Snowboarding: A New Passion

As I mentioned in a previous post, Breezy and I are taking a snowboarding class at BYU. It is so much fun! The week before class started we went up to Sundance twice to just try it out, as neither of us had been before. Well... as it turns out we improved greatly in the first two runs we made. By the end of the second run we were switching from our heel side to our toe side. Don't believe me? Just watch the movies!

Seriously though, we were decent by the end of the first day (two runs) but by the end of the second day we were even better. The movie was from the second run of the second day, so we were a little bit better than the first time we went. It has been so much fun!

On the first day of class we were definitely a lot better than most of the people, but then again, most people hadn't been before. Well, the second week of class they let us move up to the level two class. It was so much better! The teacher definitely knew what he was doing and I improved so much. I now know what I need to work on. However... I probably won't be able to work on those things for about three or four weeks because...

I was going down the hill doing great. I knew what I was doing and was just practicing so that eventually I wouldn't have to think about it. All of the sudden as I was switching back to my heel side I caught an edge and fell on my back. Being the intelligent person I am, I put my left arm down to break the fall. And while I broke the fall... I also injured my wrist. Well... it didn't hurt too bad so I finished that run and then Breezy and I did two more runs (the class was over so we had about an hour of free time). I still practiced the new skills we had learned, but I was careful not to fall again.

So after we were done, we stopped off at the bathroom and I took of my glove. To my surprise (I really wasn't in that much pain), there was a good sized bump on the top of my wrist and my hand was pretty swollen. It didn't help that my hand was freezing. A lady (who I believe works at Sundance) said I should go to Ski Patrol. So... she took me to Ski Patrol and they put my arm in a "splint". Basically they put some wire mesh under my arm and wrapped it in gauze. Then I took the bus back to BYU where my mom picked me up to take me to the doctor.

One thing I took for granted is being able to take off your coat when you get in a building. Because I was in my ski clothes when they wrapped my arm at Ski Patrol, my coat was wrapped into the splint. When we got to the doctor's office I wanted to take my coat off, but I couldn't really. I was able to remove one arm from the coat, but then I just had to leave it on the other arm. I walked in to get x-rayed with a coat attached to my arm. It was great. I just carried it wherever I needed to go.

So, in the end, I found out there was a small fracture on the side of my wrist. They gave me a hard splint (which was much more comfortable than the ridiculous one I got from Ski Patrol) and told me to come back in a week to see if I needed a cast. The PA said it should probably heal in about 3-4 weeks. Sadly, that means I have to drop the snowboarding class, but fortunately I should be able to ski for the last part of the season. I probably won't be going back on the snowboard until next year, but at least I am good enough on skis that I don't have to worry about getting injured and I can still enjoy the great snow Sundance has had this year.

So there you have the story of my snowboarding experience. For eight years I have been skiing with no injuries, and after four days of snowboarding I break my wrist. How stupid is that? Oh well! I got 10 hours of paid time off at work and now I will have some free time on Tuesdays!