# Lessons - yes or no?



## IdahoFreshies (Jul 9, 2011)

always yes. Just spend an hour and a half on a group lesson in the morning just to get the basics down and pointed in the right direction,


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## atr3yu (Feb 15, 2012)

IdahoFreshies said:


> always yes. Just spend an hour and a half on a group lesson in the morning just to get the basics down and pointed in the right direction,


Agreed, I wasn't even going to read your post. I was just going to say always, yes..... actually I didn't read it.... just yes!


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## abqmike37 (Nov 17, 2011)

Take a beginner lesson and get a feel on your own, nothing beats actual time spend on the slope. Maybe a ride improvement lessons 1 to 2 seasons afterward to correct some bad habits you might have picked up.


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

If you only have two days, then time is of the essence. While a group lesson is a damned sight better than trying to learn yourself (believe me on this, I went the latter route), the problem is that the lesson moves at the pace of the slowest student. If you get a private lesson, then it will move at whatever pace you're capable of. You're almost certain to come out of the two hours a lot farther ahead, and more ready to enjoy the remaining almost 2 days. Yeah, they're more expensive, but in your situation I'd think it's worth it.


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## firstx1017 (Jan 10, 2011)

I agree with DONUTZ - totally!


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## lonerider (Apr 10, 2009)

Private lesson > Group lesson > Learning from a friend > Learning on your own.

> = "is better than"


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## pharcyde (Nov 3, 2012)

if you forego any lessons you may just spend the entire time face down in the snow.


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## phony_stark (Jul 2, 2011)

If by making the most of your trip, you mean learning how to snowboard by the end, then take a lesson.


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## hot-ice (Nov 6, 2011)

I wish I would have taken lessons. My brother gave me a few pointers, he didn't even start me out on the bunny hill, instead took me to a green where it was steep off the lift. Didn't make it far until I caught an edge and hit my head(without a helmet:thumbsdown: ). That left me with a headache the rest of the day and made it less fun. I learned by trial and bruises, but I wouldn't recommend that to anyone. Get a lesson, buy or rent a helmet, and it will be more enjoyable. :thumbsup: And have fun!


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## jdang307 (Feb 6, 2011)

Actual slope time I learned to link turns in a few hours.

I think it was 6-7 runs, where I learned to turn, stop, etc. The revelation was when I did a skidded toe side turn. After that it was off to the races. Nobody teaching me to leaf aided in my development I think. I didn't have that, or knew about it as a crutch. So I went down the slope and I was going to learn or I was going to eat shit.

But if you only have two days, a lesson at 8:30 am for two hours will do you right.


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

jdang307 said:


> I think it was 6-7 runs, where I learned to turn, stop, etc. The revelation was when I did a skidded toe side turn. After that it was off to the races. Nobody teaching me to leaf aided in my development I think. I didn't have that, or knew about it as a crutch. So I went down the slope and I was going to learn or I was going to eat shit.
> 
> But if you only have two days, a lesson at 8:30 am for two hours will do you right.


Yeah, the key here is the limited time available. Learning on your own is kind of probabilistic in that you may or may not master a key concept quickly. Even if you're naturally athletic, some things can sometimes be sticking points. I'd just go with what is most likely to give you the quickest results -- which as usual is of course the most expensive. TANSTAAFL.


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## Whoracle (Feb 6, 2012)

Lessons for sure! I just started riding last season, and lessons were definitely a key factor in how fast i have learned. I got a package at Mt Hood that was 3 day learn to ride (3 lift tickets and 3 group lessons) for 150$, your mountain might have something similar. Our instructors never taught us the falling leaf. The second day when we got into our lesson, my friend and I were obviously better than the rest, so they brought out another instructor that just went with my friend and I. Basically private lesson for the cost of a newbie group lesson .


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## jdang307 (Feb 6, 2011)

Whoracle said:


> Lessons for sure! I just started riding last season, and lessons were definitely a key factor in how fast i have learned. I got a package at Mt Hood that was 3 day learn to ride (3 lift tickets and 3 group lessons) for 150$, your mountain might have something similar. Our instructors never taught us the falling leaf. The second day when we got into our lesson, my friend and I were obviously better than the rest, so they brought out another instructor that just went with my friend and I. Basically private lesson for the cost of a newbie group lesson .


My buddies were taught falling leaf. First thing they learned. And they used it as a clutch for a long time. They still use it on super steeps I learned to whip my board back and forth if I get scared ... I ain't no T-Rice!


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## Dysantic (Oct 11, 2012)

lonerider said:


> Private lesson > Group lesson > Learning from a friend > Learning on your own.
> 
> > = "is better than"


This. Lessons from someone who knows how to board go a long way. Private lessons will do you the most good if you have limited time since the instructor can cater to your specific needs rather than just go through the normal routine for everyone. Plus if you pick it up quickly the rest of the lesson will consist of you shredding around with the instructor.

I took lessons when I learned in a group, but I was like 12 at the time and it was more fun with the other kids. Although I do remember near the end of the second day of my lessons I was much better than the rest of the kids and started to get bored.


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## SBK (Sep 14, 2011)

My two cents, I would line up lessons both days and take another the next time you are out.

I took lessons even after having boarded for a few years and it help me with control and faster turns.

If you are an experienced skier you will probably learn much faster than other beginners in group setting but like it was mentioned before, if you get lucky you might get a private lesson. My GF and I signed up for 3 lessons over a 3 week period a few years back. After one run it became apparent to one of the instructors that we were a little more advanced than the other intermediates so he broke off with us and we got private lesson for the rest of the time.

I've heard it repeated often that 3 days is the magic number to be linking turns and comfortable getting down moderate runs.

I'm not a big fan of the one day intro lessons, they teach you enough to get on and off the lifts and maybe make a skidded turn.

Also would recommend a helmet if you don't normally wear one. You'll catch an edge at some point and hitting your head is a possibility.


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## Cycle4Fun (Feb 22, 2012)

Lessons Always. A private lesson will get you going the fastest at your pace and not that of the slowest person. If you don't want to pay for a private lesson, take a group lesson. Learning on your own, you'll pick up bad habits and be likely to bend over at the back and drive with your rear foot.

I recommend doing what I did to get a fantastic lesson last year. I talked to a local of the resort I was heading too (Killington, VT). He recommended I get a lesson from one of two people. I called the resort and scheduled the lesson with the expert teacher who also happened to be an attractive woman (another plus of the local). Lesson was fantastic and propelled my boarding out of the beginner stage.

If you can't find a local, call a local shop and ask them. They should be able to help you out.

I plan on taking a lesson early this year to freshen up my skills and make sure I don't have any bad habits.


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## ju87 (Mar 9, 2011)

response seems to be unanimous...

as another person who attempted to learn on their own and punished myself in the process, i also recommend lessons for sure


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## JeffreyCH (Nov 21, 2009)

My .02

If you are going to buy your own gear, get it now. Familiarize yourself with your equipment, do some carpet boarding. Watch video's, Snowolf has a great set on his youtube. If you get snow where you live, go to the sledding hill, try to apply what you saw in the video's. Learn to skate! Then go to the resort and take a lesson. This will save precious time and allow the instructor to teach you how to ride rather then fucking around with your bindings. 

Do not think wake, completely different. Wakeboards don't flex, using the edges requires different weighting and balance, more weight towards the front not the back (unless riding knee deep powder, that's for later lol). Also shoulder/hip position are different, on wake your shoulders are squared up forward, on snow you point your lead shoulder where you want to go, this also means you are not twisting at the hips. I find myself riding wake one handed a lot more because of this.


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## OldDog (Oct 7, 2012)

JeffreyCH said:


> My .02
> 
> If you are going to buy your own gear, get it now. Familiarize yourself with your equipment, do some carpet boarding. Watch video's, Snowolf has a great set on his youtube. If you get snow where you live, go to the sledding hill, try to apply what you saw in the video's. Learn to skate! Then go to the resort and take a lesson. This will save precious time and allow the instructor to teach you how to ride rather then fucking around with your bindings.
> 
> Do not think wake, completely different. Wakeboards don't flex, using the edges requires different weighting and balance, more weight towards the front not the back (unless riding knee deep powder, that's for later lol). Also shoulder/hip position are different, on wake your shoulders are squared up forward, on snow you point your lead shoulder where you want to go, this also means you are not twisting at the hips. I find myself riding wake one handed a lot more because of this.


^This is exactly what I'm doing. Watched all kinds of vids including SA and the wolf's. Lots of carpet and lawn boarding, and I spent 3 hrs on the sled hill this weekend. I plan to take a private lesson for 1 - 2 hrs day 1 then get after it. I may take another in the future if I feel stuck or that I'm not progressing.


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## hktrdr (Apr 3, 2012)

lonerider said:


> Private lesson > Group lesson > Learning from a friend > Learning on your own.
> 
> > = "is better than"


Agree with that - with one caveat for the friend bit: assuming the friends know what s/he is doing. Otherwise it is very easy to pick up some bad habits and because they have been 'taught' it can be particularly hard to unlearn them.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

OP try to schedule a private lesson with an instructor that does or has done both ski and board. They will be able to point out differences that you need to pay attention to...you already know terrain, snow, slope, edge management and design (flex, side cut...etc)...so it will be mostly body mechanics. My daughter skis, boards and dh bikes and she notes there are lots of similarities between the 3 and its just transferring similar concepts to a slightly different movement.


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## snowklinger (Aug 30, 2011)

I think one of these days I am gonna ask everyone to give me a week at camp for xmas or a nice set of lessons at Woodward or something. I've never taken any for any of the boardsports and it would sure be eye opening and maybe correct some basic failhards. Or treat meself


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## Slush Puppie (Aug 15, 2011)

In my personal experience a 2 hour 1 on 1 lesson could progress you as fast as a week long group one, so it should be a no brainer. You have two days, make the time count. 

Even if you can pick up the basics fast on your own (and some of them are counterintuitive), there are many subtleties of technique. You can get away with many of the bad habits that it's easy to fall into but they will ultimately limit your riding after a certain level.


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## Tarzanman (Dec 20, 2008)

I am going to break with the consensus.

With only 2 days on the mountain this season, I don't think that a lesson will make a whole lot of difference.

Your wakeboarding background will help a bit, but you will still spend your first day falling on your tuckus until your brain learns how to discern which points of balance in which context will make you fall/turn/stop/do a 720 cork/whatever.

Presuming you've figured out how to (more or less) stop and turn on your first day, your second day will be spent trying to link some/all of the above and getting used to skooching/skating on one leg.... or doing drills if that is your thing.


I don't think you'll get anything out of a lesson at this point that you would not get watching a good instructional video and going to the hill with a plan.

Unlike many of the regular posters on the forum, i am a self taught snowboarder and I did it 3-4 days at a time per trip, taking 1 or 2 trips per year. My first snowboarding trip ever was a 3-day trip to Snow King & Jackson Hole, where the only time I spent on a green was to get back to the lift. Blues and (a few) blacks were what I learned on.

While I agree that a lesson would have eased my learning curve (if not my very sore muscles), I wouldn't have retained much 'muscle memory' from a lesson at that stage without any kind of foundation.

As soon as I figured out the basics of how to (albeit, crappily) link a turn on one side... I sat down at a mid-slope lodge and spent about 15-20 minutes just watching more experienced snowboarders as they came down the same slope I was training myself on (some better than others).

I would save the lesson for a season when you have more time on the hill. I think that you will get much more out of a private lesson if you can already stop, turn, and skate one-legged on a board. Doing this will leave enough time for instruction and work on leaning, body position, proper weighting, etc.... and it will actually stick.

IMO, the best advice you could get at this point is making sure you have good boots, comfortable bindings, and a board that will lend itself to easy learning.

If you are a skier already, the you already know the basics... you just need to teach your body how they apply sideways with your legs tethered down.

Anyways, that is my opinion and I am sure that about a dozen snow bums will chime in to tell me why I don't know what I'm talking about 

Oh, last bit of advice... stay TF out of the park for your first few days!


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## Kilgore Trout (Aug 22, 2012)

Absolutely, I grew up skating, surfing and skied a few times before attempting snowboarding. 

You will fall less and advance much quicker if you take a lesson your first time.


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## Slush Puppie (Aug 15, 2011)

Tarzanman said:


> I am going to break with the consensus.
> 
> With only 2 days on the mountain this season, I don't think that a lesson will make a whole lot of difference.
> 
> ...


I find it hard to agree with this advice. Why spend 2 days falling over and teaching yourself bad habits you'll probably never undo, when you can be linking turns by lunchtime on the first day and be taught good technique while you're a 'blank canvas'??


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## gjsnowboarder (Sep 1, 2009)

Cls said:


> Okay, I am only going to get two days on the slopes this year. I am a good skier but have never snowboarded. I wake board and wake surf regularly and I usually pick up new sports easily. My question is, is it better to spend a half day taking a lesson or just picking up and learning by doing? I have never taken a lesson for any sport but I want to make the most of my two days and if that means a half day lesson will make the rest of the time better, then that is what I will do.
> 
> Also, I will probably buy a board and bindings since I expect to spend most time on the slopes in the future on a snowboard. Any feedback on boards and bindings will be appreciated. FYI, I am 6'4" and 220 lbs.
> 
> Thanks


Take a lesson. While it is true naturally athletic people can pick up the sport through trial and error. Why not stop that trial and error and get right to the point of the how and why of snowboarding? I learnt without lessons and rode for three - four years prior to becoming an instructor. I have absolutely no illusions about the benefit of instruction. My own personnal riding and understanding of snowboard during my new hire process improved my riding ten-fold let alone all the training, and practice that I have gotten since then. A lesson isn't just about learning how to ride, but why what you do makes you successful or not. Once you have that basics, progression is incredibly faster.

As far as board suggestions RENT.. For only having two days unless money is no object purchasing equipment probably isn't worth it.
For boards I'm 6'0" and 220ish size 13 feet. I'm guessing your foot size is eleven or better at least. This means regardless if you rent or buy get a board probably no shorter then a 159cm. It should also be a wide board. I would suggest based of your height a stance width no narrower then 23" inches and normal beginner duck stance of 12 front and -6 back. Look for board and bindings that fall in the medium flex range i.e. 5-7 out of ten. At this point an all mountain deck is alright until you figure out the style of snowboarding you want to ride.


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## mitch19 (Jul 27, 2011)

Snowolf said:


> Iv`e got a much better idea that is a win win for both of us. You fly your ass up to Mt. Hood where we actually have some snow (not great yet but better than you have). You buy my food and beer for the day and I will give you full day private coaching....


You might regret saying that haha


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## aloutris (Dec 20, 2011)

I skied up until last season when I decided to snowboard. For some reason I decided early on that I would try to learn on my own (being the smart cookie I am -_-) so I watched a whole bunch of Youtube videos online.
The first day went great and I went once every weekend for a month last year. On the fourth/last day I was able to go on the black diamonds. Keep in mind that I live in Illinois where black diamonds aren't steep.
My favorite videos:
The Snowprofessor series
Snowolf's series
How to Snowboard the Definitive Guide (it looks outdated but it's one video and it's very informative) 

But if you have the money you should definitely get the private lessons if you only have two days.


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## seriouscat (Jan 23, 2012)

SA Addiction is also very good. You can buy the whole thing for less than 1 private lesson. They focus on making you very versatile, something I found a bit lacking from my CASI instructors.

Nothing beats live feedback from a pro though.


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## MikeCL (Oct 13, 2012)

JeffreyCH said:


> My .02
> 
> If you are going to buy your own gear, get it now. Familiarize yourself with your equipment, do some carpet boarding. Watch video's, Snowolf has a great set on his youtube. If you get snow where you live, go to the sledding hill, try to apply what you saw in the video's. Learn to skate! Then go to the resort and take a lesson. This will save precious time and allow the instructor to teach you how to ride rather then fucking around with your bindings.
> 
> Do not think wake, completely different. Wakeboards don't flex, using the edges requires different weighting and balance, more weight towards the front not the back (unless riding knee deep powder, that's for later lol). Also shoulder/hip position are different, on wake your shoulders are squared up forward, on snow you point your lead shoulder where you want to go, this also means you are not twisting at the hips. I find myself riding wake one handed a lot more because of this.



This is what I plan to do! I know it's impossible to learn everything from a video but at least if I try and apply the basics I wont feel so noobish. Then take some private lessons.


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## freshy (Nov 18, 2009)

I'm almost scared to say my opinion, which was going to be to not bother getting lessons. I am self taught and remember picking it up right away, but I spent years skateboarding prior. I can't deny lessons would help, but I dont think every person really needs them.


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## TBomb (Dec 29, 2010)

Snowolf said:


> Iv`e got a much better idea that is a win win for both of us. You fly your ass up to Mt. Hood where we actually have some snow (not great yet but better than you have). You buy my food and beer for the day and I will give you full day private coaching....


Is this an open offer? How much beer can you put away in a day? 

I took a half day lesson my first day, and I think it was worth it, but I didn't come frame a strong board sport background like a lot of you guys. It still took me a couple of days to get to where I could link turns. Planning on taking a lesson this year at some point, just to help correct some bad habits I've picked up on my own and hopefully progress more than I could on my own. Worth it, I think.


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## danigee (Dec 16, 2011)

I just used youtube to learn . Fast, convenient, and free...watched a bunch of videos the night before


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