Beech Mountain - 1, Jeramie - 0

There I am. I'm on the ski lift heading to the top of the mountain. After a peaceful six minute ride upward, the chair approaches the off-load ramp. The safety bar is up. My snowboard is poised, I slide gracefully down the powder-covered slope and smoothly around to the top of the hill from which I launch into the most spectacular run of the weekend.

Then, my alarm goes off. In reality the ride to the top of the mountain was indeed peaceful and beautiful, but the dismount could have gone better. I hadn't been on the mountain seven minutes and I was already lying in the snow. Beautiful. But, I got up and dusted my self off and after a couple of warm up runs down the mountain I got the hang of it and I was doing fairly well. I was doing well enough to complete a successful wheelie, tailspin, ollie, jump off of a one foot high ramp and ride across something called a box. All in all it was a great trip.

As the day wore on though, I began to grow tired and probably went down the mountain one too many times. During the night session the temperatures dropped and what once was a fine powdery snow became, in some places, a sheet of don't-fall-here-or-you'll-bruise-your-coccyx ice. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I took a spill and fell directly on what is affectionately called the "butt bone". And to answer the obvious follow-up to that, yes, it hurt like the dickens.

Other than a couple of bruises here and there, some sore muscles and blisters from the boots, I really did have a great time. In the end the mountain got the better of me and I decided to come home this morning instead of hitting the slopes again. If I were in better shape and my boots hadn't given me blisters, I'd definitely be on the mounatin right now.

Thanks to Shannon for organizing the trip and thanks to all the guys who came for making it a memorable experience. My expectations were not disappointed.