Snowboard Questions
Ross' answers to recent questions for a kids school project:
Hi Noah,
Thanks for asking me to help with your snowboard project. I'm very honored.
When I started snowboarding it was 1987 and I was fifteen. Canadian ski resorts still hadn't allowed snowboarding at this point. I would have started much younger otherwise. My dad drove us to Mt. Baker (2hrs from Vancouver in Washington) where snowboarding was alive and not against the rules. The next season Blackcomb allowed it so it was game on.
I fell so much the first 7 or 8 times that I invented the padded long john. I cut out a camping mat to a custom fit and then glued that to my long johns. Nothing was going to stop me from learning the sickest sport ever.
I am now officially retired so I will not be competing in 2010. I raced my snowboard for over 20yrs and am stoked on the goals I was able to achieved. I am now 37 and am having a baby with my wife Alexandra this spring. I'm looking forward to the little guy learning to ride also so I can pass on the familly tradition. I will be at the 2010 Olympics but only for the fun of watching.
I like snowboarding because to me it represents freedom. The sensation of speed and the weightlessnes of riding powder are as close to flying as it gets. That's not even talking about how it feels to catch air! Add riding with your best friends all day and you have heaven on earth.
Thanks again Noah, and good luck with your snowboard project.
See you on the slopes!
Ross Rebagliati