Come over to the dark side

Ever since I can remember I've been a devout skiier, pious and unflinching to the last in my devotion to the dual-planked method of getting down a snowy hill fast. I attribute this to a childhood spent on skis and my parent's oft-espoused opinion that snowboarders were hooligans whose trousers didn't fit them.

Then, the other week, something in me changed. My ideas about the superiority of skiing over boarding ebbed away into the mist (or, perhaps, the pow?) and I knew deep inside that the time was right. And so this afternoon, under the tutelage of my good buddy Fin, I shackled my feet (oddly sheathed in a soft boot rather than something made of rigid plastic) on to a single piece of downhill equipment rather than the usual pair.

After a mere 2 1/2 hours I was already almost linking my turns, and was extremely encouraged to say the least. The dark side beckons.