SOUL BOARDER

Contributed by Pam Pickens




Pam Pickens

I started out life as a daredevil. Growing up in a household with two younger brothers lead to experiences with G.I. Joe, Adventure People, and games where there was some kind of running or throwing involved. As the big sister, I had to compete with them. I got very good at playing tag, kickball and a sport we invented like vaulting off the patio over the thorny rose bushes that grew in our suburban backyard.


My first trip to the mountains was a bus trip organized by a group of families who planned a long weekend at Killington in Vermont. I was 11 and had never been near mountains that big. I didn't have anything to wear, and I was given a bag of hand-me-down ski-outfits. The only thing that fit me was a bright yellow jacket and some matching pants. My brothers and I took our first skiing lessons and it was on after that. Downhill racing was the newest activity for me to best my little brothers in and remain queen of the castle! The first one down the hill wins!


I always enjoyed skiing and I did ski occasionally until college. In college I took a spring break trip with some rowdy friends to Breckenridge, Colorado. The experience was more about the partying than the skiing. I don't know why I thought skiing in jeans and long johns was cute - and it was - until you fell down and they got wet and froze on your body. I had never been up so high without being in an airplane and I had never gone so fast down a hill. I spent a lot of time out of my league and falling down. I fell mostly trying to stop from going too fast and following a pack of experienced skiers who mostly left me in the dust or were waiting impatiently for me to get up and get my skis back on. Eventually a hole ripped in the back of my frozen jeans on one side, and I sported a matching bruise that was the result of falling on the same side over and over again. This constant falling was a painful experience, and I realized that despite my enthusiasm, I was not going to be a really good skier without more training. I was always crossing my tips, the rental boots hurt and my feet always got too cold. I know now that perhaps I should have taken more lessons, but the best I got on two sticks was intermediate. I could make it down a groomed green trail out west and blue trails out east and that was as good as it got until I discovered snowboarding!


I skied occasionally after college with friends and after graduation I finally bought my own equipment. I got some Kastle 185's, some fresh Marker bindings, poles and a pair of slate grey Lange boots and a fly ski outfit with no yellow in it! The following year I took a snowboarding lesson and it's been 10 years since I put on my Kastle skis. I kept them because I hang my snowboard jackets on them!



Me & my teacher (I've got the gold bottom board and the red jacket.)

I took my first snowboarding beginner lesson at Mt. Snow in Vermont on a bluebird day with fresh powder so all my frequent landings on the rear end were cushioned by a foot of snow cover. A friend who had been snowboarding for a few years introduced me to the sport. He was very good and seemed to be having waaaaay more fun on the hill than I was with all my new ski equipment and my fly outfit. I was attracted to the fun of it, the flow of it, and the look of it. He was always yelling woooooohooooo as he ripped down the hill even laughing when he fell down because he had just attempted a cool maneuver.


I was a circle in a square on skis and I found my match with snowboarding. Skiing is probably best suited for an engineering mindset while I was more of a free spirit with a more creative way of thinking. I took a second beginner lesson at Hunter Mountain in upstate New York. By then I had purchased my board – the first snowboard made by Solomon, a 152 bi-directional, some Burton bindings and matching Lady Burton boots that felt like bedroom slippers on the inside and a way oversized jacket and pants from Stryker. I wanted to start out right by learning on my own equipment - thereby eliminating that as a performance excuse from the beginning!


I fell a lot at first, that's the downside of snowboarding where the club membership is defined by a “short but painful learning curve.” I also got up a lot. I took the time to get the hang of it at my own pace rather than suffer trying to keep up with the crew. I went off on my own determined to get to the woooohooooo phase.


After my skills finally started coming together, I spent time riding with groups of skiers because some mountains were still “hating” on snowboarders back then. After a while I could keep up and only fell trying to stop. I bought a helmet right after I saw my friend ring his bell on a hill and I always wear it. At my age it's always cooler to avoid injuries that might require a feeding tube. Eventually I had my first wooooohoooo moment and have been having them ever since.



After I got to the intermediate level I upgraded my equipment with a new “deck”- a Solomon 156, some Burton bindings with more ankle support and some Solomon Boots that were better than my “bedroom slippers” first pair. I spent my first season snowboarding at Killington, Vermont where I had originally learned to ski. I was part of a share house for 3 consecutive seasons there and made the drive 6-7 weekends a year. I even bought a Chevy Tahoe truck just to make the road trips in style.


Soon I outgrew the Killington experience and began to make regular trips out west to see if my skills on the hill were transferable. With skis, they certainly were not. I was still falling but the riding terrain and conditions were so much better that I didn't care if I fell. I was on a mission. I never took an intermediate lesson because on a snowboard, I went from snow sliding illiteracy to speed reading within a few seasons of experience.



Total comfort from the hill to the town


My championship race against the
fastest boy in the advanced competition


Getting gold medal #5 for that race


Riding on fresh powpow!!!! Notice no ski tracks on this hill!!!!
By my 5th season I was ready for a new deck because my 156 deck kept getting stuck on the cat track/traverses and sinking down or grinding to a halt in deep powder. I needed a bigger surface area making contact with the snow and better edges, so I once again upgraded to a Ride 161 deck, kept my boots and bindings, and started taking on every hill I visited. From Colorado's Vail, Aspen and Copper Mountain resorts to Canada's Whistler, Banff and Tremblant, I took as much time as I could to ride as many places as I could. I started to have my favorite runs, then my favorite bowls and my favorite tree lines. Snowboarding for me became “soulboarding” and still is to this day. I love it very much, and I have inspired some very accomplished skiers to take on snowboarding for the challenge. They can see the love I have for it. Egos are put aside, and fun awaits them as I have provided many free lessons.


Lots of people hear about the horror stories of beginners breaking their wrists or being traumatized and discouraged by all the falling you do when you learn. Also, back then everyone on a snowboard had to sit in the snow to put their boot in their binding after getting off the lift. Nowadays, there are all kinds of bindings that make it easier, but it actually looks cool to be sitting in the snow if you are a snowboarder.


Nothing beats the comfort and warmth of the boots. You can handle stairs with more confidence and keep them on for the Apres Ski. The biggest advantage is beating all your ski friends to the bar because they are going somewhere to get their shoes. Getting shoes is whack! Dancing on a table in your snowboard boots is cool!!!


If you are reading this feeling like you are too old, then you are missing out on an opportunity to feel like a kid again…If you are afraid that you will have to invest hundreds of hours in learning and practicing, you are wrong. You can take on the hill and let your style evolve. That's all it is - once you learn how to stop, and get on and off the lift with efficiency. I am an advanced snowboarder and probably as good as I am going to get without dedicating my life fully to its pursuit. Watching the X-Games makes it seem like a very appealing way to live. I am past my prime to do that, so I take as a feather in my cap receiving my 5th Gold Medal for racing with the National Brotherhood of Skiers as part of the Thrillseeker's Ski Club. I also had a flashback to my childhood when in one of the award ceremonies, I clocked the fasted snowboarder race time above all the girls and ALL the boys that competed!. That was a big woooohoooo!

About Pam Pickens

Pamela A. Pickens is a native New Yorker, entrepreneur, and President/CEO of Black Diamonds since 1997. Pamela is a competitive snowboarder and enjoys other outdoor activities as wakeboarding, jet skiing, boating, and fishing. Pam has acquired the reputation of serial networker, deep-thinker, crazy talker, and stone party girl!