I feel kind of like when I told my aunt I’d run a 5K: good about the exercise and cause, but bad about waking up early and running a 5K. I somehow got conned into a half marathon, kinda, we’ll see how that plays out. I also am going to be riding at Windham on Sunday for a group I volunteered for, so I’m sure I’ll be sore for that.

I’ve never done any of these benefit events, so I’m looking forward to it and the fact that I’m trying something new. Breast cancer really hasn’t affected my family too much. My mom’s mom had it, and beat it, twice before age 60, so I think I’ve got a decent chance in a battle with cancer.

It’s not just genes though. These events raise money and awareness. I absolutely hate going to the doctor and wasting precious time I could be snowboarding…or sleeping. Or when I have to wait 45 minutes for something that takes 2 minutes. What I have to try and remember is that one of those visits may be the one that saves me. Early detection is best.

Those yearly exams, I try not to skip them, but emergency room visits are over-rated. Most cuts and gashes can be solved with crazy glue and some band-aids, gauze or even duct tape. Most everything else requires OTC pain relievers and Jack.

You can view my personal page for the event here. If you would like to donate it is greatly appreciated and if you are near Mountain Creek why not join a team?

Gray opening day

I did some laps and checked out the new instructor training groups and just took it easy. I threw in a few little 180s and realized how rusty I am. I became lazy over the past few months so I need to get my legs back and get in shape again. Although I shouldn’t use my snowboarding season to get in shape, I should be already, he-he. I didn’t really get pictures from that day, but just a few shots of the mountain.

Dreary base view

I also don’t want to put anybody up here who doesn’t want to be either. I will get better at this photo thing for the blog, promise.

Omatic Sweet 160 09'

Be wary of how busy and backed up online shops still are, especially the smaller core shops. I placed an order on the night of Monday, November 30th and it has yet to ship. A small place with limited resources and hands can only do so much, but they were honest and up front about, so no biggie.

And since I am waiting on some stuff, I’ll post when I get it. Actually my boyfriend just got his Omatic Sweet (pic above) snowboard yesterday, and it is pretty sweet. Even better, since he was torn about whether to get the Omatic Sweet or the Omatic Awesome, he got stickers that say “Awesome.” I know it is a great board and I did a lot of research, but I really think his final decision was because the boards were called “Awesome” and “Sweet.”

I looked over the board a bit. Nice flex – not too soft and not too stiff. It will be a perfect board for just about anything. We spent some time looking at widths, but ended up not going with the Omatic Awesome wide. The waist is only 25.6cm wide, but with new bindings and boots he has, we hope this board will eliminate most toe drag he had. He loves the risers on his skis and was considering them for snowboarding too.

As Hampus Mosesson’s pro model and meant for big mountain freestyle riding it’s a twin directional. Definitely going to suit his all around riding style. The sidewall angle kind of falls in the middle so it will allow for some margin of error, also good for a skier.

As promised above, here are some of the good left over deals available around the interweb:
Holiday Sale Coupon – 20% off. Coupon Code: HOHOHO

Find Atomic, Arbor, Burton, GNU, RIDE and more of your favorites at Berg’s Ski and Snowboard Shop! FREE Domestic Ground Shipping on orders over $39!

Buy a Burton Snowboard and get a Lift Ticket Free

Free Shipping on everything – limited time only

Evogear.com is holding DailyDeal sales. Today’s deal got you 25% off ALL Outlet Jackets so I suggest checking those out or bookmark the Gear Deals page to get updates quick. That’s all for now, but I will update on the new stuff when it comes in. There is a mash of stuff from park setups to snow pants!

I am avidly looking for a park board now (and a snowboard attachment for my Subi), especially with all the deals floating around out there for the Holiday Season Shopping Kickoff. I think evogear.com, SierraSnowboard.com and Altrec.com have put up some great sales, but I’m waiting for Cyber Monday to see if anything better will come along. Be sure to check the Gear Deals page for any new offers.

Today I found another evogear.com email advertising a 20% Coupon for any gear in their Outlet section. I’m currently the personal shopper for a few people for snowboards and clothing, so this helps. Even ski stuff, but I mostly find good deals and they decide if the gear is good or not.

evogear.com Snovember Sale

Enjoy it while it lasts, but hurry. Evo has not said when it will end, just that it ends soon. Hopefully for a few days so I can spend time shopping!

I’m extremely jealous of the big dumping they got, but I am also very excited. I am officially booked to be on a flight to Denver in early February! I am going to be in the Rockies for 7 days with my BF. The plan is to visit Winter Park for a few days to ride, ski (yes, he’s a skier too) and snowmobile. Then we plan on heading down to the Loveland area to ride for 3 days. I’m hoping to hit Loveland for 2 days and maybe A-basin for 1.

Now what I have left to do is book the car, the hotel and lift tickets. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but for someone on a budget that search is exhausting. Hopefully once the season picks up though, Liftopia.com will offer some great deals for Winter Park if I can’t get a sweet package from the lodging. Wish me luck with this stuff and if you have any suggestions, I’m open!

I recommend taking a peek. It must be nice to have that half pipe all to yourself, but I also really like to look at the surrounding area. Silverton, Colorado seems like a sick place to go snowboarding.

I’ve had some gift cards I’ve been collecting (Visa, AMEX, etc) to put towards the camera. Unfortunately I could not find a good camera shop local and my local Best Buy didn’t even have what I wanted in stock. I wanted it prior to my upcoming weekend adventure in Boston, so I went online. I found it for a good price at Adorama.com. The annoying part was getting my gift cards converted to their gift cards since literally no one accepts split payments online or over the phone. I bought separate gift cards to Adorama with my Visa/Amex gift cards and was finally able to buy the camera.

Olympus Stylus Tough 6000

Even better is that I ordered it last night, just before 5pm. I chose 2-3 day shipping for less than $4 and it was delivered today! It’s because I live only like 2 hours from NYC, but still, props to Adorama for getting it to me so quick.

It’s awesome. I needed something that could handle my clumsiness. It’s shockproof, waterproof, freezeproof and I was told crushproof up to 120lbs. I couldn’t verify the crushproof spec anywhere online, but a BestBuy employee told me that. If it’s true great, if not I’m okay with it. I wonder if Olympus keeps that out of the marketing to get you to buy the next model up…hmmm?

I initially wanted orange, but had such a hard time finding it, I settled for blue. I figured that if I did drop it in the snow, it’s easier to locate than white or yellow. Though I plan on rigging a leash of some sort to my snow pants so I can’t lose it, kind of like those things that no one attaches to their boots and bindings

Having a nice, new portable point and shoot means I will also be taking more pictures and actually using them on the blog! Woohoo! So maybe these things will be a bit more interesting. Now I am currently waiting for the battery to fully charge so I can play with my new toy and once I get to know it better, I’ll put up a review for those interested in it as a future purchase.

I already helped with the boot selection, but now I’m involved in a possible snowboard purchase. Since the boot size is like a 12 or 13, I’m on the lookout for a wide board for everything and not too stiff, you know…just right.

I have a few in mind already. K2 Format, Forum Recon, Burton Bullet and possibly the Ride Fleetwood though I think that may be a bit too stiff.

I’m still researching, but I found some decent boards on evogear.com. I’m even looking locally on like craigslist since this is not a priority purchase as he is first a skier.

If anyone has some favorite wide rides, let me know. I’d appreciate the help!

Ideally I’d like to stay a few nights in 2 different places, and since we want to do snowmobiling, I’m thinking even Winter Park for 3 nights and then head down and stay around Georgetown, CO to ride Loveland and maybe A-Basin. I think staying the first few nights in a village might be good in case there is a major storm to avoid getting stranded on I-70. I’m sure I’ll wait till it’s closer to the trip to book anything and I’ll be watching the weather closely.

It’s probably going to be around early to mid-January (I just can’t wait till March, and the flight times didn’t work for us). Hopefully booking the tickets Thursday! Then I have a bunch to do: car, lodging, lift tickets, etc. I get some discounts through AASI on car rentals, but I found some awesome deals already. And I’ll be checking out Liftopia.com for discounted tickets, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of deals since it’s still early in the season.

If anyone has some favorite spots or recommends a certain snowmobile rental company, let me know!

SOOO EXCITED