# Boarded for the first time... need feedback and advice!



## hellolin (Dec 30, 2013)

So I finally went to snowboarding for the first time, let me just say it didn't go as well as most people did...I lost my board due to runaway in my first lift ride.....$200 gone in an instant.:dizzy:
My buddy thought I was one of the fast learner, but I was the opposite of that. Later on I got to use one of the other guy's board because he too was learning but he hurt his back falling, luckily I didn't get hurt yesterday.
So I have some questions about my experience, how long did it take for most people here to learn how to snowboard? My friend said he was on the highest slope boarding after 2 hours of learning for the first time, I in the other hand was struggling to even stand up on a board for my first 2 hours of learning.
So I end up learning how to snowboard by myself completely in the afternoon on a small slope full of other beginners, it was hard for me not because I wouldn't find my balance, it was hard because I had to try to avoid other beginners who stops and fall all the time like me, it was hard to learn to how to stop the board when I am in speed, let alone making quick directional changes whenever I had to avoid other people.
Now my question is, when you begin to learn to ride, do you always ride on an edge, or a slight edge? I found it very hard to control my board or my balance if I let the board go completely flat on the snow, but once I can lean my center mass on my heel side I start to gain directional control.
And this is when I learnt that I have a tendency to turn my back foot side into my front side going down slope, resulting in lost of directional control, because now my back foot became my front foot on the board....why is this happening?
I am going back to try it out the second time in 2 weeks, probably going to get a cheap used board this time around...hope a runaway board won't happen to me again!


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

lol...good chuckle...sorry for your pain...get some lessons

edit...put a leash on your dog


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## Mystery2many (Aug 14, 2013)

I've got to hear more about this runaway board thing. Lol. Did it just disappear or did it literally grow legs and "runaway"?


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## ju87 (Mar 9, 2011)

do yourself a favour and get some lessons.

as for being on the highest run after 2 hours or whatever, this isn't a competition... advance at your own pace and you'll have much more fun.


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## speedjason (May 2, 2013)

usually people say 3 days but it really depends.:thumbsup:
how do you lose your board? I need to know the details. how is that even possible?
your board will always try to slide to the side with more weight on it. if your back foot is turning out means you are putting too much weight on the back foot. sitting in the back seat is the problem with most beginners. you want to have more weight on the front than the rear. also always on edge. if you are not on your toes, you are on your heels. also bend your knee and keep your upper body straight. look where you want to go.
when turning heel edge, you feel like you are slowly sitting down with toes pushing up against your boots, slightly turn your front knee out.
when turning toe edge, you feel like you are resting your shins on the tongue of the boots, turn your front knee in.


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## trapper (Jan 15, 2013)

While some people do learn quickly, I think people in general tend to exaggerate how fast of a learner they are on a snowboard. I don't know why that is, but my general instinct is to call bullshit whenever people say shit like that.

If you like it, give it a few more days out. Lessons are good if you can afford them, otherwise stick it out and you will eventually figure it out. Patience, persistence, perseverance and a positive attitude.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

speedjason said:


> how do you lose your board? I need to know the details. how is that even possible?
> 
> .


How's that possible...well Nebraska is flat...so there is no downhill. But a snowboard leash is useful where there are knobs


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## cozmo (Dec 12, 2012)

Get a leash! Your runaway board could seriously hurt someone down the mountain!
Take lessons, most people take around 3 full days to get from the green to the easy blues. Its better to start learning the basics correctly then to later have to unlearn them.


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## speedjason (May 2, 2013)

wrathfuldeity said:


> How's that possible...well Nebraska is flat...so there is no downhill. But a snowboard leash is useful where there are knobs


what I mean is if he is strapped in how would the board come off?:laugh:


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## 16gkid (Dec 5, 2012)

Took me 3 days, but i wanted to quit after 2 i was so bad, then it all just clicked, the 3 lessons that helped me the most was
1. Stop leaning back(try to reach towards the front of your board)
2. Make sure both feet are doing the same thing
3. Stay low
Good luck and yes more details on the runaway board?


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

speedjason said:


> what I mean is if he is strapped in how would the board come off?:laugh:


Its possible...I had my rear binding disc explode...leaving the screws in when I hit a windlip (hit the windlip and flexed the board so hard it popped the binding off)....flying 1 footy. :icon_scratch:


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## hellolin (Dec 30, 2013)

speedjason said:


> usually people say 3 days but it really depends.:thumbsup:
> how do you lose your board? I need to know the details. how is that even possible?
> your board will always try to slide to the side with more weight on it. if your back foot is turning out means you are putting too much weight on the back foot. sitting in the back seat is the problem with most beginners. you want to have more weight on the front than the rear. also always on edge. if you are not on your toes, you are on your heels. also bend your knee and keep your upper body straight. look where you want to go.
> when turning heel edge, you feel like you are slowly sitting down with toes pushing up against your boots, slightly turn your front knee out.
> when turning toe edge, you feel like you are resting your shins on the tongue of the boots, turn your front knee in.


Thanks for the amazing advice, I figured out that I was probably riding backseat too much, the way the bindings are sit up on the board is meant for putting most of the body weight on the front side, also the front knee can bent more than the back so a rider can put more weight on the front.

By the end of the first day I pretty much got the heel edge glide/turn figured out, yes it is like I am trying to sit on my legs with the backside of the bindings going against my calf, I haven't tried to do any toe edge ride yet. And no wonder I was having no control of the board, I wasn't always riding on an edge, think in my second time I will try to ride slight heel edge the whole way since I was more comfortable with it.


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## hellolin (Dec 30, 2013)

wrathfuldeity said:


> Its possible...I had my rear binding disc explode...leaving the screws in when I hit a windlip (hit the windlip and flexed the board so hard it popped the binding off)....flying 1 footy. :icon_scratch:


On my first big slope I fall face first and tried to stand up, wouldn't so I had to take off my bindings to stand up, as I took them off I forget to stomp on the board to prevent it from sliding, it went off on me and someone picked up downhill and never returned to the guest services in the mountain...the slope was pretty scary for a first timer like me but my buddy says I was a slower learner lol.:dunno:


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## baldylox (Dec 27, 2007)

You guys use leashes? They don't even make sense. It's not like you can walk around dragging the board on the leash. When you take the leash off you have to be careful not to let the board slide away. Just do the same thing when you take your foot out of the binding.... :blink:


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## jdang307 (Feb 6, 2011)

Took me the 3rd day to learn toe side and then I was off. But the first two days were only maybe 2 runs day #1, and about 3-4 short runs day #2. Not full days at all. Just me trying for a few runs then quitting.

At the end of day #3 I learned to kick out my back foot to go toe side and from there on I was hooked. That is NOT the way to learn, it's how I learned. I've since corrected the ruddering to steer.


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## t21 (Dec 29, 2010)

It took my son (21 yrs.old) 3 lesson to get it, 2 beginner and 1 skillbuilder. Though he can do toeside turn on his first lesson, he needed to refine it and needed the other lesson. I'm sorry but when i hear about 2 hrs and i can do black runs is a BS claim. Surely they are up on black or top of the mountain but they are the ones you see that heel sliding(side to side) all the way down. I guess if you had fun good for you but don't brag about it to your friends:thumbsdown: Anyways, if lesson is not feasible, video tutorials and observations of better riders could do the trick for you. Goodluck!


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## endless (Sep 9, 2013)

t21 said:


> It took my son (21 yrs.old) 3 lesson to get it, 2 beginner and 1 skillbuilder. Though he can do toeside turn on his first lesson, he needed to refine it and needed the other lesson. I'm sorry but when i hear about 2 hrs and i can do black runs is a BS claim. Surely they are up on black or top of the mountain but they are the ones you see that heel sliding(side to side) all the way down. I guess if you had fun good for you but don't brag about it to your friends:thumbsdown: Anyways, if lesson is not feasible, video tutorials and observations of better riders could do the trick for you. Goodluck!


2 hours and i can do black runs? now this i gotta see. 

When I was first learning how to link turns, i did the same thing as jdang307, I started to kick out my back foot to go into toe sides. I soon corrected this also, making smoother transitions between toe and heel. 
We had a lesson each morning, and on the third day (with advice from the instructor), I actually went out by myself on the mountain for the duration of the lesson, to progress on my turns because I had picked it up faster than the people in my group, which pissed my other newbie friends off quite considerably. It made me quite happy seeing as though I had always wanted to snowboard and my stoke levels were through the roof, even before the trip. In my opinion, it's all about the attitude and not getting ahead of yourself.

Most of my friends skate and have been for a while. I do own a skateboard and skate with them when the opportunity arises, but im nothing special. i can ollie, and have landed a few kicklflips, but I can't even drop in properly. My buddies on the other hand shred the bowl, land trey flips and generally destroy skateboarding. 
When we all put our name down for our school's annual ski/snowboard trip, they were all so sure of themselves that they were going to "shred so much gnar man". Me on the other hand, researched the mechanics of snowboarding and looked for advice for beginners on the internet and at our local ski shop.
When the time came, I was the one "shredding the gnar" while my skater friends were standing in a stupor wondering why they couldn't kickflip a snowboard. :eusa_clap:

PS: I was hitting black runs on the fourth day without falling and at a moderately high speed, you just have to trust yourself and your board and not be a pussy. (although it was hard to trust the burton rental at times!)


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## Consonantal (Dec 12, 2012)

Fuck that, whenever people compliment me on my snowboarding I'm like "I better be good, I spent a whole flipping season trying to figure out how to pendulum".


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