When to park ? - Snowboarding Forum

Bray · 08-10-2011, 01:42 AM

I've just been snowboarding for my second day, I was able to do long carves and short carves, stop, glide (facing down the hill), and switches. I usually only fall over max once on green hills, 2-3 times on blue hills. I have no trouble on green, except on blue where it's much steeper and harder to control the board while carving at high speeds.

I can't do any tricks yet and the season is nearly over in Australia. I'm defiantly getting my own gear before next season!~

I was wondering when I should get into some tricks?

Bray · 08-10-2011, 03:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snowolf

There is no hard and fast absolute rule here, but generally you want to be a very competent all around rider before getting into park riding. These foundational skills are needed to teach you edge control and every performance concepts to manipulate your board precisely in any situation.

You are not really carving your turns yet so don't make the mistake of thinking any turn is "carving". Once you get beyond basic linked turns and are riding blues, blacks and off piste using dynamic riding skills and are actually competent at basic carved turns on green and blue terrain and experimenting with dynamic carved turns and are also competent at basic skidded turns switch on green terrain, you are ready to start playing around with basic park riding.

One concept that AASI here in the states stresses is "Outside In". In short this means that it is generally best to work on a lot of your park riding concepts outside of the park where you can learn the basics of pop, spin, rebound etc without the pressure and danger of being in a crowded park. Before going into the park, you need some decent foundational riding skills to ensure that you can ride over the features and recover quickly from mistakes and falls. Going into a park before you have these skills makes you a pain in the ass to other riders and endangers your safety and that of others.

You are just starting down a path that will hopefully last you a lifetime. Don't rush it and just enjoy the journey. A solid foundation now is very important so really focus on your basic riding and progress in logical, reasonable steps. As you do this, you will feel it when it's time to push the envelope and get more playful with your riding.

Above all, keep it fun! Too often riders become too obsessed with advancing and competing. They often forget to have fun snowboarding and all too often leave the mountain pissed off because they didn't dial in a new trick. That is a shame; always leave knowing that you had a fun day. Some days you just won't be in the zone to learn new stuff or even ride like you did another day. Go with it and keep fun as job one.

Thanks for the feedback!~
I watched your video's online, and they were very helpful for my first time snowboarding!

sizzle · 08-10-2011, 09:30 PM

A good and safe way to start is just start learnin how to ollie on flat-ish areas at the top and bottom of the slopes. Then gradually start doing it while moving slow and then so on.

IdahoFreshies · 08-11-2011, 12:15 AM

wait 2 years. That is a great benchmark. After 2-3 full seasons of boarding go try your hand at some ride on boxes and rails. Unless you have pretty good board control even getting onto beginner level features will be difficult and awkward. I know the allure of the park is mezmerizing, but i promise you are not at a high enough level to ride the park yet. Go tackle the natural terrain first. Once you can cleanly make it down black runs at your resort without falling then go to the park. While your still learning board control and edge control, learn to ollie, then flat ground 180, Front side and back side. Then fs and bs 180 over things and off things, branches, stumps, lips. While exploring your mountain learining to ride your board on more difficult terrain make the natural features on the mountain your park. I almost find that more fun than hitting boxes and rails. Its all about being creative.

Plus, the park hurts, alot. All of the snow is hard pack, so falling on it is never soft, if you slip off a rail or box and hitting it with any part of your body will hurt alot. Do a jump wrong and there are 1000 different ways to seriously mess yourself up. And at the beginner stage you are at, you will fall on almost everything, its the sad truth.

j.gnar · 08-11-2011, 11:04 AM

i think 2 full seasons is a long time to wait to get into the park, but thats just me. you can get in there a lot sooner..especially if you have skateboarding in your background. i was hitting smaller jibs and rails in the park my first season

Karasene · 08-11-2011, 12:46 PM

I agree.. I think 2 years is a bit of a long time to wait to hit park.. I began dabbling in park the end of my first season.. mainly hitting just the first 15-20ft jump a flat box and the table top 10 ft at the bottom with a basic grab. However I was riding at least 5 days a week from dec-april and I also did a lot of mogul runs and I mean a LOT pretending each bump was a tree and worked a ton on edge control of my board. So I had the ability to do blacks and some tree runs. Most the guys said they don't normally see someone progress so much in one season.. but it definitely isn't far fetched for you to do so.

I would definetly take Snowolfs and the others advice and say you should really feel confident with edge control of your board and feel comfortable on blacks and be able to ollie. Switch and fs bs 180s are the first step to advancing into park and like everyone else said you can practice those on green and blues.

You're first ticket to progression is a season pass. No way will you progress much with out one.. most the kids you see who ride park well are riding 40-100+ days a season easy.

on a side note
I want to say Snowolf I am always impressed with how well you answer questions on this forum and I really appreciate having someone like you to give advice. If you ever write a book let me know.

Otto Maddox · 08-12-2011, 11:54 AM

i forgot who said about skateboarding experience helping out, but i agree.
10/11 was my first season back on a snowboard in like 5+years, but i had been skateboarding the whole time.

i'm beginner/intermediate snowboarder, but the skateboarding mos def made me more comfortable with the smaller jumps and boxes/jibs.

if you do start, get a helmet! you only have one head and you can do a lot of damage real quick to your noggin. don't be a snake and wait in line. and its always more fun if you have friends with you. riding alone is still fun, but its way better if you have buddies there to help push you.

i'd also like to give props to snow wolf. great vids and you're always very helpful! much obliged.

rasmasyean · 09-12-2011, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sizzle

A good and safe way to start is just start learnin how to ollie on flat-ish areas at the top and bottom of the slopes. Then gradually start doing it while moving slow and then so on.

You are ready to park when you're ready to bust yer arse! lol

Well...although that is true, I'd go with being able to ride flat and ollie as well. Much of park riding involves landing in some fashion from some duration of "air". If you can't land stably, you're not ready for park. And depending on your resort, some have "baby parks" where you don't really need to be able to "kill it in the blues" in order to attempt the features. But again, you will have to land your tricks and ride away stably.

Personally, I do not think you need to "180" before you can do park stuff. You're tricks will just be limited. I know many ppl who can't ride switch and can do many large park features. Unless you're a "natural" at switch, learning to ride switch and "180"s to top that off will take a real long time relatively judging by other's experiences.

Lab · 09-13-2011, 04:55 PM

One piece of advice I can give is to ride with friends. Not the kind that will force you to try a backflip your first day, and not the kind that will ostracize you if you don't hit that box, but if you have a group of friends who all board and are around your skill level (a bit better helps so you feel more motivated) and will help you progress. I was lucky and found some friends in my local ski club who, when i started park, were working on 3's and jibs like 180 on/out. They've helped me a ton and now i can comfortably do 3's, very sketchy 5's, and decent slides/jibs. Plus, it's just more fun! And that's all that matters

P.S. Hanging out with skiers will still improve your boarding too. Don't believe the old idea that skiers hate boarders and vice versa. Heck, half my group of friends ski.

rasmasyean · 09-13-2011, 11:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lab

One piece of advice I can give is to ride with friends. Not the kind that will force you to try a backflip your first day, and not the kind that will ostracize you if you don't hit that box, but if you have a group of friends who all board and are around your skill level (a bit better helps so you feel more motivated) and will help you progress. I was lucky and found some friends in my local ski club who, when i started park, were working on 3's and jibs like 180 on/out. They've helped me a ton and now i can comfortably do 3's, very sketchy 5's, and decent slides/jibs. Plus, it's just more fun! And that's all that matters

P.S. Hanging out with skiers will still improve your boarding too. Don't believe the old idea that skiers hate boarders and vice versa. Heck, half my group of friends ski.

Personally, I've found that skiers are often focused on bombing down the mountain. This basically puts you into the conundrum of whether you want to ride with them in the first place. So you basically waste most of your time and energy riding out the slopes rather than attempting your tricks at a slower pace. I suppose those with "trick skis" might give a different experience though.

As a side note, ollying is often interchanged with poping when ppl talk about jumping. An ollie uses the tail bending energy to spring (which is a lot harder) while a pop, is just evenly springing off the ground using both feet. There are a lot of "in-betweens" of course where you chose the right form for the purpose.

08-10-2011, 01:42 AM	#1 (permalink)
Bray Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 31	When to park ? I've just been snowboarding for my second day, I was able to do long carves and short carves, stop, glide (facing down the hill), and switches. I usually only fall over max once on green hills, 2-3 times on blue hills. I have no trouble on green, except on blue where it's much steeper and harder to control the board while carving at high speeds. I can't do any tricks yet and the season is nearly over in Australia. I'm defiantly getting my own gear before next season!~ I was wondering when I should get into some tricks?

08-11-2011, 12:46 PM	#6 (permalink)
Karasene Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Utah/NH Posts: 666	I agree.. I think 2 years is a bit of a long time to wait to hit park.. I began dabbling in park the end of my first season.. mainly hitting just the first 15-20ft jump a flat box and the table top 10 ft at the bottom with a basic grab. However I was riding at least 5 days a week from dec-april and I also did a lot of mogul runs and I mean a LOT pretending each bump was a tree and worked a ton on edge control of my board. So I had the ability to do blacks and some tree runs. Most the guys said they don't normally see someone progress so much in one season.. but it definitely isn't far fetched for you to do so. I would definetly take Snowolfs and the others advice and say you should really feel confident with edge control of your board and feel comfortable on blacks and be able to ollie. Switch and fs bs 180s are the first step to advancing into park and like everyone else said you can practice those on green and blues. You're first ticket to progression is a season pass. No way will you progress much with out one.. most the kids you see who ride park well are riding 40-100+ days a season easy. on a side note I want to say Snowolf I am always impressed with how well you answer questions on this forum and I really appreciate having someone like you to give advice. If you ever write a book let me know. __________________ To legit to quit. On the move this season. Last edited by Karasene; 08-11-2011 at 12:50 PM.

08-12-2011, 11:54 AM	#7 (permalink)
Otto Maddox Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: PA Posts: 124	i forgot who said about skateboarding experience helping out, but i agree. 10/11 was my first season back on a snowboard in like 5+years, but i had been skateboarding the whole time. i'm beginner/intermediate snowboarder, but the skateboarding mos def made me more comfortable with the smaller jumps and boxes/jibs. if you do start, get a helmet! you only have one head and you can do a lot of damage real quick to your noggin. don't be a snake and wait in line. and its always more fun if you have friends with you. riding alone is still fun, but its way better if you have buddies there to help push you. i'd also like to give props to snow wolf. great vids and you're always very helpful! much obliged. __________________ punk rock changed our lives

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08-10-2011, 09:30 PM	#3 (permalink)
sizzle Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 114	A good and safe way to start is just start learnin how to ollie on flat-ish areas at the top and bottom of the slopes. Then gradually start doing it while moving slow and then so on.

08-11-2011, 11:04 AM	#5 (permalink)
j.gnar Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: oxnard,ca Posts: 507	i think 2 full seasons is a long time to wait to get into the park, but thats just me. you can get in there a lot sooner..especially if you have skateboarding in your background. i was hitting smaller jibs and rails in the park my first season

09-13-2011, 04:55 PM	#9 (permalink)
Lab Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Central NY Posts: 58	One piece of advice I can give is to ride with friends. Not the kind that will force you to try a backflip your first day, and not the kind that will ostracize you if you don't hit that box, but if you have a group of friends who all board and are around your skill level (a bit better helps so you feel more motivated) and will help you progress. I was lucky and found some friends in my local ski club who, when i started park, were working on 3's and jibs like 180 on/out. They've helped me a ton and now i can comfortably do 3's, very sketchy 5's, and decent slides/jibs. Plus, it's just more fun! And that's all that matters P.S. Hanging out with skiers will still improve your boarding too. Don't believe the old idea that skiers hate boarders and vice versa. Heck, half my group of friends ski.