How to Snowboard

Never done snowboarding by the way but I got all my gear and ready to go =)

Reviewing the answers that you have so far should tell you that you can’t learn how to snowboard from the Internet! Your friend is partly right… and many of the other answers to your question are also partly right. The whole story of how to turn your snowboard is too long to get into on Yahoo answers!

Take a lesson from a certified instructor. You will see all the skills and motions needed to get that snowboard to turn.

I’m somewhat of a beginner on a snowboard, I can heel brake and heel turn fine but I cannot toe brake or toe turn. How do you do it?

You turn on your toe side by pressing on your heel of your front foot when you are on your toe edge. This will release the edge at the front of the board and the nose will swing down the hill. Once you get good at turns on both heel side and toe side, you can start linking turns together – heel side to toe side again and again all the way down the hill.

The way that we first learn to link turns is the "skidded" turn – which is draging the back of the edge while letting the front of the edge slip which allows the board to rotate and turn. In this kind of turn, you must wait for the board to pass the fall line (straight down the hill) before transitioning your weight to the opposite edge. These are skidded linked turns. and they make a wide "skidded" track in the snow.

Carving does not involve any skidding or the board edge sliding down the hill. Carving requires you to put more pressure on the edge which arcs the board so the entire edge is in contact with the snow. This cause the board to track along its natural turn radius and the board will leave a narrow line in the snow – the entire edge will track through this same line without skidding sideways.

As you are traveling on this one edge, the board will make a large radius turn and once you are about 45 degrees across the hill you will transition to the other edge (before the board is pointed down the hill!). Don’t try this if you are skidding your turns as your downhill edge will dig in and you will tumble. This works in a carved turn because you are not skidding and you are traveling fast enough that when you transition to the other edge your weight puts enough pressure on the other edge to force it into the snow and arc it in the other direction – which starts your next turn.

The interesting thing about carving is that the turns don’t slow you down – each turn carries the speed from the previous turn and without skidding there is very little to slow you down.

Good Luck

Some people have told me to lean forward onto your front foot, others say to lean back because this will make u fall? Any clarification out there..?

You need to find your own balance, but basically you put the majority of your weight on the front, bending it slightly. Your back foot needs some weight, and is used as a stabilizer. You use your back foot to maneuver and steer the turn. It helps if you either keep your front arm parallel to the board, and pretend that you are holding a stick perpendicular to the board, pretending that there is a ball on the front of your nose (of the board), or pointing up to the top of the trees as you turn around.

Don’t get freaked out when you initiate your turns, snowboarding is 80% mental and 20% physical. Don’t psyche yourself out. And if you start getting it, don’t get cocky-just be patient and work on it. Don’t give up!

Hope this helps!!

Like do you use like almost bend your knees and hop up to jump and to turn do you use your hips? like a skateboard

To jump you bend your knees, and then when you sprock you extend your knees while simultaneously ollieing off of your tail, like on a skateboard. It takes practice to get it right, but you’ll be sprocking over slow signs on flat in no time.

To turn, try to keep your weight mostly on your front foot. Then lift your front toe, or front heel, which will create a little tortional flex in the board and then be patient and wait for it to come around. From there, just keep your downhill edge out of the snow for obvious reasons. Good luck! Answer courtesy of Blank Snowboards www.blanksnowboards.com

Like do you use like almost bend your knees and hop up to jump and to turn do you use your hips? like a skateboard

To jump you bend your knees, and then when you sprock you extend your knees while simultaneously ollieing off of your tail, like on a skateboard. It takes practice to get it right, but you’ll be sprocking over slow signs on flat in no time.

To turn, try to keep your weight mostly on your front foot. Then lift your front toe, or front heel, which will create a little tortional flex in the board and then be patient and wait for it to come around. From there, just keep your downhill edge out of the snow for obvious reasons. Good luck! Answer courtesy of Blank Snowboards www.blanksnowboards.com

Don’t listen to wwe. Sharp edges will help you learn. What you should try is having a friend run in front of you and hold their hands then try to stop, that way you can pull on their hands to not fall back, and also have them there to catch you if you fall forward. Remember, find a small slope and don’t get too much speed. Also, the number one rule, whatever edge is closest to the bottom of the hill never hits the snow. So you should beon your heel edge.

Also, maybe invest in an hour lesson, my clients always rave about how much they can learn from an instructor.

Yesterday I went snowboarding for the first time, I had already bought all the gear and all I had to do was learn. MY friends took me up teach me and took me up the chairlift first thing and down a pretty steep run. They got me to just slide down on my heel side edge for the whole run. This was pretty hard and after tumbling down and landing on my face a few times, I started to get the hang of it. My second time down the run I could do the falling leaf thing without falling as much, and the third time I started to go down straight and trying to turn and carve. When I am turning I keep my weight on my back foot and steer with my front foot and shoulders while leaning on the edge I am turning on. Is that the proper way to turn? Some ppl were saying to center my weight, and others were saying to have it forward to turn, but I like my weight on the back. At the end of the day I could go pretty fast and had enough control not to fall when going fast, and I went down a blue run once, so I think I am doing alright at learning it just dont know if my technique is right.

Ah the falling leaf. So I tell first timers to hold a heel edge acroos the run then roll your weight to your toes while keeping your weight 60/40 on your front foot. You will need to lean over your board and down the hill but you will turn……It scary but once you got it you got it. If you fall get up and ride your toe edge back across to the other side of the run. Wider the run the better…..go when its less busy. Never ride flat…always be on one edge or the other. Yo can;t really learn on the bunny hill but a green circle will be fine.

So front foot back foot: hard pack 50-50 and 60-40 front foot in the turn. Powder: the reverse 60 -40 on the rear foot and just don’t sink you front foot, in the turn.

Yesterday I went snowboarding for the first time, I had already bought all the gear and all I had to do was learn. MY friends took me up teach me and took me up the chairlift first thing and down a pretty steep run. They got me to just slide down on my heel side edge for the whole run. This was pretty hard and after tumbling down and landing on my face a few times, I started to get the hang of it. My second time down the run I could do the falling leaf thing without falling as much, and the third time I started to go down straight and trying to turn and carve. When I am turning I keep my weight on my back foot and steer with my front foot and shoulders while leaning on the edge I am turning on. Is that the proper way to turn? Some ppl were saying to center my weight, and others were saying to have it forward to turn, but I like my weight on the back. At the end of the day I could go pretty fast and had enough control not to fall when going fast, and I went down a blue run once, so I think I am doing alright at learning it just dont know if my technique is right.

Ah the falling leaf. So I tell first timers to hold a heel edge acroos the run then roll your weight to your toes while keeping your weight 60/40 on your front foot. You will need to lean over your board and down the hill but you will turn……It scary but once you got it you got it. If you fall get up and ride your toe edge back across to the other side of the run. Wider the run the better…..go when its less busy. Never ride flat…always be on one edge or the other. Yo can;t really learn on the bunny hill but a green circle will be fine.

So front foot back foot: hard pack 50-50 and 60-40 front foot in the turn. Powder: the reverse 60 -40 on the rear foot and just don’t sink you front foot, in the turn.

I’m really keen to learn snowboarding and know how to ski but the one day I couldn’t get the hang of turning.

I start with both feet facing down the slope with my weight on the back of the board so that I slide down the slope on the back edge. But when I try to bring one end of the board to the front I always stack in over the leading edge of the board (the opposite side from where I had my weight at the start).

Should you have your weight on your front leg or back leg or both? I’d love to sort this out as I know I’ll love it once I get the hang of it.

Thanks,

Robin

You should never lean back (over the back of the board) and you should have your weight forward (over the nose of the board).

These are some beginner tips that I have been writing:

Day 1 lesson usually includes:

Turning – think about turning as additional pressure on the front toe or heel. Turning a snowboard is all about edge control. When you have the board across the hill and stand up on the heel edge, you can tilt your feet forward to slide down the hill, tilt back to get more edge bite and stop – the basic side slip.

To turn, you bite the back edge into the snow and then put pressure on the downhill egde of your front foot. This will release the edge in the front only and the nose of the board will start to swing down the hill. This will also put your weight forward which is correct. Then, put equal pressure back on the uphill edge with both feet and you will turn back across the hill and stop. This is called a garland. Practice this a lot until you can get the board almost straight down the hill before returning to a stop.

Day 2 lesson:

A complete turn is just a continuation of this exercise. Use more pressure on the downhill side of the front foot to release the front of the edge and the board will swing faster toward the fall line. You MUST wait for the board to cross the fall line (straight down the hill) before you transition your weight to the other edge (or you will catch the downhill edge – ouch). Then use equal pressure on both feet on the new uphill edge to get the board to move back across the hill – this is a complete turn.

Once you are doing these in both directions, you can start linking the turns.

Good Luck

How do you do a toe side turn on a snowboard? When i tried i fell strait to my knees and now they are all purple. I know i probably just leaned to far forward…but how do you shift you weight like that and everything?

If you’re falling onto your knees, then it sounds like you’re just leaning forward. I could be wrong, but when you lean into a toe-side turn, put those caffs to work and tilt the board into the turn (lift your heals up).

Once you get a feel for balance, you won’t need to use your caffs to tilt the board. When you get it figured out, push your pelvis forward and put your weight into the boots and bindings. That’ll tilt the board without messing up your center of gravity.