Hey, everybody, give the guy a break. All the criticism is wrong-headed and seems mean to me.
Big Duke 6
1) You were flying and hit some turbulence. Not a big deal, but to a newbie's eyes, worth asking questions. Good on you for asking, bad on us for lambasting you. Good on you for flying nicely through it and telling us.
2) There are mountains and there are mountains. 2,000 ft hills on a solo cross country - big deal. 20 knots of wind, also big deal. All those others who think this is instructor malfeasance, fire your instructor, he doesn't/didn't trust you. Big Duke 6, do not apologize, it isn't necessary! Experience gives you judgment, which you get by experiencing things after showing less judgment.
3) The roughness you felt was clearly just a bit of stall, next time don't use high speed to escape. You had some increased load factor in the turbulence, maybe even a bit of increased airspeed in the bumps, and high collective/MP, all this pushes the rotor a bit closer to stall, and N per revolution vibration is the first clue. No problem, but a signal to knock off a few knots, probably 10, because slower is kinder to the rotor.
4) I defer to others as to carb heat, but too much is not good, esp at altitude.
5) Please continue to post on pprune, we want you and your thoughts. I guess you'll have to somehow mentally weed out the critical folks, who stand on the street corner saying bad things about everybody and give this neighborhood a bad name. I can't tell you how many PMs I get from folks who are afraid to post on pprune because of all the folks who sit in perfect judgment. Example: those who think you need a mountain course to fly over 2,000 ft terrain features shouldn't get out from under their beds after dark, it's too scary out there for them.