Snowboard Lessons

One of the questions a lot of beginner snowboarders ask is, what is the correct way to stand on a snowboard?

There are two possible answers to this question, one refers to how your body should be positioned when snowboarding, and the other refers to how your snowboard bindings should be set up on your snowboard.

How should I stand when I’m snowboarding?

When snowboarding, your back should be upright with your knees bent, you should try to make sure that your arms are almost always parallel to your snowboard, (One of the worst things you can do as a beginner is twist the top half of your body, this will only make things more difficult). You should also ensure that your head is up and you are looking where you are going at all times. Your arms should be down by your sides and you should have an even pressure on both of your feet so that you are standing centrally over your snowboard. We call this your basic snowboard stance and you can find out more about this by reading our article about how to stand on a snowboard.

How should my bindings be set up on my snowboard?

All i can do is explain to you why I set my bindings up in the snowboard stance that I use and you can make your own decisions from this…

• I ride a twin-tip snowboard so my snowboard can be ridden either way around. It is for this reason that I set up my snowboard stance so that both of my bindings are equal distances from each end of my snowboard. I also put my bindings as far apart from each other as I can (using the threads in the snowboard that are closest to the nose and tail). I do this because I find that a wider snowboard stance can help you to bend your knees, and a lower centre of gravity will mean better balance. Obviously you do not want your snowboard bindings so wide that you are nearly doing the splits, I would suggest them being just over shoulder width apart. There is no wrong or right way to set up your snowboard bindings for a perfect snowboard stance, it all comes down to personal preference. Every snowboarder will tell you to set your bindings up in a certain

• Each snowboard binding can be positioned at a variety of angles. There is no perfect angle to set your bindings at to achieve the perfect snowboard stance however, from my experience, having both bindings slightly duck footed seems to be the most preferred position. By pointing both snowboard bindings outwards, you will be forced to keep your knees apart from each other which will in turn help you to bend your knees and improve that centre of gravity. This snowboard stance will also be of an advantage to you when you become more experienced and start to learn to snowboard in switch.

When learning to heel edge side slip on your snowboard, a reasonably short slope that is of a shallow gradient would be an ideal location for practicing.

You will need to start by strapping on to your snowboard at the top of the hill while sitting facing down the slope with your snowboard positioned horizontally across the slope in front of you.

Once you are strapped on to your snowboard you will probably need a mate to give you a hand getting up on to your feet. As your mate pulls you up, get them to rest their foot underneath the front of your snowboard near to your toe edge. As long as you mate’s wearing snowboard boots too, it won’t hurt them a bit. Once you are up and resting on your mates snowboard boot, it is at this point that you can begin to concentrate on standing in your basic snowboard stance.

Now you’re standing in the correct position, your aim is to keep your toe edge raised off of the floor at all times and keep your heel edge dug into the slop as you travel at a slow but steady speed down the slope in front of you. Ask your mate to remove their foot from under the toe edge of your snowboard. Once the foot is removed, try to keep your toe edge raised off of the floor nice and high, you should find that you stay in the same position and don’t move anywhere.

By lowering your toe edge slightly, you should find that your start to “slip” down the slope. The higher you raise your toe edge, the slower your heel edge side slip will be, the more you lower the toe edge of your snowboard, the faster you will go. Be warned, if you lower your toe edge too much, it will catch the slope in front of you and throw you forward. The aim of a heel edge side slip is to travel and a slow and steady speed down the slope at about walking pace.

The first few times you try this, get your mate to guide you down the slope by holding onto your hands while your arms are right out in front of you. As you become more confident, try it from the top of the same slope again but get your mate to only hold on to one of your hands. When you think you are ready, try giving it a go on your own from the top and keep practicing until you are happy that you can now perform a heel edge side slip on a snowboard every time.

Things to remember when heel edge side slipping on a snowboard…

• Stand in your basic snowboard stance
• Keep your arms as still as possible (moving your arms around will make this even more difficult, try to stand as still as you can on your snowboard)
• Make sure you keep your head up (it is very tempting and very easy to get into the habit of looking at your feet)
• Maintain an even pressure over both feet (try not to lean over the nose or tail of your snowboard)
• Try to travel at a constant walking speed down the slope

If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment.

The term “butter” in snowboarding does not refer to the same butter that is made from cows milk, however it slightly relates to the action you perform when buttering a slice of toast.

This is a quick guide on how to butter on a snowboard. A butter on a snowboard is the action of rotating your snowboard while raising one end of your snowboard as you pivot around the opposite end of the board.

It is a very hard manouvre to explain and so I will post a video on buttering a snowboard shortly.

Because you can perform a butter over either end of your snowboard, there are two different types of butter you can perform on your snowboard. A nose butter (pivoting on the nose of your snowboard) and a tail butter (you can work this our for yoursleves).

A butter on a snowboard is not to be confused with a press. A nose or tail press on a snowboard normally refers to rails and when you perform a press you do not generally rotate like you would in a butter.

One of the less complicated coolest tricks that you can do on a snowboard is a 360. This trick will see you rotating 360 degrees in the air as the name suggests and can be performed off of ramps, in halfpipes, and even on the flat.

You will need to make sure that you are pretty comfortable with your turns and that you are confident with ramps or halfpipes depending on where you are attempting your 360. Lets start learning how to perform a 360.

STEP 1: Before performing your 360 you will need to make sure you have enough speed to perform a full rotation of your body on your chosen obstacle.

STEP 2: Prepare yourself and steady your body on your snowboard as you approach the takeoff. At this point you will need to couter rotate your body to help with the roatation. It will also help to bend your knees and compress at this point.

STEP 3: As you leave the lip of the obstacle, you will need to perform an ollie on your snowboard and extend your knees. At this point you will need to begin rotating in your chosen direction. To make the rotation of your 360 on a snowboard easier, turn your head as you rotate to spot your landing.

STEP 5: Keep rotating until your body and your snowboard complete a full rotation and then hold yourself in this position focused on your landing.

STEP 6: As you land remeber to compress your knees and try to land with an even pressure over both feet. Now ride away happily knowing that you now know how to 360 a snowboard.

As a british citizen myself, one of the questions I have been asked numerous times during snowboard holidays in various countries is… “Where can you snowboard in the UK”. I usually reply with nowhere, but this is not really true. Most snowboarders that live near snowboard resorts in France, Austria, America, Canada etc assume that when we say there are a few places to snowboard in the UK we mean mountains like they are used to.

So where can you learn to snowboard in the UK?  Over the past few years, more and more ski and snowboard slopes have opened or undergone a revamp to try and promote winter sports across the UK.

I originally took snowboard lessons in the UK at Chatham Dry Ski Slope. This is one of the longest artificial ski and snowboard slopes in the UK, bu there are lots more across the UK.

Falling leaf is an action most commonly used by intermediate snowboarders to navigate their way down a moutain or dry ski slope.

This method of falling leaf  snowboarding is relatively straight forward to acheive, it requires the snowboarder to transfer their weight towards the nose of their snowboard so that the snowboard begins to turn down the slope, this will cause the snowboarder to pick up some speed and start to traverse across the hill slightly. Once the snowboarder has travelled the desired distance or has collected too much speed, all weight must be returned to the centre of the snowboard and if performed correctly, this will cause the snowboarder to return to a basic snowboard side slip.

After reducing the speed in the side slip position, the snowboarder will then proceed to put pressure over the tail end of the snowboard, and repeat the same method as they did prior to this in order to get their snowboard to travel in the opposite directlion across the ski slope.

Now you understand how to get yourself strapped onto your snowboard, you will need to get used to having it attached to you. This is something that you will get used to over time. To begin with it will feel very alien, but as your progress it will become more or less natural.

Some things that will help you get used to having your snowboard strapped on will be small hops on the spot, just lifting your snowboard slightly off the floor and then landing again flat footed. Once you are comfortable with this, try hoping round in circles both ways.  If you’re feeling relatively confident, try spinning 90 degrees or perhaps even 180 degrees.

When riding your snowboard you will need to try and stand in a position known as the basic snowboard stance, and this is something that all snowboarders should use. It consists of making sure both knees are bent whilst keeping your back straight, you should have an even pressure on both legs, your arms down by your sides and head up looking where you’re going.

Practice getting into your snowboard stance and concentrating on staying in this position while hopping on the spot. Once you are happy with your stance, find a small hill, 5-6 feet long with a shallow incline.  Strap your snowboard on at the top of the hill and hop yourself around so that the nose of your snowboard is pointing down the hill. Keeping yourself in the basic snowboard stance, gently shuffle yourself forward until you start to move. The aim of this is to get a feel for how the snowboard will move under your feet. Try this a few times and perhaps add some small hops whilst moving to really test your balance.

The first step to getting strapped in to your snowboard is to undo all of the binding straps and make sure they are out of the way of the part of the binding where your feet are going to be. You will also need to make sure that the highbacks are in their upright position, as far back as they can go.

Now you will need to place the heel of your foot into the open end of the binding and slide it as far back as possible so that it is resting up against the highback.  Once your foot is in the correct position, you will need to find the two larger straps (the ankle straps).  One of the ankle straps will have a block on it known as the ratchet, this will be responsible for fastening the straps. The other strap will just have grooves or teeth on it. You will need to slide the tooth strap underneath the ratchet until you hear a click. Once the ratchet has clicked, you will then be able to pull the top of the ratchet towards the tooth strap and then release it. By repeating this process, the straps will get tighter and tighter around your ankle.

It is important to make sure that the straps are done up tight enough so that your feet do not move around in your snowboard bindings, but not so tight that you cut the circulation off to your feet. Once your ankle strap is fastened, you will then need to repeat the process for the toe straps. It is important to remember that the toes straps of your snowboard bindings will need to be fastened over the top of your toes.

Once you have done this for both feet, you are strapped onto your snowboard and ready to ride.

When learning to snowboard, the first things that you will need to know are the different parts of your snowboard.

The most obvious part being the board the large flat bit at the bottom.  There are two metal/plastic parts attached to your board.  These are known as snowboard bindings. The snowboard bindings are responsible for keeping your feet attached to the snowboard at all times.

Each snowboard binding is made up of three major parts.  The highbacks, the ankle straps and the toe straps.

The Highbacks – These are the talles part of the binding and they are right at the back.

The Ankle Straps – The two larger straps which will be fastened around the ankle.

The Toe Straps – The two smaller straps which will be fastened over the top of the toes.