Snow covered mountain getaways are truly a yin-yang experience when you are from Hawaii.  Snowboarding trips are a great way to enjoy boardriding in a completely different environment that is just as much fun as surfing in the islands.  It’s cool to go from boardshorts to full body winter gear, liquid water to frozen water, replacing surfboards with snowboards, you literally go from waxing the top of boards to waxing the bottom.  With surfing you paddle out from the beach and ride waves back to shore, with snowboarding you catch a lift to the top of the mountain and ride back to the bottom of the slope.  Even the board stance is opposite; with surfboards we lean back with snowboards you put your weight on the front of the board and at the end of a session pulling off snowboard boots sucks just as much as peeling off a wetsuit.  The machines are similar as well going from waverunners to snowmobiles; the whole Surfing & Snowboarding experience is oppositely alike.  A crazy thing to think about is that the Hawaiian islands are literally the tops of mountains that poke above the surface of the ocean.  Meaning, many of the best waves in the world form on mountain peaks.  Another trait that surfers and snowboarders have in common is they spend their lives obsessed with weather forecast always hoping for storms; surfers wish for offshore storms that generate huge swells that create waves and snowboarders wish for storms that dump huge amounts of snow covering the mountains with fresh powder.  Surfers seek barreling waves and snowboarders want to ride in deep pow.  I love spending winters snowboarding; cold mountain air, warm sunrises, groomed runs in the morning, open air chairlift rides, powder days, fireplaces & hot tubs, log lodges, hot chocolate, s’mores, snowmobiling, village lights at night, tubing and best of all is the magical experience of watching falling snow.