So you’ve been skiing since you were a kid and you think you’ve pretty much reached the peak of your abilities and you fancy a change… Why not go back to school on the slopes and learn a new winter sport ? If you’ve after more downhill sensations and off-piste possibilities, then snowboarding is the winter sport for you ! However, if you’re beginning to feel that you might need to slow down a little as you’re no longer really confident hurtling down black runs surrounded by crazy teenagers, then cross-country skiing could be the way forward for you. Read on to find out more about going back to school on the slopes…
Originally, I wanted to write one article about learning to snowboard and cross-country ski but once I started writing, I realised it was pure madness ! How could I write about these 2 completely different winter sports on one page ? So I decided to start with snowboarding as Part 1 of the Back to school series and you’ll have to wait patiently for Part 2 to read about learning cross-country skiing…
If you’ve had enough of crippling ski boots, staggering about at the end of a long day with heavy skis and poles (maybe having to carry your kids gear too), and side stepping, then snowboarding could be a good way for you to carry on enjoying the thrills of winter sports.
If you’ve chosen a good snowboarding instructor (not just by his or her looks), you,ll start your first lesson with only one foot strapped onto your snowboard. This allows you to use your « free » foot to keep your balance while you slip and slide around the nursery slope, with the 6 year-olds, getting the feel of things ! Depending on how much time you spend upright, you will usually quite quickly move on to strapping your « free » foot onto your snowboard and this is when the real fun starts !
Following the instructors advice to always look and point in the direction that you want go, this is the crucial moment when you learn to turn ! Most skiers find the backside or heelside turn easier at first because your feet are at least pointing where you're going. However, the frontside or toeside turn, which can seem just impossible at the beginning, soon becomes the more natural movement for most snowboarders. At this point you will be thanking me for the advice about padded trousers, wrist guards and waterproof gloves as you fall constantly on your behind with your hands in the snow ! As the lesson wears on, you’ll find it increasingly difficult to push yourself up from your sitting position and this is when it’s a good to have a snowboarding buddy to help you up or the next day you’ll find it difficult to even hold your tea cup at breakfast let alone get dressed !
I hate to be negative but nobody AND nothing is perfect ! There are 2 major thorns in most snowboarders’ sides… Say the word « drag lift » to any novice snowboarder, and you’ll have the impression that you just swore at them ! You’ll be met with a mixture of disgust and fear! You’ll soon understand why… When you learnt to ski, maybe at a young age with less far to fall and less ego in your backpack, all you had to do when taking a drag lift, was to keep the T or button comfortably between your legs and avoid your skis going off in different directions by simply keeping them in the tracks made by other skiers ! Turn all of that sideways with both feet strapped to your board and it doesn’t take much to imagine the nightmare that follows ! But stick with it while learning or you’ll become a snowboarder who avoids huge parts of ski areas just because there are drag lifts… A lot of boarders say it’s easier to take your back foot out and to use it to steady yourself but I’ve seen plenty of drag lift wipe-outs using this method too !
The second and most inconvenient downside, in my opinion, is those long, narrow, flat ski runs that are just so much fun on skis ! For almost all snowboarders these «roads» represent a real challenge ! Either you’re brave enough to bomb it down as fast as possible risking a rather violent triple salto, flip-like fall or you just have to accept the hard reality - take your board off and walk it ! If you’re in a mixed group of skiers and snowboarders it’s good to get chummy with a skier who might pull you along when you’re in trouble on this type of run…
After a few days of lessons, some inevitable bruising and a lot of perseverance, you’ll begin to feel more at home on your board and hopefully be able to imagine the pleasures that lay ahead of you as a full-fledged snowboarder… One of these is off-piste terrain which becomes a whole new experience when you’ve gained some confidence – once you’ve got it, there’s no looking back – you’re on your way to becoming a « rider »!
Watch this space as I will be writing an article about the best places to snowboard and you can, of course, read my article about Snowboarding terms so you can be in with the crowd and the History of snowboarding if you’d like to know where it all started !
Leave a comment or join us on Facebook and tell us about your snowboarding learning experiences – we’d love to hear all about them…
So you’ve been skiing since you were a kid and you think you’ve pretty much reached the peak of your abilities and you fancy a change… Why not go back to school on the slopes and learn a new winter sport ? If you’ve after more downhill sensations and off-piste possibilities, then snowboarding is the winter sport for you ! However, if you’re beginning to feel that you might need to slow down a little as you’re no longer really confident hurtling down black runs surrounded by crazy teenagers, then cross-country skiing could be the way forward for you. Read on to find out more about going back to school on the slopes…
Originally, I wanted to write one article about learning to snowboard and cross-country ski but once I started writing, I realised it was pure madness ! How could I write about these 2 completely different winter sports on one page ? So I decided to start with snowboarding as Part 1 of the Back to school series and you’ll have to wait patiently for Part 2 to read about learning cross-country skiing…
If you’ve had enough of crippling ski boots, staggering about at the end of a long day with heavy skis and poles (maybe having to carry your kids gear too), and side stepping, then snowboarding could be a good way for you to carry on enjoying the thrills of winter sports.
If you’ve chosen a good snowboarding instructor (not just by his or her looks), you,ll start your first lesson with only one foot strapped onto your snowboard. This allows you to use your « free » foot to keep your balance while you slip and slide around the nursery slope, with the 6 year-olds, getting the feel of things ! Depending on how much time you spend upright, you will usually quite quickly move on to strapping your « free » foot onto your snowboard and this is when the real fun starts !
Following the instructors advice to always look and point in the direction that you want go, this is the crucial moment when you learn to turn ! Most skiers find the backside or heelside turn easier at first because your feet are at least pointing where you're going. However, the frontside or toeside turn, which can seem just impossible at the beginning, soon becomes the more natural movement for most snowboarders. At this point you will be thanking me for the advice about padded trousers, wrist guards and waterproof gloves as you fall constantly on your behind with your hands in the snow ! As the lesson wears on, you’ll find it increasingly difficult to push yourself up from your sitting position and this is when it’s a good to have a snowboarding buddy to help you up or the next day you’ll find it difficult to even hold your tea cup at breakfast let alone get dressed !
I hate to be negative but nobody AND nothing is perfect ! There are 2 major thorns in most snowboarders’ sides… Say the word « drag lift » to any novice snowboarder, and you’ll have the impression that you just swore at them ! You’ll be met with a mixture of disgust and fear! You’ll soon understand why… When you learnt to ski, maybe at a young age with less far to fall and less ego in your backpack, all you had to do when taking a drag lift, was to keep the T or button comfortably between your legs and avoid your skis going off in different directions by simply keeping them in the tracks made by other skiers ! Turn all of that sideways with both feet strapped to your board and it doesn’t take much to imagine the nightmare that follows ! But stick with it while learning or you’ll become a snowboarder who avoids huge parts of ski areas just because there are drag lifts… A lot of boarders say it’s easier to take your back foot out and to use it to steady yourself but I’ve seen plenty of drag lift wipe-outs using this method too !
The second and most inconvenient downside, in my opinion, is those long, narrow, flat ski runs that are just so much fun on skis ! For almost all snowboarders these «roads» represent a real challenge ! Either you’re brave enough to bomb it down as fast as possible risking a rather violent triple salto, flip-like fall or you just have to accept the hard reality - take your board off and walk it ! If you’re in a mixed group of skiers and snowboarders it’s good to get chummy with a skier who might pull you along when you’re in trouble on this type of run…
After a few days of lessons, some inevitable bruising and a lot of perseverance, you’ll begin to feel more at home on your board and hopefully be able to imagine the pleasures that lay ahead of you as a full-fledged snowboarder… One of these is off-piste terrain which becomes a whole new experience when you’ve gained some confidence – once you’ve got it, there’s no looking back – you’re on your way to becoming a « rider »!
Watch this space as I will be writing an article about the best places to snowboard and you can, of course, read my article about Snowboarding terms so you can be in with the crowd and the History of snowboarding if you’d like to know where it all started !
Leave a comment or join us on Facebook and tell us about your snowboarding learning experiences – we’d love to hear all about them…
Being lucky enough to have parents who were crazy about skiing, my love for the mountains started when I was 4 years old on our first family ski holiday to Austrian ski resort of Obergurl. One ski holiday a year was never enough and tears rolled down my face as I looked out the back window of the car on the drive down the valley on the way home!
