"White Out"

 Whiteout has been defined as: "A condition of diffuse light when no shadows are cast, due to a continuous white cloud layer appearing to merge with the white snow surface. In whiteout conditions visibility and contrast are severely reduced by snow as the horizon disappears completely and there are no reference points at all, leaving the individual with a distorted orientation." Thanks wikipedia.

Today i finally managed to get back onto the slopes after two days that felt like forever. Just for a few runs as i'm still pretty low on strength and energy. It was snowing again, however, most of the mountain was covered in thick cloud that made visability low on the upper slopes. At times you barely saw your own feet. White snow. White clouds. The white was suffocating and claustraphobic despite being 'out in the open'. Dad had difficulty following me through the whiteout, with my 'cream' coloured jacket and all. Quote: 'When you're more than a metre away, you're just a pair of black pants.'

 It was terribly good fun though. Yes, i had to ski very slowly because i couldn't see where i was going. I learnt that lesson in New Zealand when i was skiing at a fast pace through thick cloud on a trail i thought i knew very well, and ended up on the neighbouring terrain park jump that came out of nowhere, threw me sideways and dumped on my back with a heavy thump. I didn't even realise i went over a jump till i got up. After that I've been cautious through a whiteout.

But freakin' terrain parks are death traps i swear. Or injury traps at least. I've seen so many boarders with broken shoulders, collar bones, arms, elbows, wrists, and i ask them how it happened and they reply with some 'wicked' story about how they 'almost' completed a 'narly' trick on a 'sick' rail or jump or table top but just missed the landing by a fraction and now their whole rest of the trip will be spent inside. But that won't stop them from going back and spending their entire next trip on the same 100 metre patch of snow trying to injure themselves again. I strongly believe most snowboarders are missing a few brain cells. And what the hell are hand rails, tables and benches doing smack bang in the middle of a ski trail?!?

Excuse me, that was rather rude of me. I went a little of topic there for a moment. Now, where was I? Of course, the whiteout. So, i had to ski very slowly. And I couldn't see where i was going, what was sky and what was ground. And I had to stop every few metres and check that Dad was not too far behind me. And the wind made every bone rattle and sapped all the strength out of me. But we had fun. We had an adventure.