Board Trip Lesson: Boarders, for the most part, are extreme thrill seekers who assume that if you are on the mountain, you must be an adrenaline junkie too.

"Dude! That was so cool. You like totally rolled at least a hundred feet!"

"Yeah, we saw the whole thing! That was almost an awesome jump...next time try to lift a little sooner going into the jump and you won't roll...and bring your knees in more. You had some serious speed."

I blinked a few times, and found myself staring into the cheery faces of two teenage boys, probably about fourteen. They were grinning from ear to ear, and their happy red cheeks only made me feel worse. They actually thought I had tried to hit that jump.

"Uh, thanks. I'm just learning." I squeaked while trying to stand up on my now throbbing ankle.

"Don't get discouraged; I spent a few hours on my ass when I was learning to jump, too."

"Yeah, and keep it up. Most people your age don't even try the jumps. And you should rent better equipment. Those kind of bindings suck. Late."

And with that, they sped off down the hill, and I started hobbling toward the base. Fortunately, a ski patrol guy on a snowmobile picked me up and gave me a ride to the nearest chairlift. I'd have to ride the lift downfrom there.