# Bringing a girl snowboarding for her first time/Best way to keep her from hating it



## leecm (Dec 16, 2010)

And more importantly, whats the best way to keep her from hating me after her first day on the slopes, which will no doubt consist of busting her ass repeatedly.

What do you guys think is the best way of handling a situation where you're bringing a girl snowboarding so that she won't end up hating it and will actually look forward to doing it more in the future? Do you think their first trip should only be for one day on the mountain? I know the first time I snowboarded, my ass was so sore after the first day, I didn't want to go the next day.

Once we've actually bought our tickets and are in the ski resort, should I get her lessons or just teach her on the bunny slope for a little while and then take her to the top of a blue and baby her on the way down? Should I do what I'd do with a guy friend and just let them fend for themselves on the first trip down the mountain and tell them I'll help them after they've made it down for the first time?

Do you guys have any experiences like this? Any advice? Thanks


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## C.B. (Jan 18, 2011)

My advise to you is to start drinking heavly

but what you really need to do is not pressure her and let her do her thing

And most importantly, JUST GO HAVE FUN, its the whole point of snowboarding


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## cjcameron11 (Feb 5, 2011)

let me start by saying i am by no means an excellent snowboarder, i have about 20 days under my belt, i can comfortable tackle any black and can hit natural kickers, do tree runs and starting to try double blacks and extremes. I took my wife to NZ for 4 days last year and 2 days here in Aus this year, She had never been to the snow let alone snowboarded. After her first day she was hooked. I put her in a 2 hr private lesson first thing so she could get taught by a professional. once she had the basics of falling leaf, skating and getting off a lift is when i tried to give her some help.

Basically i think the biggest thing is to make sure you are positive in everything you say, encourage encourage encourage!!! if you make her feel stupid or like she is doing something wrong chances are she will hate it. I found that another huge thing that has helped me teach my wife is that if she isnt comfortable doing something no matter how easy you think it may be, dont push her to do it. Different people learn at different rates and in different ways.

I think that the more enjoyable her experience the more likely she is to come back again and again, my wife spent her 4 days in NZ and never made it off the green slope, did i want her to do some blues with me, yeah but i knew if i forced her to take the lift higher she would hate not having full control on her way down. Everyone is different and i find that in anything, if someone is comfortable and not being yelled at or made to feel stupid, they will succeed more than they fail, hope this helps


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## RaID (Aug 27, 2009)

I went through this with my gf first and only snowboarding trip so far.

1.	Let her first experience be a lesson so she starts the learning from someone else but you
2.	Make sure she is on the slopes for more than 1 day, a week is probably ideal. That way she will hate day 1 most likely, but will progress during the trip and will enjoy seeing that she is getting better. 1 day trip would be the worse as all she is going to remember was that she sucked at it and couldn’t even get down a slope without falling.
3.	After day 1 get another lesson for half day, then spend the rest of the day teaching her
4.	Make sure you spend enough time boarding with her so she is not left along on the slopes by herself I think is the key as well as progressive encouragement. As she progresses during the first few days, she will start enjoying more and understanding why so many people do the whole snow sports thing whether it be boarding or skiing.
5.	Also don’t pressure here to do consecutive days if she is broken and sore, that’s really not going to help.

That’s pretty much what I did, now were about to do a season, and she has only about 8 days on the board behind her. So still lots to learn but remembers the fun bits not necessarily the crap first couple of days. 

Most importantly Good Luck, depending on the girl it could go eitherway no matter how good your intentions


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## JeffreyCH (Nov 21, 2009)

C.B. said:


> My advise to you is to start drinking heavly


This!! 

Seriously though, get her some lessons, even instructors I know won't teach their significant others. You not only have a much higher chance of her not hating it (and you ) it also gives you a couple hours to go ride what you want. Meet up after the lesson and cruise whatever she is comfortable riding for awhile to asses if she can keep up with you.


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## 604 (Aug 22, 2011)

Patience and encouragement.


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## Milo303 (Apr 6, 2009)

Fall on fists and make sure she has impact shorts.

These are just thoughts outside of the patience it takes to show her what she needs to know

And know when to leave her alone. If she isn't hurting herself and she finds another noob girl or something, she'll have a blast


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## IdahoFreshies (Jul 9, 2011)

make sure shes warm! girls hate being cold, so the fact that she is out in the snow is a miracle. defanitly a lesson so she knows what she is doing before you have to baby sit (also gives you time to go actually ride and get it out of your system) then just hang out on the bunny hill, playing around with her, helping her up when she falls, and doing fancy flat ground tricks like butters 180s and presses to make her want to progress and catch up




Milo303 said:


> And know when to leave her alone. If she isn't hurting herself and she finds another noob girl or something, she'll have a blast


i didnt think of that, but i think this^ is a good idea too


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## AtBothEnds (Oct 16, 2011)

604 said:


> Patience and encouragement.


Dead on. 


I don't see the difference between whether the beginner is a guy or a girl, I think it's strange that this differentiation has been made by the OP. 

Anyway, I'd suggest the main thing to do is keep her warm and dry. Nothing ruins a new activity more than being uncomfortable while trying to learn it, make sure she has decent enough clothing to protect her from the elements.

I think you have to know the person as well and go with how you think they'd most like to go about the day. Figure this stuff out ahead of time so there's no issue when you're at the hill. An example would how she is taught, some would see you arranging lessons as a helpful start with someone who's knowledgeable and a trained teacher, other might see it as you abandoning her to go have fun by yourself. Really push for the lesson, it'll get her started on the right path.

Encourage her to fall on her butt if she has to fall, that is the best place to take the impact.

If you have a skateboard get her on that for her to somewhat understand the sensation of going sideways and turning.

Go for one day to start with, she may either hate the whole thing or love it but needs to rest her bruises.

If she doesn't want to do it anymore then get of the mountain, let her be the one to call it a day if she's had enough.

I hope that helps.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

hot tub, ibuprofen and drinks


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## Tristan-NZ (Oct 15, 2011)

Bust her ass repeatedly before you go to get her prepared for what's to come.

But no seriously, everyone learns differently. The key thing would be to let her progress at her own pace. I went for my first trip this past season (just ended in NZ) and on my first day I was hitting the blue trails. Then the girlfriend (skiied for like 10 years or something) throws me down a steep as trail, her friend who has skiied for 5 years was sketching about hitting it (they didn't tell me this until after)

I went down it pretty quickly though.. on my face  But we had a laugh.


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## davidj (May 30, 2011)

cjcameron11 said:


> ...I put her in a 2 hr private lesson first thing...
> 
> Basically i think the biggest thing is to make sure you are positive in everything you say, encourage encourage encourage!!! ...dont push her...


+1 especially the lesson reco. I'd recommend a 1/2 day or a full day lesson myself. This'll allow you to pursue your riding out of the way, and then join her on the greens when she gets out of class .


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## S4Shredr (Oct 23, 2009)

I think it depends on how good of a snowboarder and teacher you are as well as your level of patience. I've taught two girls how to snowboard over the last two years and it is a bit of work but can be difficult at times, but was well worth it an both were linking turns within a few hours. I would suggest a lesson unless your an advanced level snowboarder and can ride switch very well. Here's how I did it:

1. Explain the basics before getting on the lift. Pedaling, linking turns doen the fall line, and the fact that you always want to be on an edge.
2. Sit on the lift facing her so you can hold her hand getting off the first couple times, catch her, or help her up.
3. I started on an easy green. Too little slope is more difficult.
4. Teach her how to ride her heel edge and stop by holding her hands and riding on your toes downhill of her. Beginners first biggest fear is not being able to stop. Once they catch an edge this changes 
5. Teach her how to switch to her toe edge by holding your hands and using you as a pivot point. Explain that you can stop on you toes just like your heels.
6. Teach her how to switch to heel edge by opening her shoulders and gradually shifting her weight to her heels.

Repeat these steps untill she is comfortable. Once she is, teach her the falling leaf (back and forth side slip on heel edge) for situations where it gets too steep for her to link turns.

I took a 3 day trip with a girl I was seeing last Winter (still great friends) and by the end of the trip I brought her down a few blacks at Steamboat. Granted not the most difficult being Steamboat, but still, I was impressed, she was wayyyy better than I was on day 3. She's so stoked on snowboarding that she's moving to Summit County for the winter and I have an open invitiation. Second peron I've taught to snowboard and has enjoyed it so much they moved to CO.


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## dreampow (Sep 26, 2011)

Plenty of solid advice so far.
My two cents.

1) Powder. If you have the option wait until there is fresh and take her then. Falling on powder is way softer and more pleasant than ice.

2) Hot tub/spa. I don't know if this is an option, but here in Japan we have natural hot springs. I know they exist in some parts of the states. They really help heal up the body after a day snowboarding especially when you are falling a lot.
Even though I rarely fall now I always head for the hot spring after a day boarding. Its heavenly. Breaks up the lactic acid knots too so you are fresh the next day.


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## Matt166 (Oct 19, 2011)

I am with Snowolf, get a lesson for her. Its always amusing to watch couples on the bunny hill trying to teach each other - it very rarely ends well. 

Appropriate clothes, wrist guards and some impact shorts with a tailbone protector are all good. If you can also find a resort where the classes are small and the instructor is hands on, that is a deal breaker.

Good luck.


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## david_z (Dec 14, 2009)

leecm said:


> And more importantly, whats the best way to keep her from hating me after her first day on the slopes, which will no doubt consist of busting her ass repeatedly.
> 
> ...
> 
> Once we've actually bought our tickets and are in the ski resort, should I get her lessons or just teach her on the bunny slope for a little while and then take her to the top of a blue and baby her on the way down?


Get her a lesson. You said that you only have about 20 days under your belt, that's not enough to begin trying to teach someone. Not by a long shot. That'll give you an hour or two on your own, and during which time she'll be learning better technique from an instructor so as to not spend the whole day on her ass and then hating you afterwards.

Then, remember to work with her after the lesson. Don't push too hard.


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## skycdo (Sep 15, 2011)

If you do decide and go and skip out on lessons and teach her yourself get a game plan ready for which parts to teach first, how to go about the different techniques, etc. S4Shredr's plan seems pretty legit. I'd watch a ton of training videos online and see how other people go about teaching noobs as well. Organization is the key to anything being successful.

Also, have her watch a bunch of videos of basic techniques to she knows the terminology and what to expect once she gets on the slopes.


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## Sick-Pow (May 5, 2008)

one word; Lessons.

edit, and pics of girlfriend or GTFO. (o:


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## Jenzo (Oct 14, 2008)

Teaching your significant other is not always the best idea. I would suggest getting her lessons right away, it will help her a lot and keep you from killing each other. After that, be very patient, take lots of breaks if she needs em and stay with her. I know I annoyed the pants off my bf by zooming way ahead. I am a really impatient person though.


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## gjsnowboarder (Sep 1, 2009)

Lessons....don't try to be the hero and teach her yourself. Its hard enough to teach or learn from your significant other not matter what level you or they are. I also suggest NOT trying to take a lesson together or tagging around for the lesson. I 've had to deal with this in the past and rarely, if ever, is it a good thing. It is ok to drop by a little early toward the end of lesson to see how she is doing. My word of advice if you talk about her snowboarding remember to be encouraging and understanding. Nothing nice to say? follow mom's advice and clam it up. Everyone progresses at a different pace and I have seen boyfriends or husbands come in and destroy a girlfriend's or wife's will to learn or participate in the sport.

My personal rule of thumb. Minimum three days on mountain the first year. Preferrably the second day is with one to 7 days. I also suggest the first day at least be a full day lesson. The second time around can be the new rider's choice on full day. But at least half a day can do wonders. Any days beyond three are bonus days. Three days usually means good retention for the next year I've noticed.

Second rule of thumb with a significant other: DON'T over terrain them!! They aren't going to like the experience and you aren't going to like the experience.

Third rule of thumb. RIDE Slower!!!...generally this is a good idea for any new riders. Riding fast means they try to keep up sometimes. This usually results in bad habits and bad slams.

Fourth Rule of thumb...It doesn't have to be on a board. If boarding isn't working for them let them try skiing or telemarking. I know its sacreligious, but the importance is getting up there together long term. A lot easier to hold a relationship together if she gets to go have fun too.

Fifth rule: too many damn rules.


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## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

Getting her lessons? Ibuprofen? The real question is what the fuck is she doing out of bed???

:cheeky4:

***ducks and runs***


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## Extremo (Nov 6, 2008)

Don't do it. If she really wants to learn, tell her to pay for lessons. Why would you even consider wasting your time?


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## firstx1017 (Jan 10, 2011)

Okay, guess I'll answer from a woman who just learned to snowboard this past year. I suggest a butt pad for the falls, it really helped, also I had wrist guards after my first fall on my wrist and that helped. I also had knee pads for the first few times learning. The padding made a hell of a difference and I recommend to anyone learning.

I, however, didn't take lessons. Being an "older" snowboarder I wanted to learn at my own pace rather than feel inadequate with a group of teenagers and 20 year olds. So, the internet was my teacher. I watched several "learning to snowboard" videos on YouTube. I then spent a few hours the prior day watching people learning in a few group classes. I was a skier so I would head to the bunny slopes and then watch some of the classes and then go back to the condo, trade my skis for the snowboard, and head to the hill with my husband. He is also "self taught" and he really just let me learn on my own and encouraged every good move or fall I made. You can even hear him on the video saying I almost have it - when obviously I didn't! lol But being an "older" learner after two hours I had had enough so it took me about 4 weekends before I felt comfortable enough to get off the bunny slope. 

If she can stand learning for 8 hours on the hill - they she will learn a lot quicker than I did, but after 2 hours that was my limit each day.

Here is the video my husband made of me learning, yes the falls were not fun, but I am soooo glad I kept at it and love it!!!

vicki learning to snowboard at 50 - YouTube

Good luck and hope she likes it!


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## Karasene (Oct 20, 2010)

killclimbz said:


> Getting her lessons? Ibuprofen? The real question is what the fuck is she doing out of bed???
> 
> :cheeky4:
> 
> ***ducks and runs***


You mean out of the kitchen.. 
I know give her a sense of purpose. Pack a lunch and make her carry it around.. then when you get hungry give her the command "Bitch bring me a sandwich"


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## david_z (Dec 14, 2009)

gjsnowboarder said:


> don't try to be the hero and teach her yourself. Its hard enough to teach or learn from your significant other not matter what level you or they are.


HAHA so true! Every time I ride I see some dude in 1990's SI bindings trying to "teach" his girlfriend/wife/etc. Usually, after I've taken a few laps they still have yet to make it down the hill. Also, it usually ends up with anger, screaming & fighting which is not good for your relationship or your time on the snow.

Think of a lesson as a long-term investment.


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## Jenzo (Oct 14, 2008)

firstx1017 said:


> Okay, guess I'll answer from a woman who just learned to snowboard this past year. I suggest a butt pad for the falls, it really helped, also I had wrist guards after my first fall on my wrist and that helped. I also had knee pads for the first few times learning. The padding made a hell of a difference and I recommend to anyone learning.
> 
> I, however, didn't take lessons. Being an "older" snowboarder I wanted to learn at my own pace rather than feel inadequate with a group of teenagers and 20 year olds. So, the internet was my teacher. I watched several "learning to snowboard" videos on YouTube. I then spent a few hours the prior day watching people learning in a few group classes. I was a skier so I would head to the bunny slopes and then watch some of the classes and then go back to the condo, trade my skis for the snowboard, and head to the hill with my husband. He is also "self taught" and he really just let me learn on my own and encouraged every good move or fall I made. You can even hear him on the video saying I almost have it - when obviously I didn't! lol But being an "older" learner after two hours I had had enough so it took me about 4 weekends before I felt comfortable enough to get off the bunny slope.
> 
> ...



You certainly don't look 50! Nice job!

You can also get one on one lessons that are nearly the same price as the group lessons.


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## oatenshiro (Feb 4, 2011)

From what I've seen there is much you can do to ease it a bit but all in all she either will or won't like snowboarding no matter what you do.


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## Karasene (Oct 20, 2010)

Jenzo said:


> You certainly don't look 50! Nice job!
> 
> You can also get one on one lessons that are nearly the same price as the group lessons.


I agree! That's awesome! You're husband sounds so proud of you too  How long did it take you to go from day one till your last follow cam shot?


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## dreampow (Sep 26, 2011)

firstx1017 said:


> vicki learning to snowboard at 50 - YouTube
> 
> Good luck and hope she likes it!


nice work Vicki.

Agreed you look younger than you are.

A friend of mine also learned at 50 having never skied either. He is pretty smooth now.
Last year a friend who is 61 started learning.
She can just about link turns and once she gets a bit more solid I will post up a vid on here.

There is a guy in the UK who ran a full marathon aged 100 (albeit slowly he completed within the allowed time).

Just goes to show age is often a false concept that puts people in a box.


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## incrediboy729 (Oct 18, 2011)

604 said:


> Patience and encouragement.


This. Seriously, patience patience patience.......and don't ditch her either. I took my girlfriend up for her first time last season. Didn't get a single run in by myself.


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## firstx1017 (Jan 10, 2011)

My first time on the snowboard part of the video was the day after Thanksgiving 2010. I was only able to take about an hour while trying to learn with all the falls. So about an hour on Saturday morning and an hour Sunday morning, then I would go back to skiing to get my mind off all my falling. We have a cabin up there for the winter so we go up every Friday night and come back Sunday afternoon. I had four days during Xmas and four days during New Years each with about one hour a day. January 9th I got a new women's flat camber board, was using my husband's old board to learn on, and for the month of January I was able to get about 2 hours a day each Saturday and Sunday weekend and the final video was shot 2/5/11. So if you add up all the hours it was probably 5 full days of 8 hour days which if I was in my 20's would probably not been a problem - but at 50 I needed a longer learning curve! lol 



Karasene said:


> I agree! That's awesome! You're husband sounds so proud of you too  How long did it take you to go from day one till your last follow cam shot?


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## Jenzo (Oct 14, 2008)

firstx1017 said:


> My first time on the snowboard part of the video was the day after Thanksgiving 2010. I was only able to take about an hour while trying to learn with all the falls. So about an hour on Saturday morning and an hour Sunday morning, then I would go back to skiing to get my mind off all my falling. We have a cabin up there for the winter so we go up every Friday night and come back Sunday afternoon. I had four days during Xmas and four days during New Years each with about one hour a day. January 9th I got a new women's flat camber board, was using my husband's old board to learn on, and for the month of January I was able to get about 2 hours a day each Saturday and Sunday weekend and the final video was shot 2/5/11. So if you add up all the hours it was probably 5 full days of 8 hour days which if I was in my 20's would probably not been a problem - but at 50 I needed a longer learning curve! lol


Eh I wouldn't chalk it up to age, some people just catch on faster, I think that's pretty normal learning curve. You get the people who have no fear of death and on their first day point the board straight down the hill and don't stop until they hit something or fall over, but I wouldn't call that learning faster, lol.
It took my b/f quite a while to get into it due to foot pain, he had never done a snow sport before and the lessons really helped. When I was trying to teach him it was a disaster. :laugh: All his fault of course


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## S4Shredr (Oct 23, 2009)

david_z said:


> Get her a lesson. You said that you only have about 20 days under your belt, that's not enough to begin trying to teach someone. Not by a long shot. That'll give you an hour or two on your own, and during which time she'll be learning better technique from an instructor so as to not spend the whole day on her ass and then hating you afterwards.
> 
> Then, remember to work with her after the lesson. Don't push too hard.


Damn I didn't see the 20 days part. Definitely get her a lesson, it is your only option at that skill level. You'll fail at teaching and she will fail at learning causing a big mess. 

Trying to teach her yourself would be like giving tips to a scratch golfer as a 20 handicap, it just doesn't make sense.


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## Toecutter (Oct 11, 2009)

Another vote for "get lessons."

Any guy who's ever tried to teach a girlfriend _any_ sport knows this. Too much room for hurt feelings.


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## Bones (Feb 24, 2008)

firstx1017 said:


> So if you add up all the hours it was probably 5 full days of 8 hour days which if I was in my 20's would probably not been a problem - but at 50 I needed a longer learning curve! lol


Really? So approximately 40 hours of riding from start to finish of that montage? That's it?

Very cool video BTW. I've shown it to several friends that are just starting and they feel so much better after having watched it. That probably sounds insulting, but I mean it in a positive way. There are videos of high end riders, videos of instructors, but no videos of what it is actually like to learn. They fall a lot, they get frustrated and while I keep telling them that everyone starts like that, they don't see their own progress (particularly the phase where you're transitioning from falling leaf to turning across the fall line)


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## leecm (Dec 16, 2010)

S4Shredr said:


> Damn I didn't see the 20 days part. Definitely get her a lesson, it is your only option at that skill level. You'll fail at teaching and she will fail at learning causing a big mess.
> 
> Trying to teach her yourself would be like giving tips to a scratch golfer as a 20 handicap, it just doesn't make sense.


You didnt see me post the 20 days part because I didnt - someone else did.  BTW, thanks rveryone so far for the advice. This actually turned out to be a pretty damn good and informative thread.


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

firstx1017 said:


> it was probably 5 full days of 8 hour days which if I was in my 20's would probably not been a problem - but at 50 I needed a longer learning curve! lol


That's at least partly because when we hit our 50's we're not quite so anxious to just huck it. You learn jumps faster ferinstance if you just attack them aggressively without concern for possible consequences. Of course in your 20's you're invincible, invulnerable, and immortal. When you hit your 50's you realize you're lucky to still be alive with some of the shit you pulled in your 20's.

I'm a far better snowboarder at 54 than I was a skier at 20. But it's taking me longer to get there because I think through each advance before hitting it.

And yeah, I'm amazed I'm still in one piece


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## firstx1017 (Jan 10, 2011)

that is true - I couldn't find any videos of progessive learning on YouTube, that's why I wanted to post what I went thru. Most people just show them with the board pointed downhill and either bailing or running into something to stop. My first priority was to learn how to stop myself. Once I learned heelside how to control my speed, then I moved on to toe side - which was really hard for me to get. I then could go toeside, but took me forever to actually link toe and heel - as you can see in the video I could go to my toeside but when I went back to my heelside I would swing around and have to falling leave again to go back to my toeside. I was stuck doing this for a few weeks so that's why I posted that series on the video. I was finally able to stop the swinging and link heel and toe and I was a happy camper. I noticed the progression watching the videos as my husband taped so I really never got discouraged and everyday I felt I did better than the previous day. I would like to take a lesson this year to get better going down the blacks, so we shall see. And thanks for the compliment - means a lot to this old broad! lol



Bones said:


> Really? So approximately 40 hours of riding from start to finish of that montage? That's it?
> 
> Very cool video BTW. I've shown it to several friends that are just starting and they feel so much better after having watched it. That probably sounds insulting, but I mean it in a positive way. There are videos of high end riders, videos of instructors, but no videos of what it is actually like to learn. They fall a lot, they get frustrated and while I keep telling them that everyone starts like that, they don't see their own progress (particularly the phase where you're transitioning from falling leaf to turning across the fall line)


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## firstx1017 (Jan 10, 2011)

I totally agree!!!!



Donutz said:


> That's at least partly because when we hit our 50's we're not quite so anxious to just huck it. You learn jumps faster ferinstance if you just attack them aggressively without concern for possible consequences. Of course in your 20's you're invincible, invulnerable, and immortal. When you hit your 50's you realize you're lucky to still be alive with some of the shit you pulled in your 20's.
> 
> I'm a far better snowboarder at 54 than I was a skier at 20. But it's taking me longer to get there because I think through each advance before hitting it.
> 
> And yeah, I'm amazed I'm still in one piece


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