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Long time skier who wants to try Snowboarding

shwilly

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Apr 13, 2006
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1. Take a private lesson first thing.
2. Realize that you will beat yourself up for the first day or two. The trick is to get over that hump and make it to the point where you can do an easy trail without hurting yourself. Then it's just practice, practice, practice.

Finally, this is really the whole thing in a nutshell but it's hard to understand without trying:

3. Never, ever, ever put your weight on your downhill edge.
 

Whitey

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Joined
Dec 10, 2008
Messages
454
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18
Location
Suburban sprawl north of Boston
1) Grasp the snowboard firmly in both hands
2) Smash yourself over the head with it while repeating "why would anyone ever want to do that"
3) Go back to skiing.
 
Last edited:

Glenn

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Oct 1, 2008
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CT & VT
Being lock into the board will feel odd. It's strange not being able to move your feet independently. KNowing how to use the lifts and read the terrain is a huge plus. Your wrists and tailbone will hurt the next few days after. It's a fun way to switch things up, have fun!
 

thetrailboss

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In a word: don't.

I tried snowboarding after 13 years of skiing. It was a complete failure. Completely different and really hard to go against long engrained instinct.
 

LauraJillian

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Feb 3, 2017
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Boston
1. Take a private lesson first thing.
2. Realize that you will beat yourself up for the first day or two. The trick is to get over that hump and make it to the point where you can do an easy trail without hurting yourself. Then it's just practice, practice, practice.

Finally, this is really the whole thing in a nutshell but it's hard to understand without trying:

3. Never, ever, ever put your weight on your downhill edge.



Smart, don't let physics work against me! But yeah, I should probably just start with lessons.
 

Old Duderino

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Aug 23, 2014
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VA/MD/DC
Being lock into the board will feel odd. It's strange not being able to move your feet independently. KNowing how to use the lifts and read the terrain is a huge plus. Your wrists and tailbone will hurt the next few days after. It's a fun way to switch things up, have fun!

^^^
This. I went from skiing to snowboarding when I was about 40 and I don't think I could do it if I started learning today some 10 years later. Once you get to the point where you can stand up on a snowboard you start the snowboard equivalent of the snowplow where you face downhill with your heels dug into the snow and start slowly easing your weight off of one heal then the other going slowly down the hill. Eventually you'll graduate from that to letting more weight off of one foot and gliding into a heal side turn. Toe side turns take the longest to master due to the unnatural feeling of turning your back to the downhill side of the mountain.

I've gone back to mostly skiing but I still enjoy a few days of cruiser zooming on my snowboard, comfy boots and one piece of gear are so much easier to deal for those kind of days.
 

TheArchitect

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Aug 3, 2011
Messages
236
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Finally, this is really the whole thing in a nutshell but it's hard to understand without trying:

3. Never, ever, ever put your weight on your downhill edge.

So very true. I've done it and managed to live to tell the tale. Barely.

Funny timing on this thread because my son finally convinced me to give snowboarding another try this season. It always looks like it would be fun and a nice change of pace after 35 years of skiing. Then you catch a downhill heel edge...(insert bloody smiley).

Wish me luck tomorrow!
 

Edd

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Nov 8, 2006
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Newmarket, NH
I tried it once when I was maybe 35, after years of only skiing. I did 4 runs off the South Ridge HSQ at Sunday River. 2 friends, also skiers, were trying it with me. We beat the piss out of ourselves. At the start of our 4th run we agreed to grab our skis when we got to the bottom. When we got within 50 ft of the ski racks I fell and got a hairline wrist fracture. I was not a happy camper.

I wish I'd done a private lesson. We winged it. Do your best not to break your falls with your hands. Not easy to do but I'm pretty sure wrist fractures are the most common snowboarding injury.
 

goldsbar

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Jan 26, 2004
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New Jersey
Prepare for pain. A snowboard fall is nothing like a ski fall. In a ski fall, you generally just fall on your side or maybe tumble forward in a bad crash. You probably won't get hurt unless you're unlucky or hit something solid. The snowboard edge, on the other hand, acts like a lever and accelerates your body violently into the ground. One season was enough for me.
 

TheArchitect

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Aug 3, 2011
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I tried it 4 times before I got tired of being restricted to the green and low intermediate trails. It was just too easy to go back to the skis and be able to go ski anywhere on the mountain. I didn't have my son with me then so we'll see how it goes.

To the OP, definitely take a lesson. I did and it helped a lot. My only piece of advice is that it doesn't take much movement to get the board to turn so be careful of exaggerated movements. They'll screw with your balance, at least in my experience.
 

Zermatt

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Mar 13, 2016
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Connecticut
Why would you ever do that? There is nothing you can do on a snowboard that can't be done on skis, but there is much that you can do on skis that cannot be done on a board.

I always felt like snowboarding is for people who never properly learned how to ski....it is a major step backwards.
 

TheArchitect

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Why would you ever do that? There is nothing you can do on a snowboard that can't be done on skis, but there is much that you can do on skis that cannot be done on a board.

I always felt like snowboarding is for people who never properly learned how to ski....it is a major step backwards.

I don't know if I agree with this blanket statement. I'm an advanced skier and have been for most of my life. I don't consider trying something new to add some variety a major step backwards. It's just different.
 

Abominable

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Jan 18, 2013
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477
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28
- wear wrist guards

- concentrate on a "boxer's stance" - always keep you fists balled and in front of your chest. When you fall, you have to fight the instinct to put your hands out and instead land on your shoulders or rear end.

"I always felt like snowboarding is for people who never properly learned how to ski....it is a major step backwards."

There is a little bit of truth here. I'd say that snowboarding, for a lot of us, was a way to make skiing fun again in the early 90s. A way to make our home hill interesting again.

Skiing is much easier to start, harder to get really good. Snowboarding is hard to start, but once you've got a season under your belt and are linking solid turns it's much more natural or flowy or something... easier to get good at.
 

Zermatt

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Mar 13, 2016
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I don't know if I agree with this blanket statement. I'm an advanced skier and have been for most of my life. I don't consider trying something new to add some variety a major step backwards. It's just different.

Try telemark skiing.


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone
 

dlague

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Nov 7, 2012
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I would definitely start with private lessons if you can. Some people pick it up pretty easy but the lessons certainly would speed things up. Avoid places that have lots of flats!

My wife and I took private snowboarding lessons and were pretty sore the next day. Even though we were doing ok on the first day, we bagged it after that. We have one son that switch hits and skis or snowboards depending what he feels like doing that day. He was a long time skier and at 20 just decided to try it without lessons and caught on immediately - that is youth though. Another son went from skiing then at 8 switched to snowboarding, then at 12 switched back to skiing with no desire to snowboard again. Initially thought about doing both but just liked skiing much more.
 

skiMEbike

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Jul 29, 2014
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Maine
OMG...This thread reminds me of some of the Ads on TV you see for prescription drugs..."Side Effects may include, pain, broken wrists, pissing blood, head aches, etc...."
 
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