So, having never snowboarded or skied in my life I went out today, and attempted to snowboard with my girlfriend(shes pretty good). Long story short I got destroyed(my butt is so sore!), but I would like to get better. Does anyone here have any advice on a first timer?
need help snowboarding
- Thread starter polaris dude
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R
...Only been once. There wasn't, & never will be, a second time.
Oh lordy that's honestly how I felt! I got to the point I could go down the bunny hill without issues, but as soon as I got to the big hill(that's all there is here a bunny hill and a main hill) I'd fall every 10-20 feet. and its all man made snow so its hard as hell and hurts like a B1tch to fall on. Not to mention my girlfriend really didn't elaborate how to snowboard. She just taught me how to either lean forward or lean backward and laughed like a g0ddam hyena every time I fell. I was so mad I could hardly talk to her as we went in for food.
C
find a gf that knows what a br9es is, and how to spell REV and go from there!! I just got back from boarding with my family, and my 10yo girl shares your feelings on snowboards
the MOST important thing is always keep your board on an edge; either heelside or toeside to the hill when slowing down, and even when you are going straight down, keep one side cutting just a little so you don't catch an edge and mash your skull into the snow. And since your current evil gf doesn't show much pity, mabey do a little of this
at your local snowcross/motocross tracks and find a chick that doesn't mind getting her hair smelling like 2-stroke smoke!
the MOST important thing is always keep your board on an edge; either heelside or toeside to the hill when slowing down, and even when you are going straight down, keep one side cutting just a little so you don't catch an edge and mash your skull into the snow. And since your current evil gf doesn't show much pity, mabey do a little of this
at your local snowcross/motocross tracks and find a chick that doesn't mind getting her hair smelling like 2-stroke smoke!
lol, stay on an edge, take it slow and work on keeping yourself off the ground before getting onto anything wild. get turns locked down on easy stuff instead of just trying to go for bigger better quicker, then you get hurt less.
M
if your over 30 let the girlfriend go alone and go sledding, snowboarding is most defiantly a younger person sport. unless you like being hurt a lot
J
Try youtube tutorials, next time you go, you might be able to teach your evil gf a few moves of your own.
haha I'm 18, so its not that I'm old. And its not that shes evil, it was kinda funny the first couple times I fell but after that it got old rather fast. But yeah, I've watched some youtube tutorials which helped and I've finally realized that staying on an edge is important. I kept trying to go straight down without an edge then trying to go to an edge which obviously did not work at all
Get her a sled. Problem solved.
F
Try to learn in some powder if you can. I learned on solid hard pack and ice and it was pretty rough. Keep your knees bent slightly and keep slightly more weight on your lead foot and steer with your rear leg. When you steer or transition from toe-side to heel-side and vice-versa, make sure you do it with authority, especially on hard pack. Just hanging out on the board without being on one edge or the other is a real quick way to power-slam your noggin. Speaking of, I advise wearing a helmet if you werent already. I learned without one and paid for it with a couple mild concussions. Not a smart idea. Learn how to turn comepletly perpendicular to the slope to stop long before you try heading down with any speed. Good luck and have fun!
Light coating of powder is good. Don't get on too steep or too flat of a run. Start on your toe edge (that the edge that your toes point to). Get on your knees (!!) slide down on your toes and adjust the edge to control speed. Do NOT let your rear edge touch, if you do let it touch hopefully you have a helmet on because you will probably end up catching the edge, coming back and hitting your head. As you do this you can use your hand to push off the ground or to hold you up to feel out that edge. Do that for a while just kind of adjusting your weight from your left and right legs to adjust which direction you will go.
Now do the opposite, sit on your butt and stand up adjusting your weight to keep the weight on the heal edge, again allowing weight to transfer from left to right leg. It is actually easier to go on the heal edge when just standing on it. After you get a feel for that, start to point the board downhill but don't do that for too long, maybe 5-7 feet and then go back to the full heal edge. Go straight and slow yourself down, go straight, slow yourself down. Etc etc. Keep your edge to slow down, practice allowing your left foot to go first as you are on your heal edge and then straighten it out and go right foot first. This will allow you to turn by sliding left to right (or vice versa). Once you get that go ahead and do the same thing but on your toe edge. Toe edge is a bit trickier because if you catch an edge you fall backwards. If you catch that toe edge you will face plant be careful not to catch yourself with your hand, it is bad for the wrists and that's how they end up broken. Use the forearm...
Hopefully that helps. A paid lesson is always a good start.
Now do the opposite, sit on your butt and stand up adjusting your weight to keep the weight on the heal edge, again allowing weight to transfer from left to right leg. It is actually easier to go on the heal edge when just standing on it. After you get a feel for that, start to point the board downhill but don't do that for too long, maybe 5-7 feet and then go back to the full heal edge. Go straight and slow yourself down, go straight, slow yourself down. Etc etc. Keep your edge to slow down, practice allowing your left foot to go first as you are on your heal edge and then straighten it out and go right foot first. This will allow you to turn by sliding left to right (or vice versa). Once you get that go ahead and do the same thing but on your toe edge. Toe edge is a bit trickier because if you catch an edge you fall backwards. If you catch that toe edge you will face plant be careful not to catch yourself with your hand, it is bad for the wrists and that's how they end up broken. Use the forearm...
Hopefully that helps. A paid lesson is always a good start.
A
Pretty much echo what these guys said.
Have to learn both edges "skidding" along before linking turns or going straight down.
FInd your balance point on both heel and toe edges like you're trying to stop on that edge.
Make sure you get both edges down pat before you progress because if you're a heel side hero you'll take some real nasty falls when you have to go toe edge and can't do it!
Ideal conditions soft, slower snow and don't try to learn on the bunny hill.
A steeper green or moderate blue that triesd to pull you down the hill is best.
If you're on the bunny hill it will be too flat to do anything but go straight and that leads to some hard falls.
Have to learn both edges "skidding" along before linking turns or going straight down.
FInd your balance point on both heel and toe edges like you're trying to stop on that edge.
Make sure you get both edges down pat before you progress because if you're a heel side hero you'll take some real nasty falls when you have to go toe edge and can't do it!
Ideal conditions soft, slower snow and don't try to learn on the bunny hill.
A steeper green or moderate blue that triesd to pull you down the hill is best.
If you're on the bunny hill it will be too flat to do anything but go straight and that leads to some hard falls.
Z
1st time snowboarding: Spearfish SD after a 20" dumping. A few soft (thank you 20” of snow) crashes to get the day going but doing OK by lunch.
2nd time snowboarding: Winter Park Co after a 24" dumping (getting pretty good by the end of the weekend).
3rd time snowboarding: Back country Co after another 12" dumping (can hang with my buddies that have boarded for 10+ years by now, with exception of jumping anything)
4th time snowboarding: Great Bear - Sioux Falls SD....I ate sh*t more in the 2 hours than I did the previous 9-10 full days of riding before! I’m not trying to diss the place, they have done great with what Mother Nature has thrown our way this year, but I found that it’s a very hard place to learn at. The bunny hill has too shallow of a slope to get any speed so its like trying to learn how to ride a bike without training wheels for the first time without ever going faster than a slow walk pace. The normal hill is pretty steep and always glare ice and hard as hell. It also doesn’t help that it’s not a very big hill and at any given time there are 40-60 under 10 year olds bombing down the hill at mach 1.
I’m not very good by any means, and there has been some good advice already. Stay on an edge, learn the basics first and hope to be able to board in some fresh powder. Once you get some time under the board, it is a lot of fun. And buy a helmet!
2nd time snowboarding: Winter Park Co after a 24" dumping (getting pretty good by the end of the weekend).
3rd time snowboarding: Back country Co after another 12" dumping (can hang with my buddies that have boarded for 10+ years by now, with exception of jumping anything)
4th time snowboarding: Great Bear - Sioux Falls SD....I ate sh*t more in the 2 hours than I did the previous 9-10 full days of riding before! I’m not trying to diss the place, they have done great with what Mother Nature has thrown our way this year, but I found that it’s a very hard place to learn at. The bunny hill has too shallow of a slope to get any speed so its like trying to learn how to ride a bike without training wheels for the first time without ever going faster than a slow walk pace. The normal hill is pretty steep and always glare ice and hard as hell. It also doesn’t help that it’s not a very big hill and at any given time there are 40-60 under 10 year olds bombing down the hill at mach 1.
I’m not very good by any means, and there has been some good advice already. Stay on an edge, learn the basics first and hope to be able to board in some fresh powder. Once you get some time under the board, it is a lot of fun. And buy a helmet!
great advice! thanks all who contribute!
I'm glad to hear its not just me who doesn't particularly like great bear for a first time! I was getting absolutely destroyed on that dam slope, and yeah that was my biggest concern was getting mauled by a run away 10 year old!
I'm glad to hear its not just me who doesn't particularly like great bear for a first time! I was getting absolutely destroyed on that dam slope, and yeah that was my biggest concern was getting mauled by a run away 10 year old!
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