# My first snowboarding experience



## mikez (May 12, 2009)

550 meters is awesome. I have to do most of my learning/practising on a 170m indoor slope... Which amounts to a lot of time on the button lifts!

Well done, keep going, have fun!


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## Guest (Sep 21, 2009)

Snowolf said:


> That is awesome that you are starting to link your first turns this soon. This is actually very good; a lot of people take a few times out to get their first linked turn.
> 
> As this is indorrs, are your riding snowflex or real (albeit man made) snow? This makes a big difference; snowflex is a little tricky to learn on.
> 
> ...



Feedback is appreciated. :thumbsup:

My problem is definetly keeping my weight forward. Everytime I rode down that mountain I told myself to keep that weight balanced, but it's easier said than done. Even though I never had my board slip away from underneath me I did occasionally have problems initiating the turn due to lack of pressure on the front foot. It's probably also a case of getting used to the speed, getting comfortable with it. 

I just watched your cat track movie for the second time and noticed the back part. The problem was that I was arching my back the other way, the wrong way.. 

I have to say that after skiing for a year I feel much more in control on a snowboard, I don't like being a danger to others and on a snowboard I can instantly stop when needed, a good feeling.


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## bkrockwell (May 31, 2009)

mikez said:


> 550 meters is awesome. I have to do most of my learning/practising on a 170m indoor slope... Which amounts to a lot of time on the button lifts!


That's my current situation. This weekend I'm going down to the mountain to snowboard on real snow and nice long runs for the first time, but at this point, all my snowboarding experience is from SnowPlanet in Auckland, an indoor slope with a max run length of 200m (at best). 

Very excited about finally making it to the mountain.


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## TomNZ (Aug 10, 2009)

bkrockwell said:


> That's my current situation. This weekend I'm going down to the mountain to snowboard on real snow and nice long runs for the first time, but at this point, all my snowboarding experience is from SnowPlanet in Auckland, an indoor slope with a max run length of 200m (at best).
> 
> Very excited about finally making it to the mountain.


Hah, you're leaving it pretty late in the season! Not much snow left now  at least not on Ruapehu. Make sure you go a bit higher than the learner slopes if you don't want to be running over rocks left, right and center.


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## Guest (Sep 23, 2009)

mikez said:


> 550 meters is awesome. I have to do most of my learning/practising on a 170m indoor slope... Which amounts to a lot of time on the button lifts!
> 
> Well done, keep going, have fun!


170m is awesome I can't even practice other than during winter cause there are no indoor places close to where I live


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## bkrockwell (May 31, 2009)

TomNZ said:


> Hah, you're leaving it pretty late in the season! Not much snow left now  at least not on Ruapehu. Make sure you go a bit higher than the learner slopes if you don't want to be running over rocks left, right and center.


Ha, I know - conditions sure aren't ideal this late in the year, but the timing was right (in terms of my days off with work, and my girlfriend's days off, money, etc.) so I figured it's the one shot I've got to make it to the mountain this year. Will buy a season pass next year, and go down plenty. Is the Ultimate pass that includes Cardrona a good deal?

And yeah, I don't think it'll take long before I can move further up the mountain - I've already had two full days at SnowPlanet, so I can stop when I want to, link turns, do some basic ground tricks. What I was really saying was since I'm a newbie I won't mind kickin' around the lower areas - 'cause I haven't been to Ruapehu since I was 5 (sixteen years ago), the whole thing's going to be an amazing novelty for me anyway.


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## Alcyo (Feb 12, 2008)

Where are you from?

Since there are only a few 500+ meter indoor slopes (source: Indoor ski slope - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ), I have to ask : did you go to Snowworld Landgraaf (The Netherlands)? I was there last weekend


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## Guest (Sep 23, 2009)

That is correct.


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## Alcyo (Feb 12, 2008)

Nice!
It's a perfect practice location, I practiced my switch-riding the whole weekend and I finaly manage to go down that track without faling 
Nice to hear you had some progress, there were a lot of beginners so I don't think I noticed you


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## Guest (Sep 23, 2009)

Yeah it got really busy at times. Lots of children and those alpine boarders, oh well it was good to have some obstacles I guess.


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