Trying snowboarding

A snowHead

Hi,

I went skiing earlier this year for the first time, I was going to do snow boarding but changed my mind at the last minute as I was told by people that had gone before that skiing was easier and faster. I felt I picked up skiing quite well, we were going down red runs on our 3rd & 4th day but I found I wasn't that bothered about goign fast really I prefered the twists and turns.
So my questions are
Is snowboarding easier/better for twists and turns?
How easy is snowboarding to pick up compared to skiing?

I have looked at the Snow dome and they do several courses, I will only have the oppunrtunity to go once though so was wondering what would be best for me to have a taster
1 hour individual lesson
or they have 2/3/4 hour courses as follows - http://www.snowdome.co.uk/book-online/?productId=238&date=15/12/2016&97=1&114=0&go=1

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated, I have email the actual snow dome company and they just sort of repeated what was on the website without giving me any real advice

Thanks

A snowHead

Learning to snowplow turn on skis is easy and quick.

Learning to do turns on a snowboard is tricky and painful but more rewarding (although plenty would debate that).

Is snowboarding easier/better for twists and turns?

If you mean something like a slalom course, then a skier would win.

My advice would be don't try to learn boarding on holiday, do it till you are a reasonable standard in a dome before you go.

If you don't have time, stick to skis till next year.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Snow boarding is hard to learn and easy to master (to a reasonable standard), skiing is easy to learn and hard to master.

You will only know which you prefer by trying it. They are quite different in how you tackle a piste. For me, off piste will always be boarding but this year I am putting skis on again for some of my time on piste.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Thanks for your advice
A few of my friends tried snowboarding for the first time and it did take them longer to pick it up than us on skis, and the did mention the continual falling on your bum or face!!! Very Happy

When I went skiing we had a lesson on the first morning and we learnt snowplow stopping and a little bit of snowplay turns, but then we went out on the baby slope and just started copying the people who knew what they were doing and what I'd seen on the TV, after quite a few crashes we could easily do proper turns and do the skiddy turn to stop and never used the snowplow again

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@fredbob, I teach boarding at Hemel Snow Centre on weekends. Recently I have taught a lot of skiers who wanted to try it just to see. The majority found it to be good fun and picked it up really well. My advice would be to give it ago while you are still relatively new to skiing. Also as others have said, do it in a dome where the conditions are controlled and you won't waste a holiday and the cost of a lift pass sitting on your bum.

As for the difficulty of learning. I personally would say boarding is a little more tricky to pick up as you really need to get the basics nailed (balance, comfortable sliding with your back down the slope and relaxing) before progressing on to turns etc. But once you get on to turns you will become more comfortable on the board and you will start to really enjoy it. As for the falling over, you will take a few tumbles but if you take your time and don't rush you won't have too many plus the instructor should be on hand to assist if you are on your bum more than on your feet.

If you got any other questions please feel free to ask

You'll need to Register first of course.

If you've ever skateboarded or surfed than snowboarding comes really easily. I tried it in Czech a couple of years back, no instruction just tips from a mate and was on reds by lunch.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@fredbob, ...have you heard of the theory of 'the sweet spot'? ... very important in psychology of training.

In snowboarding there is no sweet spot. There is only the single point on your rear where you fall day, after day, after day. The bruise grows in quite an extraordinary way over the first week....

After all it is free

@chrisrawles,
Daughter is going to try , she has had one lesson and seems to have balance , she can surf and longboard.
Taking her again at the weekend before she goes.
shes determined to board , you reckon she can pick it up in a few days?
i cant help her as i havent a clue how to board , any tips or video links?

@hawkwind, Plenty of videos on Youtube BUT I do not recommend this method. Longboard riding will help, surfing not so much as you tend to be more on the back foot when surfing but boarding is more equal when at the learning stage.

On average I would say it takes about 10-12hrs tuition to get to a level where the rider is linking turns and fairly confident to ride on their own on the main slope in a dome.

Hope this helps

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

@chrisrawles,
cheers , i permit you to put what you consider a halfdecent learning video from youtube Smile

there are too many and i wouldnt have a clue.
She is leaving in week so not enough time but ill put her in a 2 hour group lesson each morning.
Im sure she be fine but its her 1st trip and i really want her to enjoy it

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

I learned to board in a snowdome. I did about 6, 2 hours slots, when I got out to the mountain I skipped lessons, and was safe and comfortable, any instructor will tell you that everyone progresses at different rate, and I found my progression about average. . I was also trying out skis at the time, but I ended up sticking the board. the reasoning was as other people said, the board has a steeper learning curve, but once you're comfortable turning there's not a whole lot more you actually need to learn.

In terms of twists and turns...skis are probably better for tight maneuverability (i think it's certainly easier on steeps)

I personly find alot of pleasure making name arcing turns down the hill.

Oh and the snowboard makes way cooler noises when on icy snow.

snow reports

Give it a go and find out! Some people are more suited to skis, some to boarding, some to both. With the right board you will have just as much fun, but it's like comparing horse riding and cycling (or motorcycling or whatever analogy you lime).

Skis much more fun in real slalom style for most average people with standard equipment (though theory do slalom boarding).

Learn boarding in a dome over a day's course and then many multi-hour sessions of practice. It does take a while: rather like learning to ride a cycle as a kid. But once you've got the basics - and lots of foam padding and impact shorts - you should get going fairly quickly, though not as quickly as basic skiing. But, getting reasonably good at skiing - or able safely to cope with most runs - takes a whole lot longer imho.

Do both they both have their place and you'll develop some complimentary skills. Skiing for hardpack, board or fat slarvey skis for soft stuff Few.

You know it makes sense.

@hawkwind,
Check out snowboardprocamp on you tube or snowboardaddiction.com , loads of good stuff from beginner to expert

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

My ski / snowboard CV reads something like this.

Skied up to around the age of 25 - competent skier - then took the plunge as other mates had - and learnt to snowboard - this was back in the days of using your ski boots and hard boot bindings.

I deliberately on that week's holiday did not take the skis with me - was a hard and fast learning curve as snow was boiler plate so ended up with a sore coccyx very early on and nigh on concussion (helmets were not in vogue back then either).

The ritual seemed to be fall backwards on your butt and followed by the back of your head whiplashing into the snow, painful.

By the end of day one linking turns, day three was the tough day when maybe if I had my skis with me I might have packed it in and reverted back to skis. End of the week I was doing the big wall (tortan ?) in Verbier.

I did come from a windsurfing background and rugby so was sort of used to crash and burn.

I'd always advise if wanting to learn to snowboard then kiss the skis goodbye - otherwise you'll be tempted to revert.

Best also to learn with mates as you can all have a giggle and share the pain.

Unlike skiing by the end of the week if conditions are good you could be boarding powder which would take a good number of weeks skiing to get anywhere near to doing that!

Three weeks into boarding and you'll be ripping!

Then twenty or so years later you'll tire of the board and revert back to skis Toofy Grin

All the above advice, my daughter as children do, chose to ignore the old man and has dabbled with one or two days each week away and has not progressed at all (she did have a couple of lessons)- though she did do her coccyx really bad a few years ago (I did warn her that boiler plate was not good to learn on) she is also not used to crash and burn.

She'll be giving it another go over Xmas though snow does not look good, and I've borrowed a nice little girlies board with flow bindings which will hopefully make things easier.

So if you're young and fit sporty* and used to getting beaten up and pick things up quickly then snowboarding is great and you'll progress fast.

If you're none of the above, then stick to skis!

*That said at the age of 50+ after years of windsurfing I went over to the dark side (kitesurfing) and have never been back on the pole - and kiting is feckin dangerous to learn.

And there are a lot of similarities between kiting / windsurfing and snowboarding / skiing in terms of learning / age profiles etc etc

A snowHead

@Weathercam, my story is almost identical to yours. I'm a similar age too. I even windsurfed at pro level too.

And now I am reverting back to skis for piste days. Very Happy

I haven't tried Kite surfing yet, but it's on the list. Paragliding is next for me.

A snowHead

The fact that my BMC insurance covers me for all my skiing off piste without a guide, all my rock ice and alpine climbing summer or winter and loads of other stuff, but I have to pay a premium for snowboarding tells me everything I need to know. But maybe it's just that snowboarders claims just result fro excessive partying?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@On the rocks, yes when I was still snowboarding and doing a lot of touring I was with BMC and then as skiing took over both me and the Mrs found the premium for a season to add snowboarding was massive !

@bar shaker, old mans' amnesia got those dates wrong - I skied till around 32 and boarded till around 50'ish and started kiting three years ago, now 58 Sad

And evidently I too only did one day, with the Mrs - I then went back with my mates for a week to learn and the Mrs went to Club Med the following year and learnt and that year with Club Med I was doing crazy off piste with them (my 3rd week).

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Unfortunately I am only going to be able to go to the snow dome once before going to Andorra next January
Would you recommend a 2 or 3 hour group lesson or an individual 1 hour lesson?
There is a 4 hour "get you up to basic standard" but I dont think I will have the time to do that one Sad

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

You'll need to Register first of course.

@Mitchell,
cheers got them , ill pass them on to her Smile

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Boarding = a couple of days of hard falls, but by then you'll be able to link turns pretty well. After that, it's a fast learning curve. There is, after all, basically only one technique to learn with regards to turns, so you don't work through a progression of snowplough -> step -> parallel. You just work at the one thing from the very start.

Having said that, I skied for a number of years before starting boarding just over 20 years ago, so I already knew how to tackle a slope, which I think helps.

I have started skiing again, more recently, as my kids (4, 8 and 11) ski, so I've been doing it to ski with them. I still prefer boarding though, even after 20 years. Horses for courses, and all that.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Quite simply you can feel like a hero after roughly two weeks boarding when venturing away from the piste, especially in fresh snow and spring snow, when people who have been skiing for many weeks still stick firmly to the piste and will not venture away from it.

Hard piste boiler plate no fun at all on a board. Get up early and board the corduroy before it gets scraped off.

Or wait till Spring and board the piste slush just as most skiers are calling it a day rolling eyes

snow reports

@Weathercam, +1

The horrible noise that my board makes on a rock hard icy piste reminds me that it's much nicer in softer snow!

@tomj, @Weathercam, + another 1

I guess that's why there is a benefit in being able to ski and board.
Icy stuff = avoid on board, grit teeth firmly and press like heck on skis.
Soft or deeper stuff = abandon slow skis (or get wider ones) and grab board.
More horses, more courses Very Happy

p.s. isn't the horrid nasty scraping sound designed in to terrify already terrified skiers even more? Or let them know that a manic boarder needs to come through their oh-so-perfect turns? Little Angel

You know it makes sense.

My lesson went well at the snow dome, I picked it up really well i think, I managed to link a couple of turns by the end of the lesson.

I didnt really need the help of instructors after a couple of goes so I was speeding up an down as fast as I could to get as many runs in as possible

I'm going to try boarding on my next holiday now

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@fredbob, nice snowHead

A snowHead

Remember my golden rule, pretend you can snowboard and sooner or later you can.

Help!!

Trying snowboarding

snowHeads Forum Index >>> The Piste