My friend Jack and I lined up to get on the chairlift. It was the coldest day of the winter. We were at Caberfae Peaks in Cadillac, Michigan. It was Christmas break and we were staying at our cabin on the Little Manistee River. The ski mountain was so cool the hill was filled with people going down the hill. The snow was nice and fresh because of all the snowfall there had been the night before.
We got to the front of the line but of course the group in front of us fell trying to get on. They were crowded up and tipped over like an row of dominoes.
It was hilarious watching the pile of people on the ground try to get up.
“Will they ever get up,” Jack said. After all the commotion we were at the front of the line ready to get on. As the chairlift approached us we grabbed on. The chairlift creaked and swung up and down. There was snow packed on the railings from the snowfall there had been the night before.“Hit the jump!” We both screamed at people below.
“Look at all those people” Jack said. I looked and there was three people twisted up trying to figure a way to get up. The trees were layered with the snow and were now surrounding the chairlift. A lot of people go through the trees and often most clip a few trees and get hurt. It is not something you want to do without experience. Someone was approaching the thick trees at a very high rate of speed. As they entered the trees the front of their skis hit a tree and the went tumbling down the hill. “ Did you see that?” I yelled.
“Wow” Jack said.
“He did like four flips” I said. The best thing to do on an chairlift is yell at people.
“Hit the Jump!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. When we reached the top of the hill the ice was so clear I could see the reflection of myself. We exited the chairlift as smoothly as possible unlike other people who usually tumbled off the chairlift and into the snow on the exit path. We slid to the top of the hill and sat down. We strapped our bindings in and stood up. I rode down the hill carving in and out between trees. I pulled a catwalk for about twenty feet. When we got to the rail section I closely picked my path. I slid into a sitting position to rest. We both were very competitive towards each other so it is like a contest. I picked a few boxes and rails I wanted to hit. I got up started making my towards the first box it was yellow and about ten feet long. I approached it ollied on top of it and slid down it hoping not to fall off and hurt myself. I shot down the hill towards a rail. I hit the rail and the front of my board clipped the rail and I went flying and landed after a few flips. Jack pulled up next to me. “Are you alright” he said laughing.
“Yeah I am okay” I said between gasps of air. I got the wind knocked out of me. I just layed there for a few minutes trying to regain consciousness. I got up and looked at my board there was a small chunk out of the front of it, Are you kidding me, I just got this board for my birthday I thought. I started my way back down the hill trying to catch up. I carved in and out of the trees. I found a shortcut to where my friend was so I veered of the side of the hill through the trees as I sailed through it was a lot more bumpy than I thought it would be.I struggled to keep control and I was barely missing trees. I shot out of the woods and landed on the hard ice. I landed right in front of my friend. “ Man you are having a rough day” he said.
“Really?” I said with sarcasm.
“My board got a piece taken out of it when I was beating myself up” I said laughing.

I looked down at the the snow. It was rosy red covered with my blood. I got up brushed the snow of me and with a groan I started down the hill. THis weekend was the rail jam that they host every year. We stopped and watched as the people as they rode down the park riding on the rails as the judges scored them. The event was fun to watch. Somebody slid over the rainbow rail which is a rail that arcs over like a rainbow. The winner was a guy named Mike Johnson who got an perfect score from the judges. IT was so fun to watch them because they were so good at snowboarding. When we got done watching we headed into the ski building to warm up. “This was an pretty fun day” I said.
“Yeah It was” Jack said to me.