Snowboarding!

This area is a boon for the outdoor-types - tons of opportunities for all sorts of activities, which the emphasis on "active". One of those activities is snowboarding. With an elevation of 11,249ft, Mt. Hood has 3 ski facilities, including the only year-round skiing and snowboarding in the US, and it's less than an hour away¹. So we decided that we would take up snowboarding. (While Mt. Adams is only 15 miles away, it does not have any facilities; much of the mountain, including the summit, is inside the Yakama Nation Indian reservation.)

It's awesome! The best thing about snowboarding is that when you are first learning, you can have fun on the very first day. But I definitely suggest that anyone learning to snowboard take lessons. We bought a 3-pack of beginner lift tickets (restricted to the beginner lifts) which included rentals and a 90-minute lesson each time. There's no arguing that snowboarding feels really awkward when you are first learning; but once you start to get the hang of it, you're ready to head downhill (slowly).

The key to snowboarding, at least for us, is having the right equipment. So we went out and bought pants, jackets, gloves, wrist guards, helmets, and a buttshield even before we went up to the mountain for the first time.

I know what you're thinking - did he just say "buttshield"?

Yes, buttshield. We each received one of these devices from Corinne's brother Loren, who swears by them. When you are learning to snowboard, you are going to fall. A lot. And even after you learn, you are still going to fall, just not as much (hopefully). With this buttshield shoved down your pants, falling on your ass isn't so bad. And it even keeps you warm when sitting in the snow - not too shabby. The helmut and wrist guards are probably more important - spraining or breaking your wrist while attempting to break your fall is one of the more common injuries on the mountain - but neither garners quite the response of the buttshield.


Mt. Hood from the Mt Hood Meadows parking lot. You won't see any photos of us actually ON the mountain just yet; when you do, you'll know we have gotten sufficiently good to be able to carry a camera down the hill without danger of landing on it.

- Mike (& Corinne)

¹Technically, the facilities on Mt. Hood are about 40 minutes from the Columbia River, and our house is 30 minutes from the Columbia. But it's still pretty close.