# I committed the ultimate "no-no" with a significant other this weekend.



## destroy (Dec 16, 2012)

And no... I'm not talking about having _fun_ with one of her hot friends at the same time, or anything like that. I'm talking about a different hotly contested issue on here...

When my girlfriend and I met last spring she learned pretty quickly on that her life with me was inevitably going to involve her learning to snowboard. I made it clear that if she wanted to spend any time with me during the winter, she had better learn how to snowboard! I made it clear that I would take care of her and take my time to teach her and make sure everything went well. It's been weighing over the two of us ever since though.

She moved to Banff just after high school with her best friend, about 12 years ago. She said at the time it just seemed like a good adventure and that she thinks that her intention originally was to learn how to snowboard. Either way, when it came down to it, it didn't go well. She had a lesson early on in her time but it went poorly. She never really learned much and just ended up skidding down the hill on her heels, not catching the grasp of anything, just digging in her edge and slamming every time she tried to attempt a turn. It sounds like the instructor missed a lot of helpful stuff to make it an easier go. This left her pretty sour on the snowboarding part and they never went out again, instead just partying and doing "young and dumb" stuff. In the years that followed, she developed some health issues, and as a result of living overseas and partying for years she was pretty out of shape when I met her. At that time I met her she was taking steps to make a lot of positive changes for herself. She was just finishing school to start her apprenticeship as a cabinet maker. She'd only worked office jobs prior and was already seeing changes as she started doing more physical work. In the meantime in the past few months she'd started working out multiple times a week at the gym and was improving. Then this past month or so she committed and totally changed her diet and has since lost around 20 lbs. All this time I knew if she was willing to commit, snowboarding could be a huge positive influence on her and it could change her life and be good for us together.

We've had a long process just to get our passes and all her gear together and get her ready to go. I knew from the get go that there would be no way I could afford to get her lessons, and was very confident in my teaching abilities and my personality despite the warnings that everyone has. It's been strenuous and tiring but we were finally ready last weekend but I couldn't get all our stuff ready after my long work days during the week in time so we post-phoned to this weekend. Anyway, we went out on Sunday up to Whistler. It was less than ideal in some regards, but the soft slush down below probably made it easy and less painful to learn on. I had shown her some videos and got her a little familiar with the equipment. We started off with all the basics, I briefly showed her how to walk with one foot strapped in, how to skate, and then how to strap in standing up so she wouldn't be worn out from sitting and standing up all the time.

She started off very slow and shaky about all this. There was a nervousness about her leading up, starting the previous day that I had never seen before. I've not been without worry this whole time that she wouldn't like it and that it would go poorly and not turn out how I had hoped at all. It was make or break time!

She started off trying to make turns and had plenty of falls. She got pretty flustered, mostly with trying to pick herself over and over and getting exhausted. Eventually she made it to J-turns, and got to the point where she was completing one successfully on each side. After that it was no time before she was attempting to link the two together. They got closer and closer together, and even though we spent probably an hour or two on that first run she was linking turns by the end of it and on the next run she hardly fell at all.

She was hooked! That feeling of success and reward that we all when it started to click was happening before my eyes and she was very excited despite being exhausted. There were moments where she struggled, flustered, and was almost in tears, but with my patience and support she persevered and it paid off. The long car ride home after that had her in a calm and accomplished state I've never seen her in. It was nice.

I've read so many success stories about people who were having plenty of issues in their life before snowboarding turned everything around. It's had so much of an impact on me, and now I'm glad I can share it with someone else.

Never let anyone tell you that you can't do something you desire! Enjoy the ride, folks.


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## augie (Mar 14, 2012)

congrats, 

- on teaching a gf to board without killing each other
- on landing a gf, who after the fact then loses weight and get's in better shape, awesome
- on landing a gf than can wood work, double awesome


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## cookiedog (Mar 3, 2014)

a cabinet maker?


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## Pantxo (Jan 30, 2015)

Congrats! It´s a great story, hopefully she will stick with that feeling and she will start enjoying every ride. 

I have some big FAILS trying to teach SOs. 

Good for you man!


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## Demi9OD (Dec 23, 2014)

cookiedog said:


> a cabinet maker?


Ever shopped a kitchen remodel? Based on the prices of cabinets, I think she could do just fine.


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## backstop13 (Jun 27, 2012)

I convinced my wife to board with me a couple of years ago.

first time out she broke her leg on the last run of the night. Had a good day up until that point and was starting to link turns.

next season, she broke her tailbone on the first day of a week-long trip.


She sold all her gear this year, said she might take up skiing...


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## Motogp990 (Mar 10, 2013)

Awesome job, both of you guys, for being patient and her persevering.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

:woohoo: Congrats to Mrs Destroy. Just proves that good :shithappens: :hairy:


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## ekb18c (Mar 11, 2013)

Subject made me go WOAH...

First line made go OH.. blah..


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## chomps1211 (Mar 30, 2011)

Congrat's on being the exception to the rule! Glad it worked out ok for you! (_…no worries about some "lift lizard" swooping in to score with the bruised, crying, angry and disillusioned SO for you, eh?_) 













_….Dang It!!!_   :laugh:
:hairy:


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## kalev (Dec 17, 2013)

Congrats on being successful! 

My wife wanted to take one last crack at snowboarding this year so she took a lesson. She ended up taking a bad fall off the lift and basically pulled the plug on snowboarding (probably forever). 

Maybe I should have defied conventional wisdom and tried teaching her myself? Lol 

Anyway, well done!


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## cookiedog (Mar 3, 2014)

Demi9OD said:


> Ever shopped a kitchen remodel? Based on the prices of cabinets, I think she could do just fine.


it's not about the money. It's just that usually men do that kind of work )


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

Sweet story! Sounds as if you've done it right. I know I've been a PITA when I met the hub (he had the same prerequisite as you...) and could barely ride... he's been patient and... some years later, I think I can say that he has a decent riding buddy instead of just a nuisance. As fast as she got hooked, the positive effect it had on her... I'm confident you'll have an awsome riding buddy soon  



destroy said:


> The long car ride home after that had her in a calm and accomplished state I've never seen her in. It was nice.


Haha, this made me smile... it feels so familiar... I'm a restless type... snowboarding and horseriding gives me that calm n accomplished feeling as well. Glad for you that it clicked that deep, sounds as if we have a new addicted soul :happy:



backstop13 said:


> She sold all her gear this year, said she might take up skiing...


Wow... IMO an understandable reaction. This ski vs snowboard is so old... be happy she'll pick up skiing. Like that, you can spend time on the slopes together :thumbsup:. Guy of the pack had a similar story with his GF (broken bones on first run), the GF picked up tele skiing, loves it, practiced 2y on her own and is now joining us on hikes and venturing SC. Win-win.


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## pencap75 (Dec 10, 2008)

My wife was already a snowboard chic when I met her, so it was a no brainer to marry her.


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## Deacon (Mar 2, 2013)

Rad story.


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## F1EA (Oct 25, 2013)

Oh... so you mean the OTHER no-no.......

Anyways
That's awesome man! I went with the wife and she had a blast at Whis. I thought she was going to be tired or overwhelmed.... but nope. Rode all day then even rode all the way down to creekside (via the Black run) at the end of the day after closing; in the end complained she didn't get to hit even more runs.

The downside is that while somebody else's SO (ahem... he knows who he is)  was down at Dusty's (by noon!) allowing said individual to ride the freshhhhh stuff; i didnt get much time for that; but on the upside, i was able to practice lots of switch and a bunch of messing around the side hits. Which is fun too. 

All in all, good fun. Plus your SO is now STOKED = win.


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## SkullAndXbones (Feb 24, 2014)

backstop13 said:


> I convinced my wife to board with me a couple of years ago.
> 
> first time out she broke her leg on the last run of the night. Had a good day up until that point and was starting to link turns.
> 
> ...


wow talk about bad luck. i hope she ends up liking skiing if she does in fact try it.


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## Banjo (Jan 29, 2013)

Solid....now to get through that part of learning where you regress briefly. Or was that just me? :hairy:

Sounds like a good learning experience and that you (both) went at it with the right attitude!


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