# Beginner Stories



## Guest (Jun 26, 2008)

i remember the first time i went. i started out on the greens, taking it nice and easy. eventually my buddy who was sorta teaching me but letting me figure it out for the most, says we should try a blue. i was up for it, but we didn't know the place that well, and ended up going down a black diamond. good thing it wasn't that long, but i remember just staring down this steep hill and thinking wow, just wow.

on the way down i was doing ok, but started panicing halfway down. i started to lose control, and right at the end i fell straight onto my head. and this was right at the end in front of the chairlift. i remember getting up and getting to the chairlift somehow, i was really dazed. when i got back my buddy had the biggest shit-eating grin i've seen.


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## Guest (Jun 26, 2008)

Ok, I firt stepped on a snowboard when I went on a 3 day trip to wisp... I'm stoked. I strap in both feet... don't realize you need to skate to the lift. so I hop my way over to the lift. I eventually get my turn to get in. the lift comes around, and for smoe short second I must have shrunk because that thing decked my right in the back of the head...I was seein stars...They stop the lift and put me on...(this was 2 years ago) I get to the top, and attempt the bunny hill..I start going down, then realize "SHIT I don't know how to turn!" So I'm going down the hill trying to learn to turn, when I realize I'm going a good 30 MPH. So like the retard I am, I get down so I can try to "sit" on the ground...then right as I'm about to take myself down i think "shit, this might hurt. whoa SHIT!" *BAM*...apparently the slope ended and I was in the lift line...whoops:dunno:. So yeah, I eventually figure out turns, and start linking them get cocky and try a blue. I'm going down, get about halfway down, and come up to the steep part...RIGHT at the top, I catch an edge and tumble all the way down. A month later I got to West Virginia, and I magically got better in my downtime? I don't know but now I could do blues pretty consistantly. Then I don't go boarding for about 6 months. Then this February I went to Vermont to sugarbush...It was easy, I was just dicking around the blues....Then I took a cattrack...SHIT, I'm stuck in the flats and tired of walking so I decide to take a lil black diamond shortcut..through woods....BAD IDEA.

here is what happened
left
right
hit a tree
right
fall on my ass
left
right
left
too much speed, ramp off a root...into a tree
take of the board
walk out

Yeah, that was NOT fun.

Anyway, skip forward another month, I go to Big mountain Montana (right outside of whitefish)

I spent the first two days on blues just killing, One day I decide I want to try another tree run, shit was easy, so I spend the next two days giong backcountry doing trees moguls. I got good overnight..literally. But now I learn my form is bad, so time to relearn EVERYTHING

so far Ive gotten a sprained wrist, tendinits, and a concussion


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## Guest (Jun 27, 2008)

*Snowboarding KO*

The first time I went snowboarding was at this shithole called Mt. Brighton in Michigan (Michigan is famous for blowing snow on old landfills and calling them ski resorts). 
Because I have been skateboarding just about my entire life my friends started me out on blue and I was not doing that bad, it was just a bit freaky for me at first being strapped onto the board. 
There were rumors that Evander Holyfield was there that day learning to ski. Wouldn't you know it - While I was trying to concentrate on not breaking my ass, one of my friends yells to me "Look, Evander Holyfield is next to you!". Sure as shit, I look over and he is skiing right next to me! 
Needless to say I lost all concentration, caught an edge and cracked the back of my head (ouch!)
I woke up the next day dizzy as all hell and had to go to the hospital - I had a concussion.
Go figure - I ended up with a concussion because of Evander Holyfield while snowboarding...What a riot!:laugh:


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## Guest (Jun 28, 2008)

The first time I went snowboarding was at Falls Creek in Victoria. I had been to the snow two times previously as a skier and this time I wanted to try snowboarding. 

First day on the snow and I was so excited to be there. We take the lift and I had no idea what I was doing. We are crawling down this run that is very skinny and I find it very hard to turn and I keep falling over. I just remember that when I was learning I just fell on my ass all the time, not like skiing. 

Then after two days of boarding I got progressivly better. I took a lesson or two and then on day 3 - I cracked it, this is what I remember, going really fast along a blue run and absolutely loving it. Cool air rushing at my face and knowing that I could stop and turn. 

Fourth day was show off day and went to a lesson. The teacher was really cool and taught us some tricks. Did a flat land 360 and some other cool stuff. I just cant wait to go again and progress even more!


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## Guest (Jun 28, 2008)

Christafa said:


> I'm planning a trip for next year and wanna find out what it's like as a noob.


If you take it slow, you'll be fine. If you try to expedite your learning process, like most, expect pain. I thought I was hot shit cuz I was doing pretty well my first time. Then I caught an edge going pretty damn fast and left the resort with a bloody face. Good luck! :laugh:


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## Guest (Jun 29, 2008)

I don't fall anymore until I go to the park..... Last time I went to the park I was going up to a ramp when i was like
Oh shit I have too much speed. So i try to shave off some speed real quick, never get straightened out and end up landing on my ass right at the knuckle on the landing...OW


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## Guest (Jun 29, 2008)

mpdsnowman said:


> Ending this rant, Ive suffered no injuries to speak of since I started. thats the important thing, dont get hurt.


Good to hear you haven't hurt yourself! I hear lots of people just getting too sore from falling over that they don't want to get out of bed the next day.



con3593 said:


> so far Ive gotten a sprained wrist, tendinits, and a concussion


How'd you get tendonitis from snowboarding? Curious. I already have something resembling tendinitis in my elbow from playing too much speed metal, but I'm guessing this is somewhere in your knees or ankles?



cabNO40 said:


> Go figure - I ended up with a concussion because of Evander Holyfield while snowboarding...What a riot!


That's something to be proud of!



TigerWolf said:


> Falls creek.
> 
> Then after two days of boarding I got progressivly better. I took a lesson or two and then on day 3 - I cracked it, this is what I remember, going really fast along a blue run and absolutely loving it. Cool air rushing at my face and knowing that I could stop and turn.
> 
> Fourth day was show off day and went to a lesson. The teacher was really cool and taught us some tricks. Did a flat land 360 and some other cool stuff. I just cant wait to go again and progress even more!


That's really cool. It only took you four days to get into the real swing of things. I know people who went there for a whole week and still, they were stuck on the green beginner runs, falling over at least a dozen times a run. 
I'll probably try going for a 2 week trip to the snow, or maybe that's too much? Most people manage to advance to the point of enjoying the snow around day 4 or 5, so I figure why not double my time there!

Falls Creek seems pretty nifty, heard better things about Mt Hotham though - big place apparently? And it has a neat little lay out too. The village and the main road is on top of a hill/ridge, and all the ski runs come off the side of that ridge. Becomes a shit if you miss the last lift though. Hahaha.

I think I'm keener on going to New Zealand to be honest. The cost difference isn't that much and you get to see the beautiful surrounds of NZ on the trip to and from the ski fields. Looks unreal.


I've been skiing for 5 days before at Perisher and I only ever tried a blue run once or twice. I fell over way too much. I did enjoy getting the slopes to myself when the heavy snow came through because everyone was too scared to go out. Lifts were still running, so who cares!

What muscles do you guys tend to find get sore/tired the quickest/most?


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## Guest (Jun 29, 2008)

Definately the legs or course but mainly your lower legs. It depends on what you are going. If you dont learn to fall over properly its your wrists because you use them to break your fall. 

Falls is pretty good, but a bit flat. Hotham is great as its very big but you need to get a good snowfall so that the mountain is nice and open.

I was thinking about NZ too, they get more snow, the cost is like $150 or so more for flights and like you said - cool landscape to check out. Defo worth checking out in the future for me.


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## Guest (Jun 29, 2008)

tendinitits in both achilles tendons (back of the ankle)


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## Guest (Jun 30, 2008)

con3593 said:


> tendinitits in both achilles tendons (back of the ankle)


Bummer man . Hope you can get them working alright again. How do you mitigate that from ever happening if you don't mind me asking?


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## Guest (Jun 30, 2008)

I'm still something of a beginner, this coming season being my second and all
but my first couple of days were nothing short of hilarious

My first day up at our local spot I was rockin the rentals and had a thirty minute lesson, they taught us the basics, skating turning etc. I spent most of the day on the bunny slope counting my falls and tryin to keep them under 5 lol. Finally it started getting later and my friends pushed me towards my first actual slope. I went on it and my knees nearly bled. Once a skier cut right in front of me, I tried to heelside stop but caught some bad edge and roundhoused the poor kids legs from right under him, i felt bad so i stayed and helped him back up. The next day my knees were raw and nearly bloody, and my ass felt like hamburger meat, but for some reason i kept going. Ever since Ive been hooked.


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## Guest (Jun 30, 2008)

stretch before you board....thats all you can really do to protect your tendons. What I usually do now is I will face a wall, put my toes on the wall, and try to get my hell to touch the wall without the toe leaving. Just don't over do it


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## Guest (Jun 30, 2008)

con3593 said:


> stretch before you board....thats all you can really do to protect your tendons. What I usually do now is I will face a wall, put my toes on the wall, and try to get my hell to touch the wall without the toe leaving. Just don't over do it


Sounds good. Hope it works for you mate.

Man, sounds like I should get knee pads from falling on knees, wrist pads for the wrists, and elbow pads because apparently you're supposed to draw your arms up, and that could expose the elbows a bit too. Why not a helmet too. Bloody carnage!


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## Minger (Jan 24, 2008)

I started out as a skiier. Slow learner, didn't learn how to parallel stop until I was about to run into a line of people. Got decent, and did it like 1-2 times a year for a few years.

This year I picked up snowboarding because my friends and I couldn't think of what to do and were like... why not? I basically had to relearn how to retraverse the mountain and it...hurt for the next four days, but it was fun. Quads hurt like crazy because the first few days I couldn't stop toeside, so any slowing down was just skidding on my heels. Learned toeside one day out of nowhere...and still can't do switch decently. Good enough to not freak out that I'm in switch though =]

Then I went a lot of times after that and it was fun. And I now have too many boards for no good reason!


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## Penguin (May 30, 2008)

Oh boy, where do I even begin.

First off, I haven't even seen snow until I was about 19. I don't know how to skateboard, nor ski. My friends took me up to Snow Summit (Big Bear) to try snowboarding. I was so excited. They told me it was going to be warm, so just wear jeans and a jacket (wow). So we get to the rental shop and they hook me up with clicker bindings and a board for 20 bones. 

Finally we get to the resort, and still nobody is telling me how to turn or how to stop. Mind you this was when I was still regular because I thought that was how it was done. I didn't know I was supposed to be goofy until last year. So I got off the lift and busted my ass right away. Had to do one of those soldier crawls to get out of the way of the other people getting off the lift while the lift operators were yelling at me.

So I click into my board and my friends just told me "Well you're on your own now, find your own way down the hill!" This was a blue by the way. It was pretty steep for my first run...ever. I was so freaked out. So I stood up, and inched my way down on my heels for about 20 feet. Then fell. Got up, inched my way down, fell. Every time I tried to go straight, I caught an edge and landed on my back or knees. It took about 2.5 hours to make it down one run, whereas now I can do that same run in about 5 minutes. 

I only did 2 runs that day. The other run after that was pretty much the same story. And when friends tell you it's ok to wear jeans and a light jacket on your first time, don't believe them. Because it's cold, wet, and painful. I was aching for about 2 weeks after that.

However I was absolutely hooked since that day.


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## Guest (Jul 16, 2008)

^^ haha good mates you've got
Yeh expect some pain for the first week. I started when i was about 13-14. Probably the sorest week of my life. Constant falling an it was a pretty shit snow season icy as hell but it was my first time in the snow so didn't know it could be better.
Took a few mates down a couple of years ago for their first time. They were nuts had em goin down blue runs and off jumps on their third day. They had some awesome stacks but it was hilarious to watch. Every1 is hooked now


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## Guest (Jul 16, 2008)

haha 1st time i tried, my cousin took me up a green (i think), at least he had some heart, hahaha. Told me, "its easy, just go down" and bounced. I was on that slope for at least an hour...wasn't the funnest day of snowboarding. Then my second time my bro taught me, seriously hooked ever since, haha. From that day i vowed to teach newbie friends for at least half a day b4 i bounce do my own shit. haha


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## Guest (Jul 16, 2008)

Well since I have only been to mountains about 4 or 5 times I can still consider my self an advid beginner. Well the most recent was that I was at Blue Mtn in PA right after it rained and it was all ice. I was about to shit my pants in the morning because that's all it was. Well they have 2 HUGE Double Blacks right in the middle and the bros I was with decided to go down. The first big drop I carved down smoothly going about 20mph maybe 25. Then a HUGE patch of ice came where it was flat. All I remember is thinking I was going to bail but thank god I didn't. Then, after that was the second drop and I gained so much speed on and I was going about 30mph and I catch the front edge of my board flipping and falling right on my hip. Thank god nothing broke because I would have been screwed. Well I just start cursing into the snow cause of the pain but my bud Andrew came up and helped me laugh it off. By the end of the day, I was back at it haha.


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## Guest (Jul 17, 2008)

*HAHA, this reminds me of something.*

Me and some friends went to Les Deux Alpes in france, we had a great time there. (It was during the belgian championship, i know, i know, belgian championship in france? It's because belgium isn't much of a snowy-country) Well, when we got there, i wasn't really experienced, it was the 2nd time i went for a ride. Ever. So You had rides down with categories, first green, and at the end black. Totally confident i went straight ahead to the black park, witch was pretty steep, barely anny snow, just ice. So i went down, and i fell imediatly, but it was so steep i kept going and going faster, and faster. I thought i was going to die.(HAHA) At the end, i managed to get a grip on the little snow there was, and started to slow down. At the end, some really experienced guy helped me to slow down. I thanked him, i said, in dutch ofcourse (in dutch it's: heel erg bedankt!) witch ofcourse means, thanks dude, i owe you one! So i got down the hill, looked back and saw a whole trace left behind by my ass. Then i remembered the pain, looked at my pants, and they we're ripped apart. Lucky for me there we're enough stores there!


I remember how scared i was, and how foolish. Now i really am pissed at myself for being so ignorant. HAHA, but now, me and my friends from back then still laugh about it. Great times!


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## Guest (Jul 17, 2008)

*oh yeah*

i slipped down like 3/4 off the hill, was about 400 meters.


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## Guest (Jul 17, 2008)

I try to stay as far away from ice as I can. Ice = :thumbsdown:


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## Guest (Jul 17, 2008)

haha, yeah, your probably right :')


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## Penguin (May 30, 2008)

Yeah this season I'm going to learn to ride switch so at least I'll be with my beginner friends again and we can all learn together.


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## baldylox (Dec 27, 2007)

First time I went was to Hunter Mtn, NY for 3 days when I was 12ish. My mother took me and she tried boarding too. It was a really bad season. The whole mountain was groomed solid ice. The grooves would stay visible till about 2pm cause they were so rock solid. I busted my ass so many times I was black and blue everywhere. Kept with it though, 3 full days 6 hours a day. I got carving by the second day. 3rd day I tried a blue and almost wet myself cause it was icy as hell. Fortunately, now I know better than to go to a crappy hell hole like Hunter.


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