Ugh, it’s that time of year again. Mud season. Depressing. All of the major resorts are closing. All of the snow is melting. All of the shops are shutting down. As much as this seems to suck, I’m getting to look back and see how much I have progressed this season. Not just physically better at snowboarding, but mentally as well.

It was such a good season for me, but in a way, it was like snowboarding Hunger Games. Only half the kids who started the season in my group finished strong even with some casualties. It was definitely hard to work through mentally, constantly being aware that you could break yourself and your season could be over in a matter of seconds.

In just one day of snowboarding, you learn so much about yourself and how you work through fear. It has to be a perfect balance of risk/reward and expectation vs. reality. You can’t lose focus for a half second while doing a trick, or it might go terribly wrong. For example, there are tricks that I have on lock, but if my mind isn’t in the right place, I end up crashing and hurting myself on a trick that I can land consistently 90% of the time. All of the injuries this year were when you’d least expect them to happen. You think your teammate has the trick in the bag and then BAM. One little mistake ends your season.

As much as this sucks, you can see how you always have to be aware and focused on what’s in front of you. I know how bad snowboarding can injure you, but I keep on doing it because it’s the best feeling in the world to stomp a new trick or to get that secret stash of untouched powder.

As this season comes to an end I finally get a little break before I leave to Mt. Hood Oregon in a month. I can’t wait for this two and a half week trip and am so stoked to keep pushing the limits on my progression. I love snowboarding so much and am grateful to have the opportunity to snowboard five days a week this year. I really think I excelled mentally and physically this year and can’t wait for next season.

Thanks for reading my thoughts…

Isaac