You learn a lot from going snowboarding: the changing of the weather and the seasons, the ability to read terrain, the limits of your own physical capabilities; all those valuable skills that we pick up from years of riding. To some these lessons seem insignificant. They are certainly a far cry from what I learnt in my tertiary education. But I think what we learn in the mountains has an application that can reach far beyond the limits of the snow line. The sum total of all these lessons is experience. I sit here writing this looking at reports from another massive dump in NZ almost a meter just this week are blanketing the peaks. Almost the reverse of last year. As I’ve gotten older I’ve realised that it’s not the depth or quality that defines my enjoyment in the mountains, although it certainly helps! It’s the feeling you get when the mountains fill your windscreen and the lights fade in your rear view mirror and the high country opens up before you. I’ve stopped worrying about how much snow we will get when we head for the hills. The snow will come and all our worries will be forgotten, and all