Snowboarding At Toggenburg Mountain

 

Some people, your author included love winter and refuse to let go of it. The dawn of April does little to slow ol' Stacey Cardalines down. I like summer too, don't get me wrong, but I love snow and could happily have it year-round if we got enough beach days when I wasn't working. Other people feel this way, even if they are in the minority. I know this because there are still numerous winter themed sims operating 12 months a year.

As winter turns to spring in our Massachusetts office, we took to the virtual world to get our Powder fix on. 

Toggenburg Mountain exists in the Toggenburg sim. Toggenburg appears to be the town name, as well. I'm not sure if the town is named for the mountain or if the mountain is named for the town, and I'm banking enough on you not caring either that I'm doing zero research on this. "It looks like Toboggan" is a better answer to "I wonder why they named the town that?" than anything that has a chance of being, like, actual.

It's winter every day in Toggenburg. Snow covers everything. It also looks very cold. The residents of Toggenburg save thousands of dollars a decade by not requiring air conditioning. They are situated at the base of a high and steep mountain. While I am not well versed in this field of study, I would guess that bookends of three years extend either way from this current date to Toggenburg's last/next Really Big Avalanche.

The sim is made by Governor Linden, who may be a real Linden or may not, I have no idea. It's a good-sized sim, capable of supporting a ten-minute trolley tour ride. They put a lot of effort into it. The Govna' did not succumb to the temptation of overloading the sim, which is appreciated by reporters who tour sims for a living. If you like winter, you'll be as happy as a polar bear walking around Toggenburg. It looks very much like the town that the Meister Burger ruled in that Santa animated special.

I eventually found a hill and a chairlift, and up we went to the part where you can ski. I took the liberty of putting the landmark (see bottom of the article) there. It gives you the opportunity to arrive- skiing- into the village at 70 mph.

They actually offered a choice between skiing or snowboarding. This is appreciated, as skiing is considered sort of an elite sport, played by elitists. The Winter Olympics are, to many, just a chance to watch some snobby European get crippled. Snowboarding is more like Mountain Surfing, it screams Americana, and I chose the snowboard. If they had a sled, I would have chosen that.

Snowboarding is easy and fun. You just rez the thing, stand on it, and off you go. While it takes a sec to figure out how to direct it, you master it quickly enough. I'm a bit of a clutz, and I went off course quickly, which resulted in me taking a 700-foot free fall. I was actually a bit disappointed that I didn't crash worse trying that, to be frank. I take great joy out of punishing my avatar and love her Looney Tunes-like ability to absorb and come back from the punishment that would cripple a real human.

That disappointment was erased by the ability to snowboard into the village and try to tour it. I crashed into a few houses, but it's all good. That's why Lanai pays me the big bucks.

It's actually a pretty good way to tour the town. Go through full speed (for reasons unrelated to physics, you never really lose much momentum once the snowboard is moving along level surfaces) and see what the town has to offer. After that, take the trolley tour, and see the town at non-psychopath speeds.

I'd even recommend walking through it. This may take you some time, as it covers many acres, but it allows you to go into a building without being on a snowboard and going 65 mph. The homeowners tend to appreciate that.

Toggenburg Mountain = http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Toggenburg/46/237/203