Looking for some snowboard advice...

[SkiStooge]

I kinda want to learn to borad at 45 years old. I'm 5'10" 190lbs and primarily want to learn to carve, etc. What should I look for in a board? I want to go with a decent setup when I do this. Step in or soft bindings? Not really all that interested in "tricks", etc (I'm not out to impress anyone but myself). How long should my learning curve be? I've been skiing since like before dirt was invented and was actually pretty good at MonoBoarding a few years back (when it was briefly in style in the U,S,)so it shouldn't be all that hard, correct? Am I better to find a good used board or try to figure out how to afford a new one? How hard are they to tune in relation to skis? I've been doing my own tuning for like 20 years now. Not looking to totally convert to boearding, just adding it to my arsenal. Any input is appreciated. Thanks in advance. Have fun, be safe. Stay out of the way!!! New potential boarder here!! Al :skistooge:

[DMC]

First of - welcome!
I'd recommend taking lessons and renting for the first couple of times out.. Or at least going out with a snowboarder that is good that won't mind watching you fall on your ass all day...
Based upon what you said - You gotta go with an all mountain board.. In the 158 - 165 range.. Go to a shop and tell them what your into and they'll set you up.

Once you get used to standing and get reasonably comfortable turning in both directions, you'll find yourself getting better very fast... The learning curve for snowboarding seems to be a whole lot diferrent than skiing. I always say -
"Snowboarding is tough to learn and easy to master. Where skiing is easy to learn and tough to master"

I bet if you ride once a weekend starting in November you'll be seriously thinking about riding at Tucks next Spring ;) Or at least taking blacks at your home mountain... I know people that were great skier and are now even better snowboarders(at least as far as terrain is concerned).. :) On my first leason in Jackson Hole in the late 80's I was turing on 1/2 pipe walls(natural) by the end of the day... You'll probably be the same..

Dude - you'll be fine... With your knowledge of skiing you are a shoe-in... You already know about snow conditions and mountain terrain so your ahead of the game...

So - finally - let me impart some advice that you must always keep in your head.....

"RIDE IT OUT"
You may think your going to fall but maybe your not. Stay up on the board and ride things out..
When your getting off the chair just relax and try to ride it out... If you hit a bump and lose a little balance - Ride it out - Ride it out...(add naseum)

[DMC]

Sorry - I didnt get into the whole stepin boot controversy...

I use Burton Mission bindings - I highly recomend them... ;)

Oh - and tuning is easy....

[M@]

A lotta places have cheap rent-a-board and get a ticket deals, which sometimes are cheaper than a regular ticket. I think it's cause they know your only gonna be using like 1/10th of the mountain your first time.

At least Killington used to do this. I guess that's not "a lot" of places.

[Steveboarder]

stoogie you will love boarding i started sking when i was like 8 and started baording about 5 years ago (33 now) and I am a way better boarder than I was at skiing. DMC is right on on listen to him (I have missions too DMC :D ). it took me a exactly a half day of falling on my a$$ at brenton woods before I got the turning thing down. I went with the "leave me alone and let me figure it out" plan but met up with my buddies was ripping down the hill in no time. I think the scariest is when you first get on the board and realize you have no control but it dosent last long.

[NHski]

DMC:
"Snowboarding is tough to learn and easy to master. Where skiing is easy to learn and tough to master"

So true

[NH_tele]

I don't snowboard any more, but I was into it a few years back. I'm of the so-called "Hari go faster" (http://www.telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?topic=2934&forum=1) (see the Telemarktips.com forum) school of thought, which basically just says learn it yourself... I don't believe in lessons except for really finessing your technique; the basics (for all snow sports IMO) are easy enough to pick up by yourself.

As for snowboarding-specific stuff:

Get ready to fall. On your ass. Hard. A lot of times.

The first 1-3 days for most people really suck. After that you're good, you start to carve, and you pick it up & effectively master it pretty fast. After I got past the initial learning phase, I actually didn't enjoy the motions & style of it to continue; I switched back to skiing, and now tele skiing, but that's just me.

I don't know much about current gear, so I can't help you there.

Best of luck!

PS- watch out; Just when you think you've got this whole turning & cruising thing down (on day #1-5) you'll be crusing along on a semi-flat board, and catch the downhill edge & go flying, and have your first fall so far. Don't worry. That's a learning step!

[DMC]

I'd take a lesson.. There are some fundimental things you should learn... Leg postion - driving the back knee in... blah blah blah...

Plus.. Snowboarders get a bad enough rap - Setting never-evers loose on the mountain isn't for everyone... :)

Stoogeman may be able to pull this off himself..

[Bannick]

Welcome to the Darkside.....
Be prepared to be sore. I have some things to add....

Keep your hands in a fist while learning. It reduces the chances of breaking a wrist, thumb etc. Unfortuantely falls happen so fast that it is hard to prepare and roll with them. Wrist gards might be wise. I wore em when I was learning.

Knee pads aint too bad an idea either. You will spend alot of time on your knees giving your calves a break and having some cusioning will help. It is easier to get up off of your knees but it is often a little more tedious being on your toe side edge. You won't know till you get on the board how you will respond.

With that in mind, try to learn on a "soft" day. I know it is hard to do out here in the east but do your body a favour. You will proly want to ski a few days first to get the flow back before you try to board.

Always keep an edge when learning and don't look at your board. Believe me you will want to but try to keep your head up, looking where you want to go.

Get to the bunny hill and try willow leafing across the hill. First on heelside then on toeside.

When you start to try to link turns really exagerate the motion and crank your back foot around. This exagerated motion will fade away once you link more turns and get more confidence.

With ski show/swap season upon us you can probably pick up a brand new board and binding set up from last year. Burton, option, ride, k2, limited and solomon all make decent wood core starter boards for a decent price and if you can get last years gear new for a discount even better.

I have Burton Custom bindings and love em. I have tried many step in systems but I feel more secure when I lash my binding straps down tight and cut off the circulation off in my feet. The best I have tried are the Burtons as they incorporate a highback as well as an integral ankle strap for a bit of security which does not add much weight to the boots. They seem to not get as gummed up as the K2 or shimano setups.

Spend the money for decent boots. Yes they are all more comfortable than skiboots (I am told) the last thing you want to do is have foot problems. It would be a good idea to go to the local shop and see what size you need in different brands before heading to the swap.

The last thing....speed is your friend. A board is designed to operate at speed and will therefore is much easier to carve and glide when you are moving.

I always love to give lessons.....I have developed some kind of "your pain is my joy" approach which seems to be quite satisfying for me.

Good luck!

B

[jdew]

Go for it.

I learned to snowboard at age 43 after skiing for 25 years. DMC is right on - snowboarding is much harder than skiing to learn, but you get good at it much faster than it takes to get good at skiing. I found it to be alot like learning to ride a bike. It is very frustrating until you get the balence part of it figured out. Once you do that, just like riding a bike, you get better really fast.

Take a lesson, Take a lesson, Take a lesson. I did and never regretted it.

I learned with step-ins and so went with step-ins (Burton) when I bought my own board. I like them and have never had any problems with them.

Last but not least, you will fall and you will fall hard. I recommend you wear a pair of wrist-guards (the roller-blading ones work well). On Ski Patrol, we see more wrist injuries with boarders than any other type. Many could probably have been avoided if they had been wearing wrist-guards. It also is a good idea to put a section of foam padding down your pants to cover your tailbone. When you catch your heelside edge, it slams you down right on your tailbone.

Good Luck.
:snowboarding:

[DMC]

jdew:
Take a lesson, Take a lesson, Take a lesson. I did and never regretted it.
:snowboarding: Even if it's just 2 lessons... You get the basic concept..

Props to Bannick... I can't teach people how to learn to ride - I just hate to stand around and watch people learn.. ;)

I'd rather guide them when they get better...
- "Take this hit"
- "Surfturn into that little ridge"
- "Drop with your nose down"
- "drive your back knee into your front leg"
- "Brin a leash to TUX even if you dont use one during the season"
that kind of stuff..

[ski&ride]

Once you get past the learning curve (quick), you'll love it. A lesson will help. I just started riding 2 seasons ago & have skied since I was 8. I love to do both, but I use the board more to improve. I use conventional bindings, but step-ins take less time to get into (from what I've seen). I think it's more of a preference thing. The 3 main things I use when snowboarding are:

Wrist Guards (under the gloves)
Helmet
Knee Pads (from roller hockey)

My friend went to Play It Again Sports and bought one of those roller hockey girdles. She pulled out the quad pads & used it for a$$ protection under her ski pants. It works great.

Have a blast! I saw a man in his late 50's learning to ride, it was cool. He told me he had bubble wrap inside the backside of his pants! POP!

Ski&Ride

[DMC]

We have a guy at the mountian I ride at thats in his 70's and snowbaord.... gotta love it...

[SkiStooge]

Thank you to one and all. The search begins! I truly do appreciate the input. Now the hard part of money and deciding what exactly to get. There are about 12,167,456,096 choices out there. lol Again, thank you. Have fun, be safe. Al :skistooge: