Skiers learning to board

[billski]

I went with my daughter and we both took our first boarding lesson last week. Both of us have been skiing a little bit before now

It was fairly easy to just forget what I know about skiing, as it doesn't apply to boarding. However the thing I had a problem with was doing the right thing. I put the toes forward when I meant to lean back, and I always twisted the board incorrectly for the direction I wanted to head in. The instructor complimented me on how well I fall. The big thing we both had going for us is that we have no fear of falling, which can be a real impediment for a learner.

While I fell a lot, only my back was sore, as I spent a lot of time getting back up from falling. I liked only having the board to misplace, rather than four things to lose.

Maybe I'll go again, but I dropped a lot of coin with the lesson, lift and rentals between the two of us. I forgot how expensive that stuff is. I also forgot what a PITA it is walking uphill (pre-carpet drills)

I pretty much got the techniques. Now I have to go out and practice.


You?

 

[Twism86]

Some of the people I ski with board, including my roommate who just picked up boarding. Ive considered renting for a day to join them but havent yet. I tried boarding when I was a kid at Smuggs, got knocked out.... My goal is to enjoy and make the most of time on my limited trips to the mountain. Trying to figure out boarding would not fall into that category. I still have plenty to learn and work on with skiing.

 

[thetrailboss]

Similar experience with me. When I tried it in 2003 I had been skiing for 13 years and it took me most of those years to be able to confidently face down the fall line. So when I got on the board it was completely different and I naturally felt insecure--vulnerable even. I also would overreact and end up face down. That snowbird was like a mousetrap it seemed....it would throw me down it seemed. So my experience lasted about 2 hours. Not my thing.

 

[snoseek]

Tried it back in the late 80's, devoted three full days. Felt like someone beat the shit out of me but got to the point where I could go top to bottom at black without dumping. 3 times.

It was a giant knock to my young ego and I learned that im not a very patient person.

 

[JohnQ]

Did some snowboarding in the late 90s after skiing for 25 years. Once I got my balance sorted out (took most of the first morning) it was relatively straight forward. Hardest thing for me was releasing my edges to get into the next turn and I could never get comfortable at speed. Was able to ride down the blues without any difficulty. Everything was sore after that first day, though. The act of pushing myself up over and over was rough on wrists and shoulders.

I can't see being a snowboarder in the east, it was fun in the powder but would rather have skis on the ice.

 

[Cannonball]

Learning to snowboard significantly changed and improved my skiing. Going back to skiing has significantly improved my snowboarding.

 

[gladerider]

I switched to boarding after 17 years of skiing. It's been about 9 years and I am a far better boarder than skier. IMHO boarders progress so much faster than skiers after the initial hump. Saw the same thing with my kids and many others.

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[Cornhead]

I've tried it twice years ago without much success, I snagged one of my Son's old boards with the intention of playing around with it, but I have a bum shoulder that needs work. I don't think I'd try it without getting my shoulder worked on. I've fallen on it before rollerblading, not even moving, and I was back to square one with it.

 

[Nick]

I also tried three times in the late 90's. I had a lot of fun trying it but I still prefer skiing. We were at Killington on those shell gasoline free lesson vouchers. My sister, dad and I all did it.

Once you got an edge it wasn't too bad. Mind you this was just snowshed, and we might have done a blue in there somewhere, but nothing more technical than that.

The basics, to me, seem way easier than skiing.

 

[crank]

I learned in the 90's. My son was 5 or 6 and I was taking him to local hills like Mohawk and spending a lot of time on greens and easy blues. Once he got to the point where he could use poles and get around/get up on his own I took up boarding so I wouldn't be bored (see bored on groomer thread). I both skied and boarded for a number of years and now mostly ski but will board a day or so every season, especially when at an easy or boring hill.

I am an intermediate boarder and while I can turn down blacks and have fun I am afraid of going really fast because I have had some nasty falls. I also never leave the ground - jumps and tricks are not for me. It's fun though and feels great in a few inches of powder. However, as a 57-year old who has been an avid skier since the age , of 5 I am way more comfortable and faster on 2 planks. My son never tried boarding and now when we are together I always ski, otherwise I could never keep up with him.

 

[billski]

Crank - I'm close to you in age, and in last week's lesson, I took a head banger that left me seeing stars. It's been a long time since that happened skiing. My wife said my boarding days are over....

 

[Abubob]

When I got married away back in 1900's I tried snowboarding seriously for the first time. January of '96 it was - The Rolling Stones were still touring in those days. I got the hang of it as long as I had hill. Since I had done some skateboarding in my youth and of course skied for nearly 30 years at that point I picked it up pretty quick. Whenever I ran out of hill, however, I'd fall, every time. I also hated having to unbuckle one foot at the base - every time.

Before that, though, far far back in the 1970's (all the Beatles were still alive) a pioneering friend brought a snurfboard to our backyard hill. We immediately banned him.

 

[bigbog]

Man oh man, it takes all my effort just to keep me alive on skis Bill...:roll:. Fwiw, a lot of the backcountry boarders up here do the
snowshoe-thing to ascend...whenever appropriate.

 

[Nick]

The Rolling Stones were still touring in those days. .

Aren't they still touring now?

 

[crank]

Crank - I'm close to you in age, and in last week's lesson, I took a head banger that left me seeing stars. It's been a long time since that happened skiing. My wife said my boarding days are over....

When I was learning at Mohawk I went down hard on the back of my head getting off the lift. Saw stars. went helmet shopping the next day. Never made the mistake of getting caught on the heel edge getting off a lift again. Getting off the chair can be one of the hardest things to learn!

 

[JDMRoma]

Got to admit it looks like fun but Im not wanting to relearn anything right now……

I know the falls are hard….I did many years of Waterskiing and my main love was Barefoot skiing…when the water was too rough I would switch over to Wakeboarding or trick skis……I was OK on it,riding switch and wake 180s and 360s but damn those falls were almost as bad as barefoot falls…..definite bell ringers for sure, peel your eyelids right back type of impact….cant imagine hitting something Solid….ouch !!
I can do enough damage on 2 skis…….

 

[Boardguy]

Fwiw, a lot of the backcountry boarders up here do the
snowshoe-thing to ascend...whenever appropriate.

My son uses a split board for that, just puts skins on it and away he goes. I switched over back in the late '90s and have not skied since '98. I keep saying that someday I will rent skis but so far it has not happened. I have found that most skiers don't want to be beginners again and most skiing families put much pressure on their kids to keep them on skis. Watching my son who had never skied before boarding was interesting. His learning process was much different than my ski to board transition and from what I could see a lot less painful. When he began he was not tied to the traverse with the big turns at either end like I tried as I had done when I learned to ski. His approach was more straight down the hill with speed checks as necessary and just worked larger angle turns in as he progressed. His way worked a lot better. The snowboard learning curve is more steep at the start once the edge control basics are down off you go.

 

[gladerider]

Split boarding got much bigger in the last 5 years. Saw quite a few up in JP. Not so much elsewhere just in the east coast.

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[Glenn]

The hardest thing for me was the feeling of being locked in; i couldn't move my legs to help with balance.

I skied and boarded in high school and part of college. Those new fangled parabolics got me back on skis full time. I rented a board last year for the first time in about 15 years. I really enjoyed it. I may do it again this year.


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[gladerider]

Glenn. Recommend trying it on a pow day.

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