Today was the season finale. I couldn’t believe it was over. Since it was the last day, I didn’t want to teach. I snowboarded in the backside and then watched pond skimming. Five of my co-instructors joined the contest. Four of them were snowboard instructors. It was such a fun event. I didn’t participate because I had never done it before and I didn’t want to embarrass myself.

After enjoying a veggie bacon cheeseburger with fries for the last time for lunch, I felt sleepy. Again, I passed the lesson on to other instructors. I went carving some more in the backside. Around 3:00 pm, I called it the day. I returned my uniform and said goodbye to my wonderful co-instructors.

I must admit. I was getting a bit sentimental. Even though this was my first season as a snowboard instructor and I only got to know other instructors for a couple of months, I found a little bonding with them. We shared the same passion. None of us was here for the money. We weren’t paid enough. We were here because we loved skiing and snowboarding and we wanted to welcome more people into these winter sports.

I didn’t get a good sleep last night. In addition, I had to wake up an hour early because of the daylight saving. I didn’t participate in the ski clinic.

I didn’t have a morning lesson; therefore, I joined the snowboard clinic. The trainer went over torsional flex, which was fine. I had to discipline myself to stay in the close position so my body would align with my board. I wanted to hear his take on open position, but he didn’t have much to say.

I didn’t have class in the afternoon either; therefore, I joined another snowboard clinic. This time the trainer went over rotation, which was almost the same as torsional flex. Again, I stuck to the program and keep my body closed. I brought up open position again and we had a bit discussion. The trainer didn’t see the benefit of riding open position. I didn’t want to take up too much time so I let it go.

After the clinic, I went riding solo. At 3:00 pm, I was so tired. Next week will be the final week.

Wow! I spent 50 days skiing/snowboarding this season. Most of my time, however, I spent teaching.

Today, the whole family left around 7:30 am. We arrived at Whitetail almost 9:00 am. I didn’t get to do much before heading over at 9:30 am for our morning meeting and line up. I wanted to teach in the morning and I had 6 adults. The lesson went well. We got on the magic carpet at 10:30 am and took the the chair lift around 11:00 am. At 11:30 am, one of the students decided to sit out. She couldn’t take it anymore. The five reminding students continued on with J turns. They were able to do some S turns by the end of the class at 12:00 pm. I was happy about it.

After lunch I went back to the line up knowing that I would not have an afternoon class. I was done at 1:15 pm. Changed out my uniform and went riding with Đạo. We went to the back side and did several runs. The snow was getting sticky and heavy. At around 2:30 pm, we called it the day.

We left the resort around 3:30 and got home around 5:00 pm. Next weeked will be our final week for the season.

Last Saturday, our lead snowboard instructor asked us if anyone wanted to teach level-2. I raised my hand, but he ignored me. Then I raised my voice, but he also ignored me. After he told me that he couldn’t give me the level-2 lesson because he saw me riding with my open-body position. I need to align my body with my board.

I tried to explain to him that when I taught, I only demonstrated close position. When I rode, however, I opened up my body so I could carve better. He didn’t buy it. I guess I will be teaching first-time guests for a while, which I don’t mind.

When I first learn snowboarding, I rode in my duck stance and kept my body align with the board. As I progressed and wanted to learn carving. I came across Lars Horstmann’s The Justaride Snowboard Channel and tried out the posi-posi stance with an open position. I stuck with it and I had been riding with it eversince.

I had been debating whether I should go back to the duck stance or continued with the posi-posi stance. Yesterday Lars released a video addressing the controversy between the two stances. I found the answer I was looking for. I’ll stick with posi-posi and continue to hone in my carve. I am fine with teaching first-time snowboarders.

The weather is getting warmer. In the morning, the snow was still soft at Liberty. I snowboarded for about an hour and a half. My legs got tired from trying to tilt my board on its edges. I switched to skiing. My feet were so heavy in my ski boots. I could only do one run and had to take them out to give my feet a massage. They felt fine after that, but the snow turned mushy. I almost fell on the double black. It was too hard to carve, even on ski. Nevertheless, I had some good runs.

I left my house at 5:30 am and arrived at Whitetail around 7:15 am. I made it to the morning ski clinic. I always loved these clinics. We worked on putting pressure on outside foot.

I went to the line up at 10:00 am. I didn’t get any class. I went to snowboard clinic to learn buttering. It was not my thing. Luckily the training was about 45 minutes. I went riding afterward. I need to relearn to snowboard with my body closed. I have been carving with opening position, which my lead instructor doesn’t like. He didn’t give me any level two class because of that. I am cool with that.

I went back to the line up at 1:00 pm. I didn’t get any class either, which I was glad. I switched to my ski boots and went to the back side. The trails were getting slushy. I didn’t enjoy it too much. I left the resort around 2:30 pm. I was exhausted. Damn, I am getting old.

Today the whole family left the house at 7:00 am so I could make it to the morning line up. We arrived around 8:45 am. I went to the 10:00 am lone up and took a group a lesson. I taught two ladies.

At first, one of them didn’t think she could learn snowboarding. I encouraged her to give it as try. We took it as easy as possible. They turned out to be snowboarding really well. They followed my instructions and made great progress. I was surprised how they could do J turns.

One of the students also signed up for a private lesson and she wanted me to teach her, but her lesson had already been assigned.

I ended up not taking any lesson for the 1:00 pm line up. I went riding by myself a bit then with my wife and then with the kids.

We left the resort around 4:00 pm. It was perfect timing. I’ll be back tomorrow by myself to teach.

Despite the warm weather, the conditions at Liberty were still decent. I was able to snowboard on the double-black terrains and blue trails. I wanted to open my body more and go low for carving. I also tried to keep my body in the front. I would like to get better at carving on snowboard before the season is over. The clock is running out. There’s only 3 weekends left. I am going to miss it.

I woke up early today and headed to Whitetail to participate in the ski clinic. Sam was such a good trainer. I learned a lot from him. I wished he would teach carving.

After the clinic, I switched to my snowboard boots. I signed up for the City Kids who were from DC. I didn’t realize it was from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm. It was so long. We weren’t teaching. We were more like just keeping an eye on them.

By 3:30 pm, I was exhausted. The sun was shining and the heat made me sleepy. I didn’t get much sleep last night. I wanted to do a few runs, but I decided to just head back home.

Whitetail will be closed on March 16. That means we only have three weeks left for the season. It’s coming to an end too soon.

The whole family went to Whitetail today. I took Vương to the back side for the first time. He did well on the easy black and double-black trails. I didn’t have much time with Xuân and Vương. I had a class at 1:00 pm. I taught an eight-year-old boy and a nine-year-old boy. They were a bit tough to teach. They didn’t really listen.

I was free around 3:30 pm. I wanted to take Xuân and Vương to the back side. Xuân splashed snow on Vương with his board. Vương got mad and hit his forehead with his ski pole. I came down and saw Xuân cried. I yelled at Vương. He went back to the base by himself.

Xuân and I went to the double-black terrain and went back to the base. We headed home. Needless to say, I didn’t get to do much on my work day. I’ll try to get in some runs tomorrow.