Snowboarding on Mt. Etna

Sat. Jan 28 - Today was the day I was finally going to try to snowboard. I met Kim at the vans at 7:30am and we headed to pick up our 15 customers. We got to the mountain in about an hour and the roads were really clean so we didn't have to use the snow chains. Once we got up there, everyone got their gear on and she brought 7 of us to a smaller hill to try and show us how to stand up, balance, and get down the hill. I was really thankful that she gave us a little lesson because she usually doesn't do that. The little hill wasn't doing any good so we gunned it for the ski lift. It was $12 euro for an all day pass, but I figured I was only gonna be going once after I saw how long and steep the trail was. The carts were enclosed and moved a lot faster than I thought they would. Its funny, because the part of the lift you'll see in my pictures from the lodge, is actually only about a 1/4 of the hill. Needless to say, the lodge at the top was only a few hundred feet from the active volcano hole. It was a 12 minute ride and man were we scared when we saw how long and tricky the course was. On top of that, theres no middle point or emergency route if you decide that you suck and don't want to finish. "Baptism by fire" I guess you could say. Surprisingly, I did a lot better than I ever could have imagined for my first time even being on a snow board. It was too long of a course though. You'd think it must be over soon and nope, not even close. The hills were insanely steep. I had to go back and forth, back and forth like 95% of the time. It was freakin scary, having all these show off Italian guys in hot pink and turquoise ski suits zipping right by you all the time. I probably fell over 200 times and smacked the back of my head really bad once near the end. One yard sale and one face first fall too. It was definitely the biggest work out and adrenaline rush of my life though. I loved it, but couldn't do it again because both my heels and my toes were absolutely worn out. Total time to get down for my was an hour. The course is over a 1 1/2 miles straight down an active volcano. Kim was saying that it's not a good hill to first start on, but it will force you to improve quickly. It was so fun and peaceful on that mountain though. A couple of the falls I just laid back and stared into the sky. It was such a beautiful view looking down the mountain and seeing all of the craters in the distance. Enta was smoking nicely all day and we were above the clouds at the top. I have never sweated this bad, especially in cold weather. It was awesome though, I'd love to try one more time before the season is over. If I was good, it would have been cool to take a camera up there and snap some pics on the way down. We got back to base around 5pm and we had some stuff to do around the shop because the swim team was coming to pick up coolers with ice, tables, and chairs for a big swim meet in the morning. We didn't get outta there til 7 and had just walked in my room when Kim called me saying that Mack wanted us two to go to Jox to see the band we brought in. I was so exhausted and sore, but they basically didn't give me a choice. We went. One of the guys from Admin picked me up. The band was called Adam's Attic and they were actaully pretty good. I got to meet the band and all that jazz, but when I got home, my electricity wasn't working and no hot water was coming out of the shower. Kim told me just to stay the night with her and she'd bring me home in the morning cuz she was going snowboarding again in the morning with some friends. I knew I'd be way to sore to try that again. The night was fun, and we called ourselves the "MWR support" for the night. Two nights at JOX in a row and I'll probably never go there again. It was fun, but I'm ready for sleep and massaging my muscles.