If we could distill snowboarding down to just one word it would undoubtedly be: ‘fun’. But that alone doesn’t really do the sport justice. There is so much space to explore, so much speed (a snowboard is a pretty fast vehicle, keeping the mind constantly active); there’s your balance, poise and riding style to consider, and when everything is working in harmony – when you can actually ride on autopilot and not worry too much about catching an edge – then the mountain becomes the ultimate theme park. At this point, the skill comes from tuning your eye into the bumps, rollers and dips – from knowing what to jump off, and what to land on. Sure it’s ‘fun’, but it is so much more than that. It’s freedom. Snowboarding also requires motor-neuron skills, quick thinking, physical exertion and the ability to use one’s mind’s eye: things we’re not accustomed to using if we sit at a desk for much of our regular life.