Shayboarder’s lowdown on 12 months on snow

Going snowboarding all year round is easy enough when you live in Europe near a dry slope or indoor snow dome. But it’s also doable on the real stuff – and Colorado-based blogger Shayboarder has just completed a year of hitting the white stuff every month. She gave powderroom.net her take on the last 12 months:

“To snowboard 12 months a year is the endless winter where you never put on the storage wax, where your bindings remained mounted to your board and where you are waiting for the next day to find more snow to ride.

I was able to ride year round without ever leaving the United States, the majority of my riding was done here in Colorado where resorts are open from October to June and snow is not hard to find in the summer months.  I spent one day at Mt Hood, the only summer operating resort in the US.

This year was about me as a snowboarder, proving that I could reach and achieve my own goals on the mountain.  Regardless of what other negative influences thought about me, I set forth to achieve such a milestone.

I spent the winter riding as many days as I could while juggling full time work.  Often spending 3-5 days a week on snow whether it was a powder day or a halfpipe day...just enjoying it.  Eventually the season winded down to where I had to drive to the last of the mountains that were open.  I continued to ride on weekends with friends.  It was a year where I had the drive, the need to continue shredding.

When the lifts closed here in Colorado, I took 2 weeks of summer fun before thinking about where and when to ride next.  Luckily with our high elevations, Colorado keeps the snowpack lasting well into the summer months.  Whether it was St. Mary's Glacier or the top peaks of Breckenridge, there was snow that was rideable year round.

I couldn't have done it without the help of friends who wanted to be on the mountain and couldn't give up the snow either.  They pushed me to continue on and keep riding...even when it was a 20 foot patch of snow to make a couple turns on and then hike back up.

In snowboarding only you can tell yourself what to do.  If you have goals, you can reach them and if you need the snow, you can find a way to keep shredding.  Don't let anyone tell you it's impossible...you can make anything possible like I did.”

You can follow Shayboarder’s latest snow antics, kit reviews and industry musings at www.shayboarder.com