A Mountain Climber's First Time on Skiboards

I had only skied twice in the last ten years prior to buying my first pair of skiboards. My interest was piqued since I'd moved to Colorado and had seen a mention of skiboards in a rock-climber's magazine. Since I enjoy backcountry climbing, and could easily see these things as useful gizmos for descending from winter climbs, I invested.

I was quite pleased to discover that my plastic mountaineering boots would work with the bindings saving me the expense of ski boots! My first time out was at Eldora, near Boulder, Colo. It was during a snap of below zero degrees, so I was bundled up like an Everest climber on summit day. The season was still young, a few days before Christmas, so there weren't too many people on the slopes. However, the people who were there did look at me funny. At least one said, "Hey, look at those things!"

It was a blast! My previously feeble skills seemed more than a match for all but the most challenging territory, my relatively soft boots felt more like in-line skates than a ski boot would have, and when I felt it didn't seem like I would torque my already screwed-up knees. I was hooked.

As the season went on I purchased a more aggressive set of boards, spent more time on bigger mountains, and milked powder out of the trees until April. This year I have a season pass and plan on spending all of my time on skiboards. Let the yahoos play in the terrain park, I'll be off in the rough!

Fritz,
Age 28
Denver, Colo.

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