Going for a Ride

Now that you are well equipped with a suitable board, and hopefully some warm clothes, it's time to hit the mountain, and yes, you will be hitting it, but with practice and help from this guide, you will soon get a strong foundation of basic riding maneuvers used by all snowboarders.

Riding a snowboard is a very fun and articulated activity. It incorporates your balance and muscles like you may have never known before. It is generally quite simple to go down the mountain, but the hard part is riding down with finesse and ability. If you were to stand sideways during your whole decent, odds are you would either fall or crash and fall. I always say, "Go with the flow," and never is this more evident than in snowboarding.

You must keep your body loose and your knees bent but still tight enough to keep you from collapsing. As your skill level increases you should eventually feel as calm as you do when you're struttin' your stuff. In order to control your speed and direction, the first thing that you must learn after standing up is how to carve. Carving is the act of weaving from side to side on your snowboard through the snow. It is a necessary skill for all snowboarders to attain. It is easy to start off with your board perpendicular to the mountain, as if you were sitting down on the mountain, and to learn heel control first. You begin by sliding down perpendicularly and leaning back on your heel side of the board. Use your knees and core to help reel in the edge and to let it out. You will slide gently forwards. Dig in the heel edge hard to come to a stop. Remember this because this is how you will stop from now on in the future.

Eventually once you gain more confidence, it will be time to turn your board 90 degrees and ride properly. This can be scary at first, and is a great opportunity to learn turning on your toe edge. The principles are exactly the same as before. Use your back foot in cooperation with your hips to swing the board to the toe side. By being fully perpendicular to the mountain, you will come to a stop, but by not going all the way perpendicular, you can continue traveling and your decent back to the chairlift.

The carve is a whole body motion that you will feel like second nature in no time. I like to think of myself as a rolling wave that is flowing over the terrain and taking it as it comes. You must always look ahead, but remain in moment and keep focus. This is part of why I love snowboarding so much. It allows for both excellent physical and mental activity to coincide.

An important rule to remember is that the majority of movements in snowboarding stems from the movement of the hips and knees. An excellent training exercise to help with carving is called the Catwalk. It involves skateboard. Put your feet on the skateboard's tail and nose (one foot on each) and without taking them off, attempt a grounded 180 degree turn by pressing down on one side and using the other foot to spin you around. This helps to train the body to move as one fluidly.