!