Snowboarding

[TheKnat]

I am not a happy bunny right now. I'm in Whistler and theres loads of snow coming down and I'm stuck in my hotel room

I've been trying to learn to snowboard for over a week now but every time I go up I end up falling on my knees so hard that walking becomes difficult. This has meant that I've been taking a lesson and then having to wait a few days before I can go up again.

I'm only here until Monday so I think I'm going to have to just grin and bear the pain so I get more time on the slopes. But does anyone have any good general advice for someone who is still learning ? I'm not expecting to be going down the terrain park at any point soon, but stopping falling over quite so much would be nice.

 

[Floyd]

Few tips that helped me -

try to keep your body in line with your board so your not steering with your body, keeping your arms above both ends of the board can help with this.

Keep you knees bent and the majority of your weight on your front foot, this is where most of the steering happens

As a beginner don't worry about making sharp turns just make sure you get your edge changes down, you can speed them up later

Investing in some knee protection might be worthwhile, impact shorts are good too.

All the best, I'm off to Val Thorens on Sunday

 

[Tomsk]

Get kneepads.
Get a second opinion on the correct angle and spacing of your bindings.

 

[TheKnat]

I got some kneepads but they haven't helped much.

As for not turning with my body, this is something i was told TO do. I was told to start the turn with my body and then when I'm facing straight down the slope, change the edge I am on.

I'm still renting boards at the moment, but something feels wrong each time I go out. I always end up with one of my legs going dead from about knee down. I was thinking it was me, but I'm starting to wonder whether I need to get the board adjusted for me.

 

[ichabod crane]

Few tips that helped me -

try to keep your body in line with your board so your not steering with your body, keeping your arms above both ends of the board can help with this.

Keep you knees bent and the majority of your weight on your front foot, this is where most of the steering happens

As a beginner don't worry about making sharp turns just make sure you get your edge changes down, you can speed them up later

Investing in some knee protection might be worthwhile, impact shorts are good too.

All the best, I'm off to Val Thorens on Sunday

most of what is said here is correct, but if you leg is going numb id say your binding angle is wrong for most first time users the best set up is 15degs on the lead foot and -3degs on the rear foot. may help a little and make it more comfy

 

[Tesla]

Sounds as if your instructor is a bit crap.

After a few 2.5hour small-group lessons I turned pro, few people dropped out the class but by the end of the week all of us (begineers) were pretty good and could happily take blue runs, even tried a few red on the last lesson without too much of an issue.

I did do the first day without lessons and I badly hurt myself all over. But I had such a great time it made blocking out the aches and pains easy.

 

[TheKnat]

I've been doing green and blue runs (quite steep ones) and I can get down them fine. I just keep finding my back edge catching too much, especially when turning onto my toe-edge.

Its probably just down to practice, but I didn't realise how tiring it would be as well. I have 2 days left on my pass, so I'm just going to get up there tomorrow and take the pain

 

[D.P.]

I am not a happy bunny right now. I'm in Whistler and theres loads of snow coming down and I'm stuck in my hotel room

I've been trying to learn to snowboard for over a week now but every time I go up I end up falling on my knees so hard that walking becomes difficult. This has meant that I've been taking a lesson and then having to wait a few days before I can go up again.

I'm only here until Monday so I think I'm going to have to just grin and bear the pain so I get more time on the slopes. But does anyone have any good general advice for someone who is still learning ? I'm not expecting to be going down the terrain park at any point soon, but stopping falling over quite so much would be nice.

Learn to ski. seriously. If you are having so much problems boarding it probably means you don't find it natural. Skiing might be better for you.

At the least, you wall fall less and have better mobility.

As an indicator of progress, it took me about 3 hours to be able to board down double black diamonds/ black runs, coming from a skiing background. It never really felt as comfortable and the hassle wasn't worth it for the limitations so I kept skiing. Most people can learn to board in a day. If you are struggling it is due to some more major issues. Everyone I have known to struggle boarding has been able to learn skiing sufficiently quickly, vice versa.

 

[D.P.]

I got some kneepads but they haven't helped much.

As for not turning with my body, this is something i was told TO do. I was told to start the turn with my body and then when I'm facing straight down the slope, change the edge I am on.

I'm still renting boards at the moment, but something feels wrong each time I go out. I always end up with one of my legs going dead from about knee down. I was thinking it was me, but I'm starting to wonder whether I need to get the board adjusted for me.

This is corrrect. You should turn your body. Skiing or sboraidng, you always commence a turn by subtle weight shifting initiated by body rotation.

 

[TheKnat]

Learn to ski. seriously. If you are having so much problems boarding it probably means you don't find it natural. Skiing might be better for you.

I was comtemplating this instead. My wife was having issues with snowboarding so she went to learn to ski instead. She hasn't fallen over once yet in 3 lessons and will soon be better at going down slopes than me.

This is corrrect. You should turn your body. Skiing or sboraidng, you always commence a turn by subtle weight shifting initiated by body rotation.

I was starting to wonder about that. Glad you put me straight

 

[Tesla]

So you end up superman'ing through the air and then knocking the wind out of yourself?

You get used to it

 

[DJMK4]

Im going on a Skiing/Snowboarding holiday in Finland in April 08 so I will be looking for tips also

 

[semi-pro waster]

It is slightly difficult to give advice without actually seeing the person snowboard but assuming you can do the basics of starting and stopping with 'garlanding' down the slope (basically sliding from one side to the other under control) then you will be looking at turning properly. Some people find it helps to hold their arms up (imagine someone is picking you up under the armpits) and turning their entire upper body, you'll find that where your eyes are looking is where your body naturally will focus on going - this is the same reason that if you look at someone walking down the street you'll frequently walk into them and do the awkward "get out of my way" dance.

I would recommend going into the nearest ski/snowboard rentals shop (they litter the town in Whistler) and asking them to check your setup, it does sound rather as if you might be setup wrongly. I don't know how much you know but there are three basic stances - regular (left foot leading), goofy (right foot forwards) and ducky (splayed footing with both toes pointing out to a greater or lesser degree), in each of the stances there are varying degrees that people feel comfortable with but it does sound as though yours may need a bit of adjusting. Although also be aware that it could be partly to do with socks that are too big or boots too small.

[Sniper][Wolf] - where are you going in Finland? I've only been to Levi and the local slope to Rovaniemi. Levi was pretty decent with a reasonable range but I'd suspect after the first three-four days you might get a little bit bored if you are any good, Rovaniemi has two runs and I was pretty bored after the first hour, if I wasn't showing other people I'd have given up at that point.

 

[Nexus]

I once worked as a snowboard instructor in Whistler!

You've had lots of good advice already....

Sounds as if your instructor is a bit crap.

After a few 2.5hour small-group lessons I turned pro, few people dropped out the class but by the end of the week all of us (begineers) were pretty good and could happily take blue runs, even tried a few red on the last lesson without too much of an issue..

Maybe... but from when I was an instructor, I saw that people just learn differently, they even teach you how people learn differently in snowboard school. Some will pick it up within an hour... others can take a whole week.

If you really think you are struggling, get on some skis, as you can at least get the basics down and see the mountains for some of your week.

Bit late now, but I always recommend people get some lessons before going away.

Plenty to do in Whistler though in the meantime... Have you been zip trekking? Snowmobiling?

 

[DJMK4]

It is slightly difficult to give advice without actually seeing the person snowboard but assuming you can do the basics of starting and stopping with 'garlanding' down the slope (basically sliding from one side to the other under control) then you will be looking at turning properly. Some people find it helps to hold their arms up (imagine someone is picking you up under the armpits) and turning their entire upper body, you'll find that where your eyes are looking is where your body naturally will focus on going - this is the same reason that if you look at someone walking down the street you'll frequently walk into them and do the awkward "get out of my way" dance.

I would recommend going into the nearest ski/snowboard rentals shop (they litter the town in Whistler) and asking them to check your setup, it does sound rather as if you might be setup wrongly. I don't know how much you know but there are three basic stances - regular (left foot leading), goofy (right foot forwards) and ducky (splayed footing with both toes pointing out to a greater or lesser degree), in each of the stances there are varying degrees that people feel comfortable with but it does sound as though yours may need a bit of adjusting. Although also be aware that it could be partly to do with socks that are too big or boots too small.

[Sniper][Wolf] - where are you going in Finland? I've only been to Levi and the local slope to Rovaniemi. Levi was pretty decent with a reasonable range but I'd suspect after the first three-four days you might get a little bit bored if you are any good, Rovaniemi has two runs and I was pretty bored after the first hour, if I wasn't showing other people I'd have given up at that point.

I belive the place we are going is Yllas. I can't see me being bored. We have got the works being planned..I.E Skiing, Snowboarding, Ice Fishing, Snow mobiling, oh, and getting drunk

 

[Xenoxide]

When I was learning I kept falling onto my knees too. Hurts a little, doesn't it?

My only tip: Bend your knees more! I found if I kept falling it meant my center of mavity wasn't low enough. Get lower down!

 

[TheKnat]

Plenty to do in Whistler though in the meantime... Have you been zip trekking? Snowmobiling?

Been ziptrekking.. was very fun and I managed to get a few videos of it as well

The main reason I haven't tried skiing yet it that I've spent quite a bit of time trying to snowboard and it seems like a bit of a waste of time if I switch.

I'm beyond the point of just going side-to-side and I can quite happily perform turns down most the slope. I'm just starting to plateau a bit where I'm still falling a lot and don't feel like I'm learning a lot more. I'm hoping if I just have more time on the snow then I will be a bit better.

Bit late now, but I always recommend people get some lessons before going away.

I did try and do some, but in the middle of the lesson some idiot went into the back of the missus. They hurt her knee so we had to leave unfortunately.

I'll report back after I've been up tomorrow and let you know if I'm going to be carrying on with snowboarding or try skiing instead

 

[D.P.]

For skiing I can reccomend the ski evolutif method. Start with a very small pair. These are incredibly easy to turn, i.e like the snow blades. But each time you go out on skis get a slightly bigger pair until you reach the reccomended lenght.


This will at the least ensure you have some fun days sliding on some easy slopes. The skills should evolve with longer skis.



In general snowboarding is far harder than skiing for the first few hours/ days. Then once it clciks its all straight forward. Skiing. You can standa around, move your legs naturally, turning seems to be logical. But you have a lot of learning, re-training to do later on. I've been skiing 12-13 years and I still learn something alost eery time I go out....

 

[DJammyRasta]

im confused.. if you can make it down the slope turning fine how and when are you still falling over lots?

even the pro's fall over i would think but you should only fall over lots when you are first learning to turn and dont do it quite right (i greatly prefer my heel edge and still ocassionally dont get enough of an angle when on my toe edge and sometimes catch my heel causing me to do a very nice backwards roll with my legs ending up near my head) but even with this i still dont fall over all that often

 

[MookJong]

Snowboarding is all about applying pressure to either your heal or your toe edge depending on what way you want to turn, can't explain it any more than that in text. My first weeks snowboading I felt like I had been hit by a car, most of my body was aching but I wasn't going to let a few bruises and worked muscles stop me.

We used to get the beers out as soon as we got back to the room each night so the pain was soon dulled.