YOUTUBE FTW
I lived in Maryland all of my life. Im half Filipino, so that particular side of the family lives in California..I've actually been spoiled due to the fact that i havent really done any east coast (ice coast) riding and i learned on larger West Coast mountains..
Age:22 yrs
Weight: 230
Board Size: 161-164W
Riding Style: Freeride, Learning Park
1st Experience- I was roughly the age of 13 at the time, my uncle is an enthusiastic snowboarder, luckily only living 2.5 hrs away from Lake Lahoe and dragged me along to Sierra-at-Tahoe since he had an extra setup. He took me straight to the Blue run to start learning
My balance was exceptional due to my background in skateboarding, cant say much for my turning ability at this point, most of my day consisted of flat riding and catching edges. I would stand, make it a decent distance down the mountain, get speed anxiety and fall to slow myself down
At one point I accidentally veered off course onto a mogul black diamond which looked absolutely terrifying. I had no balls to even try it so i unstrapped my back binding and literally spun on my back down the entire run, it sucked. By the end of the day, i was eager to try snowboarding again and went home satisfied with my first performance and a crescent shaped gash on my back from catching on an ice patch
2nd Experience- Second experience was with my girlfriend. I believe i was roughly 19 at the time, so it had been a while since my last time on snow. She and I went to Massanuten, a shrimpy ski resort in VA. Unfortunately i had to rent equipment from the resort and it consisted of a crap Lamar board with step-on bindings. I entertained my girlfriend on the bunny slope until she got tired of falling at went back to the car after an hour. I left my girlfriend in the car for 5 hours :dunno:, she was irate, but i wasnt wasting the lift ticket. By this experience, i was 6'2 190lb, and older so i wasnt as fearless as the first time i went. I went down blue runs, trying to remember the concept of turning. I cant say that i progressed much on this trip.
3rd Experience- I would have to say this experience was my favorite experience. 6'5 230lbs, I went this past christmas at the age of 22 back to Lake Tahoe with my uncle. This time, i bought my own gear a week before the trip. I purchased an Arbor Roundhouse, Ride SPI bindings, and Ride FUL boots off of a whim. I had a feeling that having my own quality setup would benefit me, not to mention i got it all 20% off because im a college student. During the trip to tahoe, we went to Sugarbowl and back to Sierra-at-Tahoe. If anyone on this forum was in the area at this time u will recall the stacks of fresh powder that graciously fell on the mountains. Powder was AMAZING. I seemed to float on clouds. It was a completely different experience than on groomers. Things to note, my uncle set my stance back, he said i would need it, he told me to carry my speed and dont turn to hard or i would sink. Sure enough, my first run 50ft off the lift chair, i spent 10 mins digging myself out of the top 4ft layer of pow. All the youtube videos in the world didnt prepare me for it, lol. By the way, before this trip, i watched a months worth of youtube videos on carving, linking turns, etc, because this was my weakest area. I was doing awesome after i adjusted. I will say this, the elevation at Tahoe is the shit, the runs are miles long. I f you want to learn, Tahoe is a place to do it. After the first day, i realized that my turns still sucked, i was so beat by the end of the day. I was a hip swinger, more so throwing my board under me rather than using torsional flex and proper turn iniation. I couldnt grasp these things even on my second day. My noob method got me kept me on my feet, and my uncle dragged me to black diamonds. I was so nervous. That sh** looked so steep peeking over the drop. I found that turning on black diamonds was easier. The gravity seemed to make me parallel to the mountain on my heelside and toeside turns. This was awesome. I fell a LOT, but hey, 3rd trip ever and im making my way down a black diamond??? I felt accomplished, not to mention the soft pow cushioned my falls
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4th Experience- This is my most recent experience. 5 days ago on the ice coast, Liberty Mountain in PA. I went with my buddy and his family. The conditions were icy/ hardpack groomed. After looking into torsional flex a bit more, i decided my Arbor Roundhouse was too stiff for a noob like me, and i needed a softer board. After a lot of research i ended up grabbing a Never Summer Revolver (wide version of the Evo), Union Forces, and some new boots. With the soft flex of the board and the Rocker.Camber technology i hoped this would improve my turning and reduce my chances of catching edges, and i could also venture into the park terrain when i became more confident in my riding abilities. All i can say is WOW. It seems like my abilities increased TENFOLD. I could feel the flex of the board under my feet when i pressed my toe and heels like pedals to intitiate my turns. I effortlessly stay on edge. I honestly didnt fall more than twice. The rocker seemed to help a lot and it felt completely different than the positive camber of my arbor board.I think a soft and forgiving board was a key to my acceleration in learning. I was so excited and i called up my uncle to ask if the season was over yet in Tahoe. The second day of this trip i got the balls to try small terrain. I literally sat at the drop to the box for 25 minutes watching kids press, spin, and switch ride. I sucked it up and hit the box, except i was going to fast and i flew over the damn thing. LOL, and i landed it!!!!!! YES!!! At this point i got the balls to try rails and weird shaped boxes with kickers. I didnt do anything fancy, just 50-50s, but a lot of kids, surprisingly were supportive and told me to start slow and dont leave my comfort zone. I did bonk my ass a couple times and it hurt like hell. I went to the bunny slopes and practiced butters (I AM SHIT), im still trying to get used to edge awareness when flat ground spinning, but i can pull off mad tail presses (manual?) for at least 65ft with the nose of my board 2ft off the ground :thumbsup::thumbsup: For some reason i feel more comfortable nollieing than ollieing?? any input on that would be appreciated, but my next investments shall be asspads and a helmet!
FUTURE GOALS: On my next trip, i plan on changing up my stance a little bit, currently im 15+/-6 and i would love to learn to ride switch before i try any rotations on boxes, and jumps. I would also like to learn to butter and tail block because i think that stuff is so impressive and looks hella fun to do. SO, in conclusion, my analysis of myself was, i picked up turning and edge awareness much faster on more difficult runs (i feel that flat runs suck for beginners because u are going so slow u are more worried about balance than turning), and the only way to get better is to fall. I WILL SAY THAT YOUTUBE IS A FREAKING AWESOME INSTRUCTOR AND SNOWOLFS VIDS ALSO HELPED A LOT!! Thanks for readin my story
MY 5TH TRIP IS IN 2 WEEKS!!!! YES!!!!