Snowgo

Soul riding

Spotted this piece in the Anglican Journal (I'm a regular reader don't you know) about Neil Elliot and his PhD thesis in the spirituality of snowboarding. It caught my attention because I had met Neil through the Snowserve mailing list and I was one of the riders he interviewed.

Talking to Neil did get me thinking about snowboarding as a meditation and certainly I have found that it can sometimes be like that, especially when you find yourself alone on the mountain rhythmically linking turns like a mantra. I can identify with his 'out of body' experience in these situations.

I am reminded of the mad cult leader Frederick Lenz's book Snowboarding the Himalayas in which he describes transcendental snowboarding (sounded more like an acid trip to me) but I think Neil has a bit more credibility.

I have been looking forward to reading the thesis (well maybe an executive summary and his conclusions) but it looks like he has some more 'research' to do in BC before writing it up!