The goal of this thread is to chronicle my attempts to become an excellent snowboarder. I started about a month and a half ago and have a strong skiing background. I'm going to post the dates that I went, what I learned, what i messed up, the conditions, the gear changes, and other thoughts. My hope is that this will be helpful for all beginners. I'm learning at the same time as my GF so i'll post some stuff about that too.
About me: 29 years old and I'm 6'2". I've been skiing since I was 7 and have hit all the big Colorado spots despite living in SoCal. I can do pretty much everything on skis and have strongly cambered all mountain skis that hold an edge like crazy but also are wide enough to float in the powpow. My stance is goofy due to a football injury on my left knee when I was 13. I'm right handed and right footed.
My goal: being able to "bomb the mountain" on a snowboard. I care more about speed and directional control than I do about jumping. I have some friends that I go with who used to be sponsored snowboarders and I'm tired of waiting for them at the bottom of the mountain on account of being the only one in skis.
Note: All of these visits happened at Snow Summit in Big Bear, CA. No reason to waste a Colorado or Utah trip on a beginner IMO.
Date: 12/25/2015
Gear: full skiing outerwear, basic rental board, bindings, and boots. Initial stance is duck.
Experience: We arrived to the mountain at 11:00 due to heavy snow causing traffic. We strapped up and proceeded to spend most of the time on our butts. I learned how to flying leaf down the bunny slope, but the biggest challenge for me was getting back up (I'm not super flexible, and I'm 6'2"). The next day, 12/26, my GF snowboards all day and I ski with some friends. I take GF to the top of the mountain thinking she can falling leaf her way down, but it gets icy and I and have to carry her down on my skis.
Lesson learned: Buy buttpads and wristguards for me and the GF. Also, don't push the GF too much.
________
Gear Change:I decide to buy a used 2009 burton custom on ebay with Lamar bindings for $150. This was a bad idea.
Gear Change: I buy last season's version of the Flow Fusion Hybrid GT bindings. I love the rear entry. But my toe strap breaks when I'm trying to adjust it on the bunny hill for the lesson. very disappointed. customer service took four weeks to respond.
Date: 1/2/2016
Gear: new burton custom 2009, new wrist pads, new butt pads
Experience: My GF and I went and took a full day of lessons. We learned heel side stopping and we learned quite a bit about how important it is to lean forward. Only problem is that I had put ski race wax on my new burton custom and every time I leaned forward I went WAY too straight. I knew how camber works on skis, but I didn't factor in how much more of an effect it would have on snowboard (that whole 1 edge vs 2 edge thing). I try leaning forward and end up going WAY too fast. I try to turn at a very unnatural turning point, and I catch an edge and I fell very hard on my left shoulder and seriously injured my rotator cuff by overextending it. I get right back up and proceed to do the exact same thing again (did I mention that I'm usually pretty buzzed when I snowboard?). Day ends with me being able to do everything except heelside to toe side turns. GF can do everything and is better than me at this point. I start seeing a physical therapist about my rotator cuff because after this injury I can't do incline press at the gym...
Date: 1/4/2016 (a Monday)
Gear: no gear changes
Experience: I have the day off (stock market holiday wheee) but the GF is working so I head up by myself to try to catch up to her. I do not take lessons and instead come up focused on mastering the heel side to toe side turn. My board keeps wanting to force me to go downhill rather than turn, but I learn that by putting almost ALL my weight on the front foot and by actually lifting up my rear foot, I'm able to kind of force a turn. It isn't how it's supposed to be done, but it gets me to the bottom of the mountain and I'm now comfortable. I also realize that this board is way more than I can chew and I begin to look for something with rocker. The edge catches threw me around a bunch.
________
Gear change: I get the demon force flex upper body dx30 body armor. it has shoulder pads, elbow pads, and back pads. Apparently it also has rib pads but.. not really.
Gear Change: I buy a used-once (legitimately) 2015 never summer Snowtrooper 160w. Best change I ever made
Date: 1/9/2015
Experience: Getting off the chairlift I IMMEDIATELY feel the difference between the snowtrooper (rocker-camber) and the burton custom (full camber). I'm IMMEDIATELY able to do things that would've caused me to crash on the burton custom. I'm no longer being "forced" into going a certain direction by the snowboard and can now glide. I feel more comfortable leaning forwards because I am not worried about the snowboard trying to change directions on me and throw me off balance. I'm able to carv.. I mean skid turn my way through the blues and I can really pick up some speed. The GF is with me this time and she ends up getting clocked by a skier from behind. I make the horrible mistake of trying to give her advice ("babe, try leaning forward more") but she is now terrified of people behind her and is constantly looking uphill. I spend most of the day trying to build her back up but we end up arguing a bunch. Should've seen it coming. Life was much easier when she was the better boarder.
For myself, I notice that while my toe side turns are real turns, my heel side turns tend to bring me to a full stop rather than a gradual S turn.
I learned not to try to turn by throwing my rear, and I learned (after watching that video with the awesome Asian dude wearing tape and tights) to keep my shoulders pretty square and to turn with my knees. This was huge as it let me take turns at a much faster speed.
________
gear change: The elbow pads on my demon upper pads prove to be very useful as I'm testing out the edge hold on my new snowtrooper. My knees are bruised, so I end up buying some of the high end POC knee pads.
Stance change: I switch my binding angles from duck (-12, +15) to a forward stance (+9, +30). This was a great idea for my goal of going down the mountain quickly. Apparently this is bad for jumps/park, but I'm not worried about that. I also adjust my highback angle to have more forward lean on the front binding, and less on the rear binding.
Date: 1/15/2016
Experience: Great. The GF stays at home and is still upset with me. I go up by myself and end up going down a black diamond. The changes in the board, the stance, and the bindings have made my turns much more even. I'll still wipe out a few times when my edge stops holding on a steep turn, but that's just because I'm still trying to find out what I can and cannot get away with. I'm still wearing full pads, and the knee pads and elbow pads make everything feel much safer.
________
Gear change: I buy a 16L backback from Deuter. it has a nice camelback for my redbull vodka. It also has padding in the back which is nice.
Gear change: all this time on my butt is starting to show on my $400 soft shell ski pants. I buy some volcom snowboarding pants with a reinforced butt. It fits over my ass and knee pads.
Date: 1/23/2016
Experience: I get caught in a blizzard and it is AMAZING. turns out that the snowtrooper I got is a really great board for powder. I end up doing the only double black diamond on the mountain twice, and while I fall a bunch the first time, it's a nice and soft fall. The pads have really made me bold. I'm glad I have high end goggles from my time spent skiing, so visibility isn't a problem. What is a problem is that at 3PM a tree fell down on a chairlift due to the high winds and they shut down the mountain. It takes me five hours to drive back home because falling boulders had blocked all but one of the paths, and most people in LA don't know how to drive on snow. shoutout to infiniti for making my qx50 a great crossover for snow.
________
Date: 2/6/2016
Experience: Great. The GF came back up with me after we had a huge argument about how I was spending too much money and time snowboarding. (I work hard so that I can play hard IMO). She felt bad that I was pressuring her so I stopped pressuring her and she then decided to come up on her own. I brought another friend of mine who was having his first time and they took a lesson together while I bombed the mountain with one of my sponsored friends. We go hard and I'm able to mostly keep up, although I still don't have as much trust on my edges as he does (he uses arbor element premium). I am constantly trying to find out how i can take turns faster and faster without wiping out. I'm still wiping out, but i've noticed that the faster i go, the more of the wipeout force goes sideways and the less it actually hurts. I do the double-black diamond (not a real one, but a SoCal one haha) in groomed conditions and I fall through the first half but pick myself up and manage to skid turn my way to the bottom. So hard to lean forwards when the hill is at such a steep angle!
The GF is happy now too. She's not as afraid as she was before and she had a 1 on 1 lesson with the instructor. Now she is linking turns very effectively and while she isn't going fast, she isn't falling anymore either. My friend tears his rotator cuff when he crosses his skis on the bunny slope. Great pics of him getting loaded into the medic sled. (he's fine).
Utah trip scheduled for 2/28! I think I'm finally ready!
About me: 29 years old and I'm 6'2". I've been skiing since I was 7 and have hit all the big Colorado spots despite living in SoCal. I can do pretty much everything on skis and have strongly cambered all mountain skis that hold an edge like crazy but also are wide enough to float in the powpow. My stance is goofy due to a football injury on my left knee when I was 13. I'm right handed and right footed.
My goal: being able to "bomb the mountain" on a snowboard. I care more about speed and directional control than I do about jumping. I have some friends that I go with who used to be sponsored snowboarders and I'm tired of waiting for them at the bottom of the mountain on account of being the only one in skis.
Note: All of these visits happened at Snow Summit in Big Bear, CA. No reason to waste a Colorado or Utah trip on a beginner IMO.
Date: 12/25/2015
Gear: full skiing outerwear, basic rental board, bindings, and boots. Initial stance is duck.
Experience: We arrived to the mountain at 11:00 due to heavy snow causing traffic. We strapped up and proceeded to spend most of the time on our butts. I learned how to flying leaf down the bunny slope, but the biggest challenge for me was getting back up (I'm not super flexible, and I'm 6'2"). The next day, 12/26, my GF snowboards all day and I ski with some friends. I take GF to the top of the mountain thinking she can falling leaf her way down, but it gets icy and I and have to carry her down on my skis.
Lesson learned: Buy buttpads and wristguards for me and the GF. Also, don't push the GF too much.
________
Gear Change:I decide to buy a used 2009 burton custom on ebay with Lamar bindings for $150. This was a bad idea.
Gear Change: I buy last season's version of the Flow Fusion Hybrid GT bindings. I love the rear entry. But my toe strap breaks when I'm trying to adjust it on the bunny hill for the lesson. very disappointed. customer service took four weeks to respond.
Date: 1/2/2016
Gear: new burton custom 2009, new wrist pads, new butt pads
Experience: My GF and I went and took a full day of lessons. We learned heel side stopping and we learned quite a bit about how important it is to lean forward. Only problem is that I had put ski race wax on my new burton custom and every time I leaned forward I went WAY too straight. I knew how camber works on skis, but I didn't factor in how much more of an effect it would have on snowboard (that whole 1 edge vs 2 edge thing). I try leaning forward and end up going WAY too fast. I try to turn at a very unnatural turning point, and I catch an edge and I fell very hard on my left shoulder and seriously injured my rotator cuff by overextending it. I get right back up and proceed to do the exact same thing again (did I mention that I'm usually pretty buzzed when I snowboard?). Day ends with me being able to do everything except heelside to toe side turns. GF can do everything and is better than me at this point. I start seeing a physical therapist about my rotator cuff because after this injury I can't do incline press at the gym...
Date: 1/4/2016 (a Monday)
Gear: no gear changes
Experience: I have the day off (stock market holiday wheee) but the GF is working so I head up by myself to try to catch up to her. I do not take lessons and instead come up focused on mastering the heel side to toe side turn. My board keeps wanting to force me to go downhill rather than turn, but I learn that by putting almost ALL my weight on the front foot and by actually lifting up my rear foot, I'm able to kind of force a turn. It isn't how it's supposed to be done, but it gets me to the bottom of the mountain and I'm now comfortable. I also realize that this board is way more than I can chew and I begin to look for something with rocker. The edge catches threw me around a bunch.
________
Gear change: I get the demon force flex upper body dx30 body armor. it has shoulder pads, elbow pads, and back pads. Apparently it also has rib pads but.. not really.
Gear Change: I buy a used-once (legitimately) 2015 never summer Snowtrooper 160w. Best change I ever made
Date: 1/9/2015
Experience: Getting off the chairlift I IMMEDIATELY feel the difference between the snowtrooper (rocker-camber) and the burton custom (full camber). I'm IMMEDIATELY able to do things that would've caused me to crash on the burton custom. I'm no longer being "forced" into going a certain direction by the snowboard and can now glide. I feel more comfortable leaning forwards because I am not worried about the snowboard trying to change directions on me and throw me off balance. I'm able to carv.. I mean skid turn my way through the blues and I can really pick up some speed. The GF is with me this time and she ends up getting clocked by a skier from behind. I make the horrible mistake of trying to give her advice ("babe, try leaning forward more") but she is now terrified of people behind her and is constantly looking uphill. I spend most of the day trying to build her back up but we end up arguing a bunch. Should've seen it coming. Life was much easier when she was the better boarder.
For myself, I notice that while my toe side turns are real turns, my heel side turns tend to bring me to a full stop rather than a gradual S turn.
I learned not to try to turn by throwing my rear, and I learned (after watching that video with the awesome Asian dude wearing tape and tights) to keep my shoulders pretty square and to turn with my knees. This was huge as it let me take turns at a much faster speed.
________
gear change: The elbow pads on my demon upper pads prove to be very useful as I'm testing out the edge hold on my new snowtrooper. My knees are bruised, so I end up buying some of the high end POC knee pads.
Stance change: I switch my binding angles from duck (-12, +15) to a forward stance (+9, +30). This was a great idea for my goal of going down the mountain quickly. Apparently this is bad for jumps/park, but I'm not worried about that. I also adjust my highback angle to have more forward lean on the front binding, and less on the rear binding.
Date: 1/15/2016
Experience: Great. The GF stays at home and is still upset with me. I go up by myself and end up going down a black diamond. The changes in the board, the stance, and the bindings have made my turns much more even. I'll still wipe out a few times when my edge stops holding on a steep turn, but that's just because I'm still trying to find out what I can and cannot get away with. I'm still wearing full pads, and the knee pads and elbow pads make everything feel much safer.
________
Gear change: I buy a 16L backback from Deuter. it has a nice camelback for my redbull vodka. It also has padding in the back which is nice.
Gear change: all this time on my butt is starting to show on my $400 soft shell ski pants. I buy some volcom snowboarding pants with a reinforced butt. It fits over my ass and knee pads.
Date: 1/23/2016
Experience: I get caught in a blizzard and it is AMAZING. turns out that the snowtrooper I got is a really great board for powder. I end up doing the only double black diamond on the mountain twice, and while I fall a bunch the first time, it's a nice and soft fall. The pads have really made me bold. I'm glad I have high end goggles from my time spent skiing, so visibility isn't a problem. What is a problem is that at 3PM a tree fell down on a chairlift due to the high winds and they shut down the mountain. It takes me five hours to drive back home because falling boulders had blocked all but one of the paths, and most people in LA don't know how to drive on snow. shoutout to infiniti for making my qx50 a great crossover for snow.
________
Date: 2/6/2016
Experience: Great. The GF came back up with me after we had a huge argument about how I was spending too much money and time snowboarding. (I work hard so that I can play hard IMO). She felt bad that I was pressuring her so I stopped pressuring her and she then decided to come up on her own. I brought another friend of mine who was having his first time and they took a lesson together while I bombed the mountain with one of my sponsored friends. We go hard and I'm able to mostly keep up, although I still don't have as much trust on my edges as he does (he uses arbor element premium). I am constantly trying to find out how i can take turns faster and faster without wiping out. I'm still wiping out, but i've noticed that the faster i go, the more of the wipeout force goes sideways and the less it actually hurts. I do the double-black diamond (not a real one, but a SoCal one haha) in groomed conditions and I fall through the first half but pick myself up and manage to skid turn my way to the bottom. So hard to lean forwards when the hill is at such a steep angle!
The GF is happy now too. She's not as afraid as she was before and she had a 1 on 1 lesson with the instructor. Now she is linking turns very effectively and while she isn't going fast, she isn't falling anymore either. My friend tears his rotator cuff when he crosses his skis on the bunny slope. Great pics of him getting loaded into the medic sled. (he's fine).
Utah trip scheduled for 2/28! I think I'm finally ready!