i think if you get a chance to ride powder once it all "clicks", you'll be singing a v different tune. (though i don't now how fat skis compare?)
But once it all clicks on skis you sing a very different tune as well....
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Bergmeister, Been a while since I started this thread and as Winter approaches our new skis look great, I've been to spyderjon to learn to service them (and our boards ). My attitude still hasn't changed, we will bring our boards out and hopefully will have another crack but all I have t think about is the multiple face plants I did last year to look at my skis with even greater delight.
However I am so glad I learnt and lifes to short sometimes not to try new things.
thefatcontroller, where's you initial thread? that would make interesting reading for the OP too. I know just how you feel.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
pam w, I've run 4 marathons (2 @ 3 hour times), ran long, long brutal distances training for them but nothing has ever left me so physically forked as 3 x days of private snowbaord lessons at altitude (2,100m) in Tignes. Genuinely by morning 3 mrsfatcontroller could not get out of the bedroom without great help, drugs and a warm bath. The pain memories wear thin (the face plants I can't forget) and it was fun just so, so frigging painful
thefatcontroller, my buff, hockey-playing, early-morning-rowing, skinny and muscular niece was almost crying with pain on the sofa bed in our apartment, some years ago, with me running round with hot water bottles and ibuprofen. She recently ran a half marathon after not running much for a while (she's a 3rd year medical student now, and very busy) and her mother was worried about her lack of decent running shoes. She lost a toenail "It's only a toenail mother, don't flap". She's no wimp, but she found boarding painful too. But she went at it - private lesson first thing, then boarding till the lifts stopped and the light disappeared. I actually went back up the hill with a torch, worried about her, in very poor vis, at 5 pm. I heard a string of foul oaths and found her full length, which scarcely enough energy to get up again. I knew where we were and carried her board down the last couple of hundred yards. When she woke up next morning she could hardly move.
since then she's spent a season working as a pizza waitress and boarding in New Zealand so she's probably pretty good. But she still gets mad that her young brother, a brilliant skateboarder and a very strong guy, was better on a board after two weeks than she was after an entire season.
I just do a little bit. Now and then, when conditions are perfect. I don't have a death wish.
whoever said up there that you really have to WANT to do it is exactly right.
I love watching the young kids, especially girls, getting to grips with snowboarding - I admire them greatly.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
pam w wrote:
...especially girls, getting to grips with snowboarding...
you know women are generally better at snowboarding than blokes cos of our lower centres of gravity (or something) right? men are certainly more ballsy, but supposedly we have better technique. not my words, been told it by more than one instructor.
After all it is free
After all it is free
I'm probably the least fit i've been in 5 years at the moment, and have a weeks boarding in Courchevel planned for mid december - first real trip away since Samoens early 2009. I predict i will resemble a cross between John Wayne and a smashed badger by mid week. Can't wait...
sherlock235, men WOULD be more ballsy, by the count of 2 by my reckoning
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
sherlock235, yes, but the falling over stage is painful and many girls will do nothing to upset their hair and makeup - let alone their equilibrium and have low tolerance of physical discomfort. Just go to any skate park and see how many girls there are. Girls participation rate in many sports is pitiful; hence my enjoyment of watching them climb up the learning curve.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Richard_Sideways, From our learning experience the 3 most important things you will need when learning are
Padding
Padding
and More padding
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
thefatcontroller, true, personal air bags would help while learning. But once your past that you'll want to trade that padding for stamina, and lots of it - for those who are not in the know, try this. Stand up feet shoulder width apart, bend ze knees in a nice flex, now raise yourself up onto the balls of your feet and hold it... For about half an hour.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Richard_Sideways, you can use your heels to turn as well you know!
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Quite right sherlock235; one the half hour is up, go lean flat to a wall and lower yourself until your thighs are at right angles in the 'little-h' or 'French toilet' position. again hold for half an hour.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Richard_Sideways, so this is what you spend your days doing?
my practice takes place trying to stay upright whilst riding on the buses, trains and tubes around london without strap-hanging. it takes a while to learn initially, but it's great practise. except when it doesn't work and you look like a t1t cos you fall into some poor unfortunate...
oh and pam w, most of the women i ride with couldn't give a stuff about their hair and nails, and don't wear make-up when they ride. but then, i don't ride with teenagers or girly-girls (urgh!), so that may be the difference .
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
sherlock235, but the women you ride with are a small minority (sadly). It's great to see young girls now - 8 -10 sort of age, getting to grips with it, because hopefully they'll keep going. But I'd say that females are a smaller proportion of the snowboarding population than they are of the ski population. and numbers of "older women" riding (by which I mean over 50) are vanishingly small. Be more in future, when the present generation gets old. If there's any snow left.
I was in Les Deux Alpes for the skiing a couple of years ago, and caught the tail end of the Mondiale of MTB. Scarcely a girl to be seen. And the "World" mountain boarding was held in Les Saisies last year. We went to watch. there was only one competitor in the women's - if i'd got hold of a board, taken an hour to do the course and fallen off 100 times I'd have been runner up!
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
i tend to walk most evenings with the O/H - only about a mile or so. fortunately it's a very quiet stroll so i tend to drop down about 8 to 12 inches and walk with bent knees. i look a bit like basil faulty on a bad day, but at least it makes me glad of the evenings closing in. i was wondering whether to add a backpack and some weights this year - maybe 20-30kg? anyone tried that sort of thing?
sherlock235, I used to do the same when I was a regular on the Northern line, and i spend my days sitting on a ergo chair while eating biscuits and pretending to work while on SH's
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Richard_Sideways, actually yes - but maybe a bit lower. do for about a mile and feel your thighs pump!!
rogg, Walking in a weighted vest about 6-10%of your body weight can work wonders on basic fitness and beergut(mine, not yours).
I've always taken the view that I ski well enough to enjoy myself in any conditions and, with only a limited amount of holiday time and funds each year, I don't see the point in learning a new sport from scratch. If I win the lottery and can spend a whole season on snow I would definitely learn to snowboard to give myself the opportunity to maximise the fun I can have. If anyone asks me whether they should go on a winter sports holiday for the first time, I encourage them and advise them to get private lessons if they can afford them and that they will probably pick up boarding more quickly than skiing as that is what I am led to believe by friends. The most important thing? Just get out on the snow and have fun!
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
[quote="pam w"]sherlock235, but the women you ride with are a small minority (sadly). It's great to see young girls now - 8 -10 sort of age, getting to grips with it, because hopefully they'll keep going. quote]
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
cc_7up, that is AWESOME!!!
regardless of gender, seeing a grom enjoying themselves like that is so much fun to watch.
and of course, let's not forget our own becky menday who is doing exceptionally well. she'll be ready for sochi, i think. she's 11(?) now.
After all it is free
After all it is free
Gordyjh, 'Life' and concomitantly, 'Living'; Is a melange of challenges, the more you accept, the longer and better your life . . . no matter how short that may be.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
I am a competent skier and in fact used to race. Love skiing, but I turned to boarding because it was easier on my ankles. I agree with what Kiwi, said in that if you get a chance to board on piste in deep snow, you will improve very quickly as suddenly the fear of face planting or falling generally, is greatly diminished. I have two hours worth of lessons on a board, the first at Calshot on the dry slope there leading to falling leaf only and then in Bariloche when I guy taught us to do linked turns. Thereafter it has been hit and miss.
I completely understand the catching an edge point, but again as rayscoops, says, that goes in time as you become more practised. What is clear that whilst I love skiing, boarding brings with it new opportunities including the odd little jump and powder. This cannot be stressed enough and last year I went with my Dad to Flaine where he was just amazed at how easy I would carve and float across and down beautiful powder fields making him very jealous. You simply cannot have that same ability to surf on skis.
As above, stick with it and it will be another string to you and your wife's bows eventually. Plus your kids will think you are a little cooler!
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Quote:
Plus your kids will think you are a little cooler!
Not sure about that. Probably even more embarassing than a dancing parent!
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Nothing compares to legendary dad dancing involving nonsensical kicks small kicks into the air, etc.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
sherlock235 wrote:
Quote:
my practice takes place trying to stay upright whilst riding on the buses, trains and tubes around london without strap-hanging. it takes a while to learn initially, but it's great practise. except when it doesn't work and you look like a t1t cos you fall into some poor unfortunate...
Heh, I thought I was the only one who did that . It's an integral part of my twice-daily metro routine. I can't remember how the London tube is, but here the metro has lots of corners and downhill so it's actually quite tough to do. Have almost fallen into people many a time
It's an important bit of training though. Boarding is all about teaching – and then trusting – your feet to switch between toe and heel automatically in response to what they feel beneath them.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Quote:
Have almost fallen into people many a time
good practice for mowing people down on the piste then!
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
pam w, Beatcccccccch
True though mrsfatcontroller destroyed any good will between skiers and boarders last year when we were learning. Her exit lift and dive technique was a particular joy to watch. Invariably took out 3-4 skiers in the process
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
I think at the end of the day you are always going to a favourite. I'm a skier but I've done a couple of seasons on my board now, I like having the option to do either and snowboarding gives my knees a break but I'm always going to prefer my skis on a powder day or in the park and pam w, although I don't ski in makeup I do prefer wearing my fitted ski jackets to my baggy boarding gear!
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
pam w,
Quote:
good practice for mowing people down on the piste then!
Yeah, but that takes more refinement... you gotta catch the perfect moment when the skiers are at their greatest standstill swarm, usually located about 3 metres from and in the direct line of the chairlift exit
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
). My attitude still hasn't changed, we will bring our boards out and hopefully will have another crack but all I have t think about is the multiple face plants I did last year to look at my skis with even greater delight.
