Chloe Kim carried a stranded snowboarder on her back. Isn’t she just fucking awesome? This is another reason to love snowboarding. The community is fantastic.

Near the end of last year, I went to Bryce to learn snowboarding for the first time. I kept falling down even I was trying to stand on the snowboard. I got frustrated, but a young couple came and encouraged me. The guy told me that I was doing great and the only way to get better was to keep trying. I took his words and kept on trying.

Today I still have so much to learn, but I got past that frustrating stage. I can’t wait to hit the trails again tomorrow.

On Saturday, I snowboarded on the blue terrain learning to initiate my turns early. My toe turns are improving, but they are still not as effective as my heel turns. I am still trying to learn quick turns on steep terrains. I found this video useful in showing how to put pressure on my front foot and lift up my back foot to pivot the turn. I still haven’t accomplished this yet.

On Sunday, I snowboarded on the blue terrains at Liberty. I did well; therefore, I went on the black terrain. I was able to pull it off. I was happy about it. I want to spend more time learning the fast turns. In snowboarding, turns seem to be everything. Once you master your turns, you can enjoy your ride downhill. Learning tricks would be the next step.

Skiing and snowboarding have significant benefits for me. In addition to keeping myself active during the winter months, I haven’t had a gout attack even though I have been drinking quite a bit and consuming beef. Knock on wood, but I haven’t had any winter sickness like cold, cough, or congestion. When I ski or snowboard, I put all my stress behind. I don’t give a shit any more. I just go with the flow.

On Saturday, our whole family headed back to Liberty. The kids skied with their cousins. I skied with Vương for one run on the bunny slope and several blue and black terrains with Xuân and my nephews. I also taught my wife some basic skiing skills. We arrived around noon and left around 4pm. I didn’t get a chance to snowboard.

Today, we went to Roundtop. I skied with Vương for two runs on the green terrains then switched to snowboard. I did two runs on the green and headed up the blue. I was a bit nervous, but I made my way down with a few falls. This video from SnowboardProCamp helped boosted my confidence. I need to learn quick turns to get around the moguls. At least I made a bit of a progress on snowboarding.

After four weeks off, I will be returning to work tomorrow. I definitely need some adjustments for the reentry.

On Thursday, I wanted to take Vương to skiing, but he didn’t want to go. We ended up taking the Metro to Smithsonian’s National Zoo. We had a wonderful bonding time together. He enjoyed seeing the animals and I enjoyed being with him. I just wanted him to get off the digital devices and spend more time outside. He is growing up too fast. I am going to miss him at this age.

Today, I headed back to Liberty early in the morning to practice snowboarding. My feet were still in pain when I turned, especially on my toe edge. I am not sure how to overcome this. I managed to make early edge changes and narrowed down my path. I picked up a tip from Malcolm Moore’s “Garlands” exercise—the front foot initiates the change the back foot follows. Here’s the rhythm: 1, 2 (heels), 3, 4 (toes). Once I mastered my edge changes, I will be ready to hit the blue and black terrains.

Of course, I had to hit two runs on ski before leaving the resort. I now have to carry both sets with me. Instead of having to choose one over the other, embrace both sports. Even though they share the slopes, the two sports are completely different. I like how my brain can switch back and forth for both. Snowboarding is still new to me; therefore, I enjoy the learning challenge. I am not an expert at skiing, but I am at the level where I can comfortably go down the steep terrains.

Mother Nature hasn’t been nice to us all week with rain and warm weather. Despite 60°F today, I went to Liberty to see if the trails were still skiable. As expected, the ice was slushy. I couldn’t snowboard down the green trail without stopping to rest my feet. They were excruciatingly uncomfortable. I was using Đán’s rental boots because he took mine. After five runs, I couldn’t continue.

Because my feet hurt so bad, I didn’t make any progress on snowboarding. I wanted to work on the torsional twists and the pole drills, but I couldn’t do them. I ended up switching to skiing. I went up to the blue trail and skied around moguls. I still love skiing.

Climate change is making a huge impact on skiing and snowboarding. If the weather continues to get warmer and warmer in the winter, we won’t be able to ski in the next few years. I hope that won’t be the case.

After countless falls and frustrations, I am getting a hang of snowboarding. I can do the toe turn thanks to Tommie Bennett’s turning techniques. Bennett’s ultimate guide to changing edges was also helpful.

I learned to avoid catching edges by squeezing my board. When an instructor explained to me the squeezing technique last year, I didn’t understand what he meant, but I get it now. What clicked for me was that I had to remember to constantly put my weight on my front foot. Kevin Pearce’s “Slow to Fast Snowboard Turn Progression” demonstrated this technique.

Learning snowboarding is definitely harder than skiing. I fell so much that my body was immune to the pain. Out of frustration, I almost gave up, but I kept going. I thought I might be too old for snowboarding, but what I really needed was patience.

I still love skiing, but I am ready to take on the snowboarding challenge. I still have a lot to learn, but snowboarding is unlocking a whole new world for me.

Spent all day with my little Xuânshine skiing and learning to snowboard. The condition at Whitetail was icy. We kicked off with two runs on the blue trails—neither black nor double black opened. We ate lunch and switched to snowboarding. Xuân was doing good. He could start to link his turns. He just needed a bit more patience to get past the frustrating part.

I didn’t make much progress on snowboarding today. I was still trying to figure out how to change edges without flattening my board and catching the edge. I am taking my time and trying to be patient with snowboarding. I still have a lot to learn, but I can control my board and my speed. My goal is to get my torsional twists down.

I had a fantastic bonding time with Xuân. With four kids, I find spending time alone with just one—once in a while—to be meaningful. I am glad that he decided to spend a whole day with me on the mountains rather than to spend on his digital devices. His brothers chose the latter. They rather played on their computer than went skiing and snowboarding. Of course, it would be fun to go with the whole family, but I was happy hanging out with my little Xuânshine. He has so much strength and energy for a six-year-old boy.

We went back to Liberty for the first time this season. It only had a few green and blue trails. I spent four hours on the bunny slope and the green trail to learn snowboarding. I figured out how to do the toe turn. Even though I still caught the edges occasionally, I was able to put together the “S” turn.

Snowboarding is started to click. My next goal is to make my “S” turns narrower and link my turns smoother. I still have a lot to learn, but I am starting to dig snowboarding. Of course I won’t give up skiing. I still love skiing, but I just want to challenge myself with snowboarding.

We didn’t hit the slopes today because it had rained all day. After skiing for five days straight, we needed a day off to rest and relax before heading back home tomorrow.

Yesterday, Đạo asked his mom and me what was the best vacation we ever had. My wife couldn’t come up with anything at the moment, and I told him, “This is it.” I was having the best time of life enjoying the winter sports and hanging around my love ones. What more could I ask for? I treasured the time we spent together because no one knew how long we could stay on this earth. I don’t want to wait until my clock runs out. I want to take advantage of the time I have with my family. I love my wife and kids too much.

I hope they enjoyed their time with me as well. Anyway, here’s a short video of our trip at Okemo.

During my snowboarding lesson yesterday, I fell and almost twisted my right knee. Later into the night I could barely lift up my leg without feeling the sharp pain. I thought I won’t be able to ski today. When I woke up this morning, I still felt the pain, but I determined to hit the slopes to ski with my little Vương.

Today, the boys and I went all the way to the top of the mountain. I wanted to take Vương all around the green slopes. We did fine for a bit and then took the shortcut to the blue slope to get back down to the base. It was a big mistake. Vương got a little scared even though I held on to him the whole time. Skiing on the blue slope with a toddler was quite a challenge, but we made it back down with just one fall.

After lunch, I left Vương with his mom and the rest of us went back to the black slopes. After five days straight on the slopes, I could feel the pain. I was exhausted and my legs gave out. And yet, the pain on my knee has subsided without any painkillers or patches. We managed to do two runs before the lift closed out.

All-day rain is forecast for tomorrow. We might just stay in and rest up before heading back home on Saturday. We’ll see.