you've probably heard people say that learning to snowboard is difficult, it's only for the young and atheletic, you will get painful bruises on your butt on your first day and you will only have fun after 5 days when you can go down the slope without falling. actually i have a method of teaching where you immediately have fun on the first day and you won't get bruises. i even taught my 70 year old dad - Crystal Family Snowboarding. i am the only one who teaches snowboarding this way. it's simple:
day 1: start on the intermediate (blue) slope, not on the beginner's (green) slope. go down the hill on your heels (body facing away from the slope) and keeping the board perpendicular to the slope the entire time. then go down the hill again, also keeping the board perpendicular to the slope the entire time but this time you go down on your toes (body facing up the slope). repeat this for the entire day (or half a day depending on your ability). resist the urge to straighten the board (parallel to the slope). i know at some point you start to get bored because you are going ultra slow but just be patient.
the reason why it's better to practice this drill on the intermediate slope and not the beginner's slope is so you can go a little bit faster. also if you fall down, there is less impact. i know this sounds counter intuitive but imagine standing on a 45 degree slope facing away the slope and you fall backwards - the falling distance is shorter compared to a flatter slope so there is less impact. however if you fall on your front, the falling distance may be greater but you are landing on a slope so it would be more of a deflection instead of a sudden impact. it's more of a deceleration (your body rolling down the hill) instead of a sudden stop so there is no strong impact to your body.
day 2: same as day 1 but this time on the beginner's slope. also this time keep the board 45 degree to the slope instead of perpendicular and go down the slope on a VERY WIDE zig zag path (cover the entire width of the slope if possible). never switch from heels to toe or toe to heels. just be patient.
day 3: same as day 2 but this time experiment on switching from heel to toe and toe to heel when you turn. if you still feel uncomfortable switching, continue the day 2 drills until you feel it's very easy to switch during the turn.
day 4: same as day 3 but this time go down the slope on a NARROWER zig zag path. BRING OUT THE GOPRO CAMERA.
day 5: post your videos on facebook
general tips:
* whenever your legs feel tired, sit down and rest. fatigue is the most common cause of snowboarding accidents and injuries.
* do not snowboard when it's icy
II. intermediate
if you hit a table top jump and get enough air, make sure you land on the down slope part of the jump. even if you land perfectly but you land on the flat top of the table jump, you are screwed. your knees will pop (this happens if you didn't get enough speed). if you overshoot the jump and land on the flat, even if you land perfectly your knees will shatter (this happens if your approach was too fast). but if you land on the slope, even if it's a crash landing you will be fine. it's just physics. it's the sudden stop impact that hurts you. landing on the slope has very little impact and it's more of a deflection and you simply decelerate down the slope like a cushion and you won't get hurt. that's why during my photo session with arabelle i had some horrifying wipe outs. arabelle's expression on her face was like omg ploky is dead. but i was fine because i always cleared the transition and landed on the slope. so remember, when something goes wrong during your approach and you have no time to bail out, do not panic and do not slow down or else you will fail to clear the top and land splat on top of the table. OUCH !!! especially if the lip is high. that's why beginners should start with table tops that has no lip so you don't get enough air and it's ok to land on the flat top. and don't be fooled by small table tops - don't think they are safer because they are small. counter intuitively, these small table tops are more dangerous - first, they are easier to overshoot because they are small. second, the short but sharp up slope will give you an abrupt kick that jolts even expert riders to go off balance (imagine a car hitting a hump on the road vs going smoothly up a hill)
some of my snowboarding videos:
https://youtu.be/-1FqsuPob4w (notice in 1:02 i bypassed a jump because my speed was too slow. hitting the jump would have been dangerous because i didn't have enough speed to clear the transition and land on the slope part on the other side of the table top jump)
http://youtu.be/tdmwJ-FM1DE
(for more of my knowledge bombs, click the "ian's knowledge bombs" banner at the top of this article and choose any article in the table of contents that piques your interest)
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