Why I don't count an airbag landing as a snow landing

An airbag landing and a snow landing are not the same thing. The bag helps me learn the movement and get a lot of tries. Snow decides whether I can actually finish the trick and ride away.

I learned that on my first Japan trip. I had 11 days on the bag, landed 720s, and did one 900. It was the biggest spin I had ever done.

It also counted as exactly zero 900s on snow.

I am not saying that to make the bag sound easy. It is not. You still have to get enough speed, leave the jump right, know where you are in the air, and not panic when the landing shows up. The difference is that a bad try usually means I can climb back up and try again. On snow, a bad try can end the session.

That is what makes the bag so useful. Reps.

One try can feel perfect. The next one can feel like I forgot how snowboards work. Then I watch it, change one thing, and go again. The make might be the five-second clip, but the misses are what teach my body where the trick is.

Snow asks a different question. Can I take the same movement to a real jump, match the speed and pop, find the landing, and keep riding? There is no giant soft reset button at the bottom.

So I keep two scoreboards in my head:

• On the bag: did I learn the movement?
• On snow: did I land it and ride away?

Airbag training is the bag part of this block. Austria is where the snow gets to grade my homework.

The Season Two goals are all four 720s and at least one 900 on snow by November 18, our last snow day in Austria. Goals, not promises. I might get all of them. I might get part of them. Either way, I am not turning a bag landing into a snow landing just because the caption sounds better that way.

If you want the story of that first bag 900, it is in my 11-day Japan post. The next part is finding out what comes with me to snow. That is the whole point of the Road to 900.