Snowboarding is hard to learn, but fun and exciting once you learn to pick-up the sport.

Any time of the year, you can learn snowboarding through indoor facilities or in resorts where you can play at the same time enjoy the views in winter.

Snowboarding tips for first timers

  • First, you have to invest in a lightweight, thermal, and waterproof jacket. Choose non-cotton materials so it won’t soak up your sweat which makes you even colder.
  • For beginners, it is recommended to rent snowboarding gear. Unless you are certain and serious about this sport, then you can invest in snowboarding gear.
  • Take lessons from a pro. Sign up for snowboarding lessons from a professional instructor. Equipped with knowledge, skills, experience, and patience, a professional snowboard instructor will teach you the methods and techniques to make the training easier and safer.

How to snowboard for beginners

  • Get a proper snowboarding lesson – while family members or friends can teach you, a professional instructor has the patience and all the techniques to teach on the standing up, sliding downhill, and the basics of turning. Also, a professional snowboard instructor can gauge your progress. Getting a professional lesson is safer and will let you learn the sport quickly.
  • It is all about the outfit – wear appropriate clothes when you are snowboarding. Ideally, beginners can initially rent snowboarding gear. Wear thermal layers; proper snowboarding jacket and trousers. Your snowboarding apparel should be water and windproof to prevent you from getting wet and cold.

Do not forget the gloves, helmet, and snowboarding boots. You can then invest in good snowboarding apparel once you are sure that you will be embracing the sport.

  • Regular or Goofy – when renting your snowboard kit, you will be asked if you are a goofy or a regular as it has to be set up for you. You need to determine if you will be riding with our left or right foot. The left foot is regular, right is goofy. How to know? Mostly, the foot you put in first when you are wearing your jeans is the foot you will mount first on your snowboard.
  • A rule of the Piste – the number one rule when you are snowboarding is that anyone downhill has right of way over you.
  • Lift Queue management – for first timers, always remember the simple rule in lift management: regular riders to the right, goofy to the left, and skiers in the middle. This management prevents the boards from crossing over one another.
  • How to Ride Button Lift on a Snowboard – start by unstrapping your back foot and line your snowboard parallel to the direction where you will be headed after you take off. Grab the button, and once you are comfortable, in one motion, put in between your legs.
  • Skating – start by sliding on the front foot while the other foot pushes on the snow. Once you are comfortable with it, then time to practice skating. Start by pointing the board straight, then push off with your free foot.

Move the free foot on the board to slide. And to stop, dart the toes of your free foot forward and drag them in the snow. Other techniques that your professional instructor will teach you apart from skating include: riding on a slope, making turns, and linking turns.

  • Learn the Lingo – snowboarders have their lingo, so if you are serious learning the sport; learn the lingo along with the techniques.

How to snowboard and build your skills

  • As discussed in the first two topics, it is always recommended to take snowboarding lessons from a pro. Search for available snowboard courses near you to head start your snowboarding adventure.

Taking snowboarding lessons with the help of a certified instructor will help you effectively and quickly learn how to snowboard. With their techniques and skills, snowboarding won’t be that hard for you.

  • Practice makes perfect. Just like any other sports, regular practice can help you improve your skills. Try to practice the basics daily to attain maximum benefits. Even at home or if you do not have training lessons, you can practice standing up or strapping onto the board and shifting your weight. Or you can practice outdoors in shorter slopes if possible.
  • Enjoy and commit – dedicate at least an hour a day or days in a week for your practice time. Although it can be tough at first to learn the basics, you will get used to it. Enjoy your practice time and do not be easily discouraged.
  • Be confident – once you get past the awkward stage and comfortable with beginner’s slopes, you can start building your skills by trying more difficult slopes. Always practice safety measures when attempting difficult slopes or tricks.
  • Learn additional tricks – once you are comfortable with the basic tricks, then it is time to learn some tricks. Your professional snowboard instructor can teach you advance snowboarding tricks. Your instructor’s guidance is also necessary when trying to learn dangerous moves.

How to snowboard and stay safe at the same time

  • Always wear appropriate snowboarding gear. Wearing the correct gear will protect you from the cold and any injuries due to falls or collisions. Whether you are a beginner or a skilled snowboarder, it is a must to wear a protective helmet. Always choose the best snowboarding boots to protect your ankles and feet while wrist guards protect your wrists from injuries. Lastly, shield your eyes from the sun and snow; wear goggles or sunglasses.
  • Keep yourself warm by wearing proper snowboarding clothes. Again, wear lightweight, thermal layers for the top and bottom parts. Have a thermal jacket and hat to cover your head from the cold. Wear layers of non-cotton clothes to help you keep warm.
  • Always check weather updates and forecasts to make sure you practice on slopes suitable for snowboarding. For beginners, fresh snow is ideal as it is powdery and will be easy on your board to manage. Avoid frozen or icy slopes as it is more difficult to learn in.
  • Avoid crowded places. Avoiding large crowds will give you more space to practice. The crowded the place is, the difficult it is to learn how to snowboard.
  • Familiarize the terrain. Always take time to orient yourself with the environment to know what to expect and learn the terrains and trails to avoid. Doing so will keep you safe while enhancing your skills. Look for danger signs and posts. And follow the beginner’s trail if you are a first timer.
  • Do not go out snowboarding alone. If possible, go snowboarding with a friend who is also into the same sports. Or even if a friend does not have any snowboarding experience, it is still safer to go out with someone to supervise you.
  • Familiarize the snowboard bindings. The same with practicing the actual sports, it is best to get familiar on how to strap into your snowboard for safety purposes.

These simple tips and guides will get you started with your snowboarding adventure.

Is it hard to learn to snowboard?

‘ While snowboarders might tell you, ‘snowboarding is harder to learn, but easier to master. ‘ Generally, these points are both very true. As a beginner snowboarder, you’re likely to spend much more time on your bottom than a beginner skier.

Can you teach yourself to snowboard?

While teaching yourself to snowboard is generally harder, it is certainly possible. Riders with experience skateboarding, wakeboarding, or surfing, for example, are often able to pick up on snowboarding by themselves relatively easily.

What are the steps to snowboarding?

Is it easier to ski or snowboard?

Skiing is generally easy to learn initially but is harder to master. Snowboarding is harder to learn but reaching an advanced level is easier. Although there are exceptions to this rule, it generally holds true and you can use it to inform your snow sports choice.

Is it more dangerous to ski or snowboard?

According to research conducted by the National Ski Areas Association in the U.S. has shown that, “snowboarding is less deadly than skiing.” Snowboarders are more likely to suffer ankle and head injuries, and less likely to be killed in an accident.

Is snowboarding bad for your knees?

Often, the most common injuries in the knees from sports activities like skiing and snowboarding occur in the ACL and MCL. Injuries in these areas are more common because of the large amounts of twisting and bending forces that your knee can experience during these activities.

Why do skiers not like snowboarders?

It’s likely that most people who perceive snowboarders as obnoxious are skiers, because historically there has been some friction between skiers and snowboarders. This friction derives from a lack of understanding about each other’s sports and a frustration with the impact it has on other slope users.

Is it easy to tear your ACL snowboarding?

Knee injuries, more specifically Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) tears, are much less common in snowboarding than in alpine skiing. However, an ACL injury is a season-ending injury and the most common injury requiring surgery in snowboarding.

Does snowboarding cause knee pain?

Snowboarding is fun as long as muscles, joints, and ligaments do their jobs. The intensity of this sport often causes sore muscles and pain. Knee pain after snowboarding and problems stabilising the knee joint are possible consequences.

How do you fix a sore knee from snowboarding?

To avoid snowboarding knee pain or to recover from an ACL rupture or a MCL or PCL sprain, wearing a knee brace can be efficient in both protecting the knees while snowboarding and stabilizing them once injured.

Do knee braces help snowboarding?

The combination of both compression and dual hinged side support allows superior knee protection. It helps prevent and heal medial and lateral instability, minor patella instability, meniscus injuries, minor ligament sprains, hypertension, arthritis, and more. In that case, a hinged knee brace is recommended.

What is the most common snowboarding injury?

The most frequent snowboarding injuries are to the wrist

In addition to wrist injuries, falling onto an outstretched hand can transmit the force along the arm and cause a shoulder or elbow injury. Around 60% of snowboarding injuries are to the arm, wrist, hand or thumb.

Does falling on a snowboard hurt?

The researchers found that shoulder and upper arm injuries typically resulted from the front edge of the snowboard catching the snow and the rider falling forward, while wrist and elbows were more likely hurt with a backward fall. Snowboarders‘ wrists sustained half of all injuries.

How do you make snowboarding not hurt?

How to avoid snowboarding and skiing injuries. Wear a helmet and other protective gear, including wrist guards, elbow pads and kneepads. The use of protective equipment has been associated with a 43% decrease in the rate of head, neck and face injuries, according to STOP Sports Injuries.

Is snowboarding losing popularity?

In the lifecycle of a sport, snowboarding has hit its version of the midlife crisis years. The number of people snowboarding has steadily dwindled over the last decade and the number of days a snowboarder makes it to the ski hill has also declined, according to the National Ski Area Association.

Is Vail banning snowboards?

Vail Resorts CEO, Robert Katz, has announced that Vail ski resorts will no longer be welcoming snowboards on their ski hills. Katz suggests that snowboarders who would like to continue to access Vail’s 19 ski resorts switch to Monoskiing as an alternative. The ban will take effect for the 2021 season.

Is snowboarding a rich person sport?

In short: skiing and snowboarding is a sport for people with money. Not only is skiing and snowboarding a sport for wealthy folks, but it also is a white sport and I’m not just talking about snow.

Can you die from snowboarding?

There are some deaths each year from accidents that arise from snowboarding or skiing. However, these are minimal and many of these deaths occur on the expert trails. Furthermore, the number of critical fatalities each year at a ski resort is very low, with a ten-year average of just 45.