I’ve lived within an hour of some type of ski hill for almost my entire life and yet I’ve never tried to ski or snowboard. It isn’t something the ever interested me, the thought of attaching sticks to my feet and going down hill, whilst dodging trees, just didn’t appeal to me. After reading ‘The Flinch’ by Julian Smith, I decided I want to face these things and try them.
Hence when I was invited to go to Sir Sam’s in Haliburton and try snowboarding, I hesitantly said yes. Even when I got up to the top of the bunny hill, I could feel that nagging feeling of fear and doubt. I didn’t want to fall, I didn’t want to get hurt. So I took a deep breath, and stood up and off I went. Guess what? I fell, multiple times.
But every time I fell, I made it right back up and kept on going. More importantly then that – I had a large smile on my face each and every time. And as the day progressed, the amount of falling I did was slowly declining. I even made my way onto some of the bigger hills! It was quite the experience and something I didn’t think I’d ever partake in or enjoy so much.
It is funny that this comes about the same time that I was finishing up ‘The Flinch’ – abook about facing that exact thing that kept me from doing snowboarding. It holds some valuable lessons, and although a little light and somewhat repetitive, the price is right because it is free. Read my review on Amazon.
I would like to try and get out to do it once again this season, most likely sometime in February. Although I won’t travel nearly as far, maybe I will try Devil’s Elbow or the Batawa Ski Hill. Both of which are much closer, and more of an afternoon opposed to an entire day trip.
