Archive for January, 2012

HITS FM WINNER REPORTS BACK

January 31, 2012
We recently gave a away an all-inclusive trip for two on St. John’s radio station HITS FM. The lucky winners were Lori & Jamie Letto and when she got home, Lori sent us this note.

 

Just wanted to send along a HUGE thank you again for this awesome prize. Jamie and I had such a fun weekend out there with 2 beautiful days of weather and we got in lots of snowboarding. This weekend away is just what this “new Mommy & Daddy” needed ….. even though we were pretty sore and our bodies were hating us on the return home. haha

Everyone was so accommodating and we could not ask for better customer service during our stay.

Thanks again you really out did yourselves

Lori Letto

Reconnecting With My Playful Side

By Erika Bailey
Erika Bailey is a self-described 38 year old snowboarder … or more like a woman on a snowboard, really. She’s visiting from Toronto and is excited it is snowing!

Five years ago I started snowboarding. I was 34. And I learned here at Marble Mountain.

At the time it seemed like the perfect suicide mission. I was petrified. But it matched my criteria: face fears of heights and speed. My friends thought I was nuts. They said things like “Oh, I’m way too old for that” and “Isn’t it really, really cold?” and “If only I had learned that when I was younger”. Others just looked at me with incredulity, disbelief, confusion and admiration. Jealousy, even. Perhaps I am nuts, but I loved it.

Since then, I return at least twice a year to play at Marble. This year one of my Toronto friends asked why Newfoundland? Why snowboarding?

I was thinking about this last week. Outside the lodge, two girls dressed in turquoise, yellow, purple and orange, played in the snow after last run. They laughed breathlessly, entirely absorbed in the moment, testing their strength against one another. They reminded me of… well, of me. When I was that age. And then I realized they reminded me of me at my current age too, stomping into the lodge in my snow-dusted jacket, face warm from the smack of cool air and fabulous snow, ready for a cup of tea.

See, snowboarding helps me reconnect with my 10-year-old self. I take risks, I push my physical limits, I face my fears. I reconnect with nature; coming from flat-as-a-pancake Ontario, the views will always take my breath away. Mostly, I reunite with my deep-in-the-soul sense of fun.

Five years later, I have faced my fear of heights. I am not entirely certain I can call my measured descent ‘speedy’, but I love the rush of riding all the same. Most of all, I am grateful for my visits to Marble and this beautiful province to reconnect with my playful side.