How to Snowboard

You're ready to lean how to snowboard. You have the proper attire, you've got your equipment. What now? Should you simply scale the local mountain, strap yourself in to your snowboard and hope for the best? Snowboarding can be an easy and rewarding sport once you've learned the basics. As time goes on, you can challenge yourself, moving to advanced trails and attempting complicated tricks. But before you tackle those black-diamond trails, you should probably learn how to stop and turn.

Strapping in

The first thing to do once you're at the mountain is to get into your snowboard. Taking your front foot first, step into the front binding on your snowboard. If you have strap bindings, strap your boot in, heel first. If you have step-in bindings, move your boot side to side and front to back to make sure that you're locked in. Now do the same with your back foot. Once you feel comfortable, take your back foot out. You'll need it to get around.

Before you take the lift up, you'll want to practice learning to snowboard on a small incline. To get up the mini-hill, face it and use your free foot to take a step up. Keeping your other foot (the one strapped to the snowboard) perpendicular to the mountain, step up with that foot as well. Repeat until you are a little bit up the hill.

Starting and stopping

Next you'll want to practice starting and stopping. Sit down in the snow and strap your free foot into the snowboard. Once it's in, stand up, keeping the snowboard perpendicular to the mountain. This will prevent you from flying straight down. To start, press your toes down. You will begin moving downhill. To stop, pull your toes up. An important tip to remember is to keep your eyes focused in the direction you want to travel. Your body will follow the direction of your eyes.

When you're comfortable starting and stopping, you can progress to the bunny slope. This is a small, wide trail designed for beginners. Get yourself to the top of the bunny slope, and prepare to snowboard.

When you're moving down the trail, zigzagging is key. Attempt to go straight down the mountain and you'll end up gathering so much speed that it will be nearly impossible to stop.

To practice going downhill, start by keeping your snowboard perpendicular to the mountain. Keep your knees bent and your center of gravity low. You can be at a slight downward angle.

There are two ways to maneuver: heelside and toeside. When snowboarding heelside, put a little pressure on your heels to get going, and pull up on them when you want to stop. When snowboarding toeside, put pressure on your toes. Snowboard across the hill until you reach the edge of the trail.

Turning

Once you can move across the mountain, your goal is to return. Do this by following a falling-leaf pattern. Put pressure on your front foot to move in one direction. When you reach the edge of the trail, put pressure on your back foot to travel back across the slope again.

When you're comfortable traversing the bunny slope, you can try turning. Once you can turn, you'll have the basics down.

Begin by traversing heelside, keeping your back to the hill. This time, when you reach the edge of the trail, instead of simply shifting your weight to your other foot, you're going to shift your weight forward, pointing your snowboard down the hill. Then put pressure on your toes, turning the board and your body the other way. Use your rear foot to push the snowboard through the turn.

Keep your head facing in the direction that you want to go and make the turn quickly. Turning slowly builds up too much speed while you're pointed downward, making it easy to fall.

Once you've mastered traversing and turning, you can move on to the mountain. Begin on a Green Circle trail and move on as your comfort level increases. Learning snowboard tricks comes later, after you're an experienced snowboarder.