Jon?...Doh!

There are just over 100 people on the ‘nonstop’ course, 48 of whom are snowboarders. The snowboarders are broken up, according to experience, into six groups of 8 and instructors rotate each week around the groups providing all groups with tuition. Each instructor has their own ‘specialism’ (e.g. one may primarily focus on the technical aspects of riding, another may prefer riding steeps and moguls and another just likes to hit big jumps) so a broad range of riding skills receive specific focus.

This week my group (who have diminished from 8 to 6 following injury and a confidence crisis) ride with Jeremy, one of the younger instructors who favours freestyle riding and spins. Despite an enthusiastic start to the week, aches and pains in previously undiscovered muscles quickly take their toll and my riding ability begins to decline culminating in a collision with one of the girls in the group, whilst another member of the group falls so hard on his head that his helmet splits. It doesn’t hurt to be reminded how dangerous the sport can be...well, I suppose it hurts a bit.

Last week, after a day’s riding, a few of us went for a drink in a Fernie bar where we were joined by a journalist for the free local monthly magazine; ‘The Fernie fix’. She asked us a couple of questions for the magazine and took a few photos. The February issue of the ‘The Fernie fix’ was released today and is available everywhere in Fernie. At the back of the magazine is a slightly unflattering, drunken picture of me with the caption “30 year old nonstoper, Jon Carrier”!...I’ll try and convince people Jon is my uglier, non-identical twin brother.

Boot & Fernie

13 hours after leaving London Heathrow I arrive at my accommodation in Fernie to a house party, thrown by the course attendees who had arrived a week earlier. The house I will be calling home for the next twelve weeks resides 12 others but there are far more guests at the party, making it unclear who are actually going to be my housemates. Despite employing Derren Brown memory techniques I quickly forget the names of the many people I meet (perhaps I'll suggest name badges...)

The following day is spent exploring Fernie, a small mountain town comprising mainly ski/snowboard shops and primarily relying on visitors of the Fernie resort. We also attend the first of our 'technical sessions', a discussion on equipment which concludes with me convinced that I need to spend $350 on boot customisation. Like the mechanic who forbids you to drive out of his garage with 'those tyres', the presenters of the talk advise me not to ride a single day more in my ankles, without their custom orthotics. Their use of technical and physiological terms promptly close the sale.

We are allocated and introduced to the groups we'll be riding in for the next 5 weeks and I am surprised, pleased and apprehensive not to find myself in the lowest group. Any fears are soon alleviated when the switch riding and chairlift dismounting ability I had developed in Breck firmly qualify me for this group. The first two days of riding are unstructured, informal and are aimed at finding 'snow legs'. We also get to explore some of the Fernie resort: a vast, challenging and unpopulated resort (there are no queues on any chairlift).

My intention for this trip was to focus on the snowboarding and try to avoid a binge drinking replay of fresher's week. My alarm wakes me at 7:30am on Saturday morning, after 3 hours of sleep, in order to see the Olympic torch parade through Fernie. Still slightly inebriated I head to the town hall with the rest of the Fernie community, acknowledging that my good intentions may well be challenged over the next 12 weeks...

The mitten state

Michigan, 'the mitten state' (named not because of its temperature but its shape), hosts roughly two dozen ski resorts the largest of which has an elevation of circa 650ft. Spoilt by the 10,000ft elevation of Colorado, I set low expectations for riding in Michigan, however the blue skies and comfortable (yet freezing) temperatures make for enjoyable cruising.

After losing a third of our party to a knee injury after a tumble on a black run the first day of riding, Laura and I set off on our north Michigan ski tour to Caberfae, Boyne Highlands, Boyne Mountain and Nub's nob with Laura graciously assuming sole responsibility for the long, icy drives whilst I attempt to provide entertainment in the form of games of categories and "what are your top five...[blank]".

Apart from Caberfae, all three resorts have a similar quantity of trails offering a variety of terrain from steeps, to moguls, to trees, to rollers and during our three day tour we manage to ride them all. With Laura having skied since her early teens I am pushed to keep up, often lagging behind due to a tumble or unplanned loss of momentum and running out of excuses when I meet her at the bottom of each trail:

"The cold made my feet cramp up and I slowed to stretch them out";

"I stopped to take some photos";

"I was attempting some cool new freestyle moves";

"Some skiers got in my way and I had to slow down";

"I needed to readjust my bindings";

"Erm...I fell over"

Unlike Colorado, the Michigan resorts have many more flat cat-tracks requiring significant amounts of gruelling skating. But with the excessive amounts of greasy hamburgers, pulled pork sandwiches, pizza, fries and cake that I'm becoming accustomed to in the US, my arteries are grateful. With a week to go before flying to Canada for the 13 week course, my stint in Michigan has helped me to maintain my 'snow legs', despite the cholesterol saturated blood flowing through them a little slower.