As we unloaded our equipment this morning, I discovered my skis and poles were missing. It then occurred to me that I left them at the rack at the resort on Sunday. I completely forgot about them. They were gone when I checked back this morning. I filed a report hoping they will turn up. They were my brand new skis I only rode two times.

Fortunately I still had my snowboard; therefore, I snowboarded for the entire day. I didn’t hit the slopes until 11:00 am. I took a long run on the Mansfield side then headed over to Spruce Peak side. I stayed there for the rest of the day. The condition was a bit icy, but snowboardable.

It was a fantastic day even though I was a bit bummed out about my skis. If they don’t turn up in the next couple of days, I’ll look for a new pair.

Unfortunately we didn’t ski or snowboard today. It has been raining hard all day and the area where we’re staying is flooding.

Let’s hope the water will subside tomorrow and the snow start to fall. We already missed one day of skiing and snowboarding.

We stayed in the house all day. The kids played Monopoly and spent most of their time on their devices.

What else can they do. I really want to hit the slopes.

Since it was our first day at Stowe, we didn’t know what to expect. The older kids explored the mountains on their own. My wife took her time learning to ski at the bunny slopes. We sent Vương to an all-day group lesson.

I joined the older kids for two ski runs on the blue terrains. My ski skills were rusty. I needed to learn to turn smoothly instead of quickly.

I switched to snowboarding and went on my own for four runs. I also wanted to learn to turn smoothly instead of abruptly. At this point, I like snowboarding a bit more than skiing.

When I picked up Vương after his all-day lesson, I learned that he spent all day in one tiny area playing with snow. He didn’t make it to the magic carpet. I was so disappointed. I thought he could at least make it to an easy green. $300 went down the drain. I was planning on taking snowboarding lessons myself, but didn’t seem like it would be worthwhile.

Damn, I am falling asleep trying to write this post. I am exhausted.

I went to Bryce yesterday to kick off our skiing/snowboarding season. I also wanted to test out my new gears to make sure I can ride them. Since we are getting serious about these sports, we might as well invest into new equipments.

Over the past several months, I sold my used gears and replaced them with new ones. Although they were brand new, they were at least 50% off. I took my time to do my search.

For snowboarding, I bought a 2023 Salomon Super 8 board ($265), 2020 United-G1 Rome bindings Rome Bindings ($110), and 2021 DC Men’s Laced Lace snowboard boots ($164). The whole set was $539.

For skiing, I bought 2023 Fischer RC Fire SLR Pro skis with RS 9 SLR bindings ($215) and Lange RX 120 ski boots ($355). The whole set was $570. Both set for just a bit over a $1000 is not bad.

Since Bryce is running an early-season discount on lift ticket for $40, I decided to drive an hour and 45 minutes to test out my equipments. Unfortunately, the condition was icy hard yesterday. I couldn’t initiate or turn my board at all. I was falling on my ass and knees. Fortunately, I had my Soared 3D Protection short pants on, but my knees were brutal. I need to put on my knee guards. The board performed well despite my horrible skills—I couldn’t get my front-knee steering down. This will be the technique I will learn this season. The DC boots worked really well. The stiffness held up well. I didn’t feel any pain at all.

I also tested out my Fischer skis, but I couldn’t do much under the hard-ice condition. They worked. I can’t wait to spend a week at Stowe starting this Saturday.

One of my favorite rollerblading techniques is the ability to drop in. The highest I can do is an 8-foot, curved ramp. Anything higher than that is just out of my league. Đán, on the other hand, has mastered his dropping techniques and he has the confidence to pull it off. Here are some of his awesome drops:

1. Wakefield Skatepark (1)
2. Wakefield Skatepark (2)
3. Reid Menzer Memorial Skatepark (1)
4. Reid Menzer Memorial Skatepark (2)
5. Powhatan Springs Skatepark (1)
6. Powhatan Springs Skatepark (2)
7. Scott D. Eagles Skatepark (1)
8. Scott D. Eagles Skatepark (2)
9. Scott D. Eagles Skatepark (3)
10. Scott D. Eagles Skatepark (Slo-mo)

I admire his skills and confidence.

Skiing season is coming soon. It’s time to prepare all the equipment. Tighten up all screws. Grease ski bindings. Install snowboard bindings. Check all boots to make sure they fit and are secured in bindings. Scrape off excessive wax.

I’ll be off work early mid December and return early mid January. We’ll head to Stowe in the third week of December. I can’t wait to get back to skiing and snowboarding. I hope I will be able to get some of the snowboarding techniques down. I have been watching them all year long.

It’s going to be a great winter.

Xuân asked me to take him to Wakefield this the evening. Of course I complied. He had been making progress on his scooter. He dropped in from the eight-foot ramp. He rode around the bowl. He hopped over the spines on the quarter pipes. Watching him flying over the ramps was just so satisfying. I hoped he continued to love the skatepark.

I did my usual routines such as riding in the bowl and hopping out of the bowl. I rode around the quarter pipes and did a bit of jumping and backward skating. I also dropped in from the eight-foot ramp. Things went fine until I decided to drop from the eight-foot ramp before heading home. I had to drop in from the bowl area so I could get the speed to get by ass on the eight-foot ramp. The bowl is about 5-foot high and I dropped in plenty of time. Unfortunately I was being careless and my left foot slipped out of the coping. I fell on my butt and hit my head. Thanks to the helmet for saving my head once again. It was a hard hit.

My head seems to be OK for now, but my butt is in pain. I am heading to bed and rest. I hope tomorrow will be a better day.

For many months, Xuân wanted to drop in from the eight-foot ramp at Wakefield. Every time he stepped on the coping with his scooter, he backed down. He didn’t want to bust his chin for the third times. He kept asking me if he should do it. I told him that I had no doubt that he could do it, but I didn’t want to put the pressure on him.

My issue was that I couldn’t get myself on the ramp to see how steep the ramp was until a couple of days ago. When he saw me dropping in with my aggressive skates, he was motivated to do the same on his scooter. We talked some more and I assured him that he shouldn’t have too feel any pressure. He could do it when he was ready. As a father, I was conflicted. I wanted him to go for it, but I also didn’t want him to get hurt.

Even though I assured him that he shouldn’t do it until he was ready, he said he was ready. As he stood on the ramp, I prayed my mother to keep him safe. I didn’t want to spend another night in emergency room while my wife was out of town. He went for it and aced it. I could see the joy on his face as he overcame his fear.

Why the hell are we getting into this aggressive sport? It has to be the thrill of overcoming our fear.

When Wakefield renovated its skatepark a year ago, I wanted to drop down from its highest half pipe. The only way to get on top of the ramp is to get enough speed to pump up. Unfortunately, I hadn’t been able to get my fat ass on top of the ramp until this evening. As expected, dropping down was not too scary since I had all the protective gears and a helmet. I overcame the challenge of climbing up. Now I can join Đạo and Đán for the thrill. I am a year behind them, but better late than never. Check out the clip.

In his live coaching session, “Improving Your Heelside Turn,” Nev Lapwood from Snowboard Addiction, pointed out that you need to keep your weight on top of your board by bending your knees (like you are sitting on a chair) and lifting up your toes.

In “Improving Your Toeside Turns,” Nav suggested the opposite. You still needed to keep your weight on top of your board by bending your knees and pushing your hips forward. He didn’t mention lifting your heel up or pushing down your toes down. Pushing your hips forward should do it.

In “Improving Your Carving on a Snowboard,” Nav suggested flowing your body into your turns. Using your front hand to point to the direction where you wanted to go.

In “Beginner Snowboard Lesson Pt. 5,” Nav suggested leaning downhill into your front foot instead of backward when riding down steep slopes.

I will keep his suggestions in mind when I snowboard this winter.