Beginners Guide to Snowboarding

Winter is in full force in the Southern Hemisphere and fast approaching in the Northern, you’ve booked your first snow sports holiday and now wondering what you were thinking? Don’t worry, we have your back. There are 5 main things to consider when learning to board, just remember you will be spending sometime on the floor so make sure your board looks good while you’re lying there recovering.

 

1. Put your best foot forward

You will need to work out what foot stance you are, there are 2 stances in snowboarding. You are either a regular or a goofy, regular means you are left foot forward and goofy means you are right foot forward on your board. There is a super quick way to find out which one you are. Get a mate to stand behind you and push you forward. Whatever foot you move forward to stop yourself falling over is your forward-facing foot. Easy.

   

 

2. Check yourself before you wreck yourself

Make sure you wear the right protective gear on the hill, trust us après becomes a lot harder when you have a broken wrist. As a beginner, you are going to be falling over a lot so make sure you have wrist guards and a decent helmet as no one looks good knocking themselves out on the slope.

 

3. When things get flat

A snowboarders worst nightmare is when the slope flattens out and with it your speed drops. You will get better at dealing with flats as you progress but when you have just started the best thing to do it to unstrap your back foot and push yourself along with it. A lot like pushing yourself along skating. When you get to the end of the flat just make sure you strap your back foot back in, otherwise the first turn could be a lot more interesting then you planned…

 

 

4. Look where you are going

This sounds waayy too simple to have made the list but you would be surprised at the number of beginners who want to look behind themselves as they head down the mountain. Looking where you want to go with help you with edge control as well as turning as it shifts your body weight to where you want to head, making the turning process so much easier. 

 

5. Learn to skate

Before you head of to the mountains there is somethings you can do to help prepare your body for snowboarding, you can learn to skateboard. The movements are pretty similar, being aware of your weight and able to shift it on a board will be incredibly helpful for when you first strap into your snowboard. If you have never skated before find our beginners guide here.