I’m always a little bit apprehensive about snowboarding, but my youngest daughter loves skiing, so I always have a go to support her. Like a lot of the kids talents and interests it’s a bit of a mystery where she got the passion from, such is life.

It’s been a long two years since the last time we went, because of all that covid stuff.

Still, it was refreshingly good to be back on the slopes at Snowplanet which is located just north of Auckland. (https://snowplanet.co.nz/)

The big surprise for me though, was how natural it felt for me on a snowboard after all this time. In fact, I went better than I ever have before!. It just came to me naturally and easily.

Even using the T-bar lift wasn’t the intimidating monster it normally is. I’m normally struggling to stay upright, but this time around, I was just totally relaxed about it and just cruised along.

Then it dawned on me

I’ve been riding a skateboard as often as I can every day since, well, ages.. This has helped my natural balance no end.

Another reason is that I’ve finally worked out how to fix a troublesome knee that iritates me every winter. A combination of stretches and weights seems to have fixed the issue once and for all. (I can’t get complacent on this though, I need to keep up the thrice weekly routine).

All of this created a day that was bliss.

My daughter always wins the ‘race’ to the bottom, but she’s on ski’s and simply goes straight down the course, whereas I go from side to side as a way of controlling the speed and getting more precious time on the snow.