Snowboarding

[Pikate]

Ischgl, Austria? The Burton Feather is my first snowboard, all I know about it is that it looks like this (http://www.snowdb.com/ii/burton/2009...eather-153.jpg) and has white/chrome bindings and white boots... I'm not sure what camber vs. rocker means? :| I just got this board because a girl at uni was given it by an ex and she never used it so she offered me it for a handbag.

Not sure what fakie is? Is it the same as Goofy? Not that I know what that is either...

As for the "WWW" it sounds like a good board from what I read? Not that it matters, my sister is a decent/experienced skiier but her fiance and I are brand new to it and have no ability whatsoever so any board will do really, we're going more for the experience, excuse to party our nights away and having a laugh while falling over lots in the snow.

[averybluemonkey]

Getting the wrong board can ruin a trip and hurt you, I highly recommend visiting the Tamworth Snowdome, even if it means a night in the cheapie Travellodge nearby. They have a fantastic snowboard shop there with excellent, experienced staff who are all long time boarders. They'll talk to him, measure him and custom select a board to match him with a one to one service. They are fantastic and will spend over an hour with you if needs be and they absolutely do not push expensive items. We decided to pick up our own boots this year rather than going with rentals as the ones we had last year hurt us so bad we couldn't ride the last day. The guy found us the perfect fits and they turned out to be some of the cheapest boots in the shop, they value repeat business there so always provide the best for you. If buying boards they'll also let you test them out on the slope (it's a pretty decent real snow run they've got there). If he hasn't been before I recommend getting him his own boots instead of a board if it's an either/or situation. Most board rental places will give you a decent enough board for a beginner but, as I mentioned above, the boots can be a killer. Also helmets strongly recommended, no matter what some skiers might try and tell you.

Fakie is just leading with your weaker leg. So if you're left foot forward, then going fakie will be right foot forward (goofie), and vice versa. For me the difference between the two is quite strong and I hate going left foot forward though hoping to get on top of that this year.

[averybluemonkey]

Nearly forgot, you've probably already read up on them but wrist guards are pretty essential. The Dakine ones are fantastic, saved my girlfriend's from a break last year despite her wrist still being messed up from a car impact.

[charlesr]

This might sound crazy but you should consider limiting your alcohol intake while there. You can get pissed anywhere, anytime, but you can only snowboard while on holiday and if you are really hung over, you won't get the most out of it. I remember in my first week I missed a day due to hang over and I was gutted.

It's a fantastic feeling once you get it, which you should do by the end of the week (get lessons for you both in the mornings!). Flowing down the mountain though a sea of powder - so quiet apart from the crunch of the snow. Unlike skiing, you can get relatively good at snowboarding in a short space of time.

Regular and Goofy are stance (left foot front / right foot front respectively). Stand with both feet together, arms by your sides and get a friend to (after a surprise length of time) give you a shove from behind hard enough so that you have to take a step to avoid falling on your face. Note which foot goes forward - it's a fairly good indicator of which stance you should use.

You then need to set the bindings on the board accordingly - maybe it's already in your stance though. 50/50 chance!

Fakie (or "switch") is riding backwards which most boards can do fine as long as your rear foot isn't aimed too far to the front. I have my front foot set at 15? to the front and the rear foot set at 0? (straight across the board - see the angles on the footplate of the binding), so I can easily ride backwards, but some people prefer only going forwards so have both feet angled forward. As a beginner, you'll need to be able to ride both directions for reasons that will become clear

Also if your board has never been used, run your finger (carefully) along the edges to ensure there are no burrs or dinks from storage/transport damage. And then check the base - any deep gouges? If so they will need filling, although it's unlikely there will be any. Scratches don't matter. If in doubt ask someone.

Don't worry about camber vs rocker. The latter is slightly easier for beginners, but only camber existed when I was learning, so it's no biggy.

Enjoy - it's amazing!

[charlesr]

As averybluemonkey says, wristguards are fantastic as a beginner. I've stopped using them now, because once you are on the steep stuff, you tend not to stop so suddenly if you see what I mean.

However, everyone wears helmets these days. You can hire these too. You might not fall over hard enough to need it while learning, but you might get hit by some out of control tool doing 40mph while you are sat on the slope listening to the instructor.

[koopatroopa90]

Unlike skiing, you can get relatively good at snowboarding in a short space of time.

I've always heard it is the other way around?

I've been skiing twice and loved it both times, that feeling you get when you are bombing down the side of a mountain is fantastic! I first went in year 8 with school (must have been 13?) and thinking about it I'm surprised none of us injured ourselves - I had a couple of high speed crashes/bails...

I'd like to go again and learn to board one day too.

Also, remember alcohol will have a greater effect at higher altitude and you really can't hit the slopes if you aren't feeling great.

[Brad]

I'm off boarding in march. Not sure where yet. Austria somewhere. Great fun!

[charlesr]

Maybe it has changed since I learned to ski, but there was all that snowplough stuff to start with before moving on to parallelish turns, whereas on a snowboard, you just learn to board straight away. Sideslipping on skis is especially hard, but easy on a board.

[Brad]

When I learnt to board they teach you to slide down the hill facing down and then racing up by keeping your board parallel and digging it in. then they taught how to turn by simply looking the way you want to go. Then, you throw all that away and learn how to carve your way down the hill. The big disadvantage for boarders when they start is that if you end up at the bottom of a slope you can;t just dig your poles in and make your way up. It's board off time and walk or do the draggin board with one foot routine. Also button lifts are a nightmare for boarders. So, the act of actually learning to board isn't that hard but there are other thigns that get in the way and slow your progress that skiiers don't have to experience.

[koopatroopa90]

Learning to snowplough is hardly difficult
i think it took us half a day of lessons to learn enough to go up the mountain, and obviously you then just improve as the week goes on, so really wasn't difficult! Only thing I could never do was perfect parallel turns but we went down several black runs, inc one that was almost bloody verticle and I'm still here so can't have been too bad

[charlesr]

Then they taught how to turn by simply looking the way you want to go.

So many books and teachers state this and it really annoys me. It's complete nonsense. It's pointless being a coach if you don't understand the basic mechanics of what you are doing.

To initiate the turn, you raise or lower your feet/toes (tilting the ankle). That is all. The quicker you move your feet, the quicker you turn.
You can keep the rest of the body fairly still and still make the turn. You can look completely the wrong way if you fancy!
Looking where you are going just helps you know where you want to end up.

When it is taught the way you described, you end up with riders who can't figure out why on earth the board isn't turning, so instead they end up flicking it around with their body and because of equal and opposite reactions (newton), their body ends up pointing the wrong way until the board digs in enough at the end of the turn enough for them to then return the body to where it should be pointing. It's slow, ungraceful and unreliable. In contrast, when taught properly, you can have you hands clasped behind you back and still turn easily (see the pic of me on the previous page).

The next most important thing is fore and aft weight transfer to make it super easy to turn. As you start the turn by tilting you ankles, lean forwards down the hill. This seems scary at first, but it makes the board transistion across the center point and pivot easily around the front. If you are leaning back, it can't turn properly because the back edge is digging into the hill! Then as soon the board has gone past pointing straight down the hill and heading back across the other direction, lean backwards again to dig that back edge into the hill to control the speed and rate of turn.

Tilting your ankles combined with this fowards and back motion is all you need to know to get down the hill efficiently. If taught properly you can have people doing linked turns by the end of day 1.

Once those 2 are nailed you can then move on to adding the more advanced vertical movements.
The board turns more easily if there is less weight applied to it.
You can do this in two ways:
1) High turns: Move up as if jumping - as you reach full body extension the board will unweight briefly making it easy to turn. This is great on smooth pistes with no bumps.
2) Low turns: Pull your legs up towards your body - this also unweights the board and should be used when the piste is bumpy or off-piste; with the legs half way up to the body, the legs can act like suspension over the bumps and dips (in contrast, with the body at full extenion in High turns in (1) above, you can't respond to dips (only bumps), so if the ground drops away a bit, you are not in control. Also High turns (1) push the board into the ground, so in powder, this is bad because the board tries to submarine).

[charlesr]

I just looked up "how to turn a snowboard": http://www.wikihow.com/Do-a-Snowboard-Turn
Completely useless. Gives you no information on how to actually turn.

Finally found this which describes it properly: http://snowprofessor.com/how-to-snow...wboard-j-turns

[Brad]

lol at that first link:

Slowly point your front foot down hill

Erm, how do I point my foot downhill? It's strapped to a snowboard.

[Brad]

Booked up for Schladming at end of Feb. So excited!

Tresspass have a sale on. ?40 helmet for ?20 (I never used to bother with a helmet but it's stupid not to really) and ?50 goggles for ?21.

[Rossco]

I'm trying to get up to Glencoe this week snowboarding for my first real outing but it's a bit slushy I think. Back to Norway on Sunday so I'll hopefully get out for real there too. Looking forward to it. The hills there look amazing!