High and mighty

By Nancy Pleich

I’m fearless,” says Robin Taub. She is referring to snowboarding, then adds the principle that guides everything she does, “I need to know how things work; I am a technical person and I like to know what I am doing.”

Snowboarding is high on the list of things Taub does and she sees herself as an ambassador for the sport. “I feel a personal sense of accomplishment when someone takes it up and abandons skiing,” she says. Her passion could convince most skiers to try it and perhaps even make the switch as she did seven years ago.

“Snowboarding makes me feel freer. It’s more fun and there is so much more to do: jumps and riding half-pipes and rails.” She recalls the first time she linked her turns during her third or fourth lesson. “That was a breakthrough. I was thrilled because I knew I was on my way.” Since then, she has won a silver medal in racing at the Alpine Ski and Snowboard Club near Collingwood, Ont., where she was among the first to ride the private club’s newly opened steep terrain.

In 2001, she achieved her Level 1 teaching certification at Alpine from the Canadian Association of Snowboard Instructors. “Doing my Level 1 with teens who were awesome riders looking to make a little extra money was interesting,” says the 42-year-old CA. Level 1 teachers can earn $10 to $14 an hour; Level 4 instructors can make up to $200 a day at some private clubs.

This winter, Taub planned to work on riding switch — learning to ride backward, in her case with her left foot forward instead of her right — to prepare for the four-day Level 2 course she considered taking. The mild weather, however, interrupted that plan.

The Torontonian, who began her career at Peat Marwick in 1987 and worked at Ernst & Young, JHS Investment Group Corp. and Citibank before setting up a consulting business in 1999, also skates, snowshoes, lifts weights, hikes, plays tennis, does yoga, skis and bikes — she logged 320 km through California wine country in 2004.

“There are very few sports I don’t enjoy,” she says. “In California last summer, I took a surfing lesson with my son, Justin, who is 11. We got up; even had a few good rides. I like to push myself.”