Snowboarding is FUN. The following information will help you have MORE FUN snowboarding. Here are some tips from Eastern Boarder to help you get on your way. Now, with the wonder of the internet you can get all of the information you need to start snowboarding and get off on the right foot. We know that sometimes the magazines and videos don't really show you where to begin, so we will. First start with the basics, what to wear, what to ride, where to go, and how to pull it all off and not break the bank. We've compiled everything you need to know about snowboarding here in our resource guide. Scroll down and read it all or Hit the links on the above to checkout specific topics. Check back very soon for more product reviews, resort guides, events lists and more. |
the first time ever Its a good idea to start off with a buddy. Choose a friend that you want to spend the day with, a friend that can take the same amount of physical abuse as you can. If you are lucky enough to have patient friends, go with them, but expect to spend some time on your own. Most mountains have a Lift Ticket / Beginner Lesson Deal, check the mountains websites for promotions and current deals. A lesson will have you making turns by the end of your first day. Just a small insiders tip: If you are just starting or are new to the game, Its not called "boarding" or "boardin'" and you are not going to board this weekend . People that snowboard say "going snowboarding", or "riding." The most important thing is your clothing, wearing the correct gear will keep you warm and happy. Dress in layers, the first layer (closest to your body) will be thermal underwear top & bottom, 2nd fleece tops or a lightweight sweater. And finally the outer layer consisting of a waterproof jacket, and waterproof pants. You will also need a nice pair of tall poly-pro socks to keep your toes warm. Poly Pro thermals are important because they keep your body dry by wicking away sweat, this in turn will keep YOU warm. The 2nd layer, will help keep body heat in close to your body. The more layers, the warmer you will be. Your Jacket will keep all the heat in and the cold out, so find one that is windproof and waterproof. Same deal with your pants. Stay away from cotton!! No sweatpants or windbreakers, they only get wet and cold and you get bummed out. Get some gloves or mittens that are waterproof and really warm. The stronger the better, you will probably blow through a few pair your first year, don't worry about getting the most expensive ones, just make sure they are waterproof and warm. It is a good habit to bring at least one back-up pair everytime you go riding (don't let wet gear ruin your day). |
the official checklist | ||||||
If you forget any of these things |
If you forget any of these things you will be in rough shape..... |
Other good things |
Necessary things to bring in the Backcountry..... (If your reading this, don't go unless you bring a VERY experienced friend) |
buying a new snowboard BUYING A NEW BOARD Buying a new snowboard is awesome, nothing else feels like a fresh new board. The first thing you should know is, snowboards are measured using the metric system, length are in centimeters and other specs in millimeters. A new snowboard for an adult should start from $270 (anything less wont last). As price goes up, the board gets better. The construction gets stronger, lighter and it will go faster (this doesn't mean that the most expensive board is the best board). Every sales man has a pitch about what board is better and why.... here's mine. I'm a believer that snowboards are designed for weight before they are designed for height. When they design a board there are tons of test done on each model before they release it. The riders weight will determine if they will be able to flex the board enough to make it turn, if you are too light the edge won't put enough pressure on the snow and allow for a smooth turn. If you are too heavy for the board the board will flex out and lose its contact will the snow and you will skid out and be bummed. I think the chin measurement myth is just an easy way of selling a board. I'm 6' and have owned boards from 153 to 166cm all of them being the correct board for the conditions. On the back of a new board there is usually a spec sheet that has each size model and what weight the board is designed. Check it. Also check the Waist width of the board, if your feet are too small you wont be able to turn the board. If they are too big you will catch them on the snow and wreck. Generally Park boards will be wider, softer and have less sidecut, while Freeride boards will be stiffer, have deeper sidecut and offer more control while turning. A smaller board will be easier to spin and do tricks with and a longer board will float in powder better. So buy a board based on the conditions you plan on riding most often.
[From The Burton LTR Site]
Want to feel comfortable walking into your local shop and picking out the perfect board? Arm yourself with knowledge. Read on, and you'll know exactly how even the most experienced riders choose their sticks. |
board categories In another attempt to aid in the process of purchasing a snowboard, here are the breakdowns and definitions of flex and snowboard categories... Categories: In years past, the breakdown of board categories was pretty easy, you either had an all mountain directional, a twin freestyle, or an alpine with a few hybrids mixed in. Now there are many more sub-categories to take into account. One term that has largely disappeared is the "All Mountain" snowboard. I personally don't like this term, all snowboards are "All Mountain" no matter what their main design is for. To explain a little bit further, here are the basic details to the major categories of boards currently. Park: This type of board is very popular right now. With the increase in popularity of rail riding and park riding overall, this has caused most, if not all companies, to bump up the number of park specific boards they manufacture. The classic definition of a "Park" snowboard is twin (nose and tail are the exactly the same) in shape and flex (evenly distributed flex from the center of the board), and generally softer in longitudinal flex. That is the broad spectrum of the "Park" category, but there are a couple other sub-categories that I will now get into. Jib boards: The "Jib" board is generally very basic in design, rarely having anything more than just a wood core and biaxial fiberglass. This equates to a very soft flexing snowboard which is ideal for pressing on rails and boxes. There are many boards in this category including the K2 WWW, Ride kink and the Rome Artifact. Most have a blunted off nose and tail, to allow the effective edge to be much longer than it normally would be with a board of their respective size. The advantage to this method is that you are able to size down a considerable amount, as much as 5 cm. If you were looking for a "Street" board, this would be the category to look under. These boards can be taken off jumps, although I wouldn't necessarily go hit the 60 footer at Loon with a 52 WWweapon, go for the 30 footer instead. (price range: $300-$400) All Park: I'm not really sure if this category is definitive, but the way I look at it is that these are boards with a little more to them than jib boards, yet have a little more flex than the more jump specific boards. The general make up of these boards is a composite wood core possibly with some carbon fiber inserts, triaxial or reinforced biaxial fiberglass, and a sintered base. There are many variations in technologies from company to company, but the overall objective for these boards are to make them soft enough to press out on rails, yet stable enough to take on some harder jump landings. This is a very big category for many companies, such staple boards as the Burton Custom (ICS shown), Lib Tech TRS, and Rome Agent all fall under this category. (price range: $400-$600) Jump/Pipe Boards: This is a category that you're not going to see on the cheat sheet on the back of a board, and is not all that different than the "All Park" board. The main difference will be in the flex, these boards are a little stiffer both torsionally and longitudinally. This aids in giving you a stable platform to land on when hitting the big jump line. Pipe specific boards do not officially exist, but most of the big name guys use boards that would fall into this category. The Ride DH 2, Forum Pat Moore, and Burton Un-INC are all great examples of this type of board. (price range: $450-$700) Freeride: This is the term that has replaced "All Mountain," a freeride board is generally a directional shape (nose is longer than the tail), this allows for ease into and out of turns. The differences in "Freeride" boards come mostly down to stiffness and base material. The softer the flex, the cheaper the board is going to be, also the easier it will be to learn on. The more expensive boards in this category generally have the most technically advanced features, for example the Burton Vapor, which has a completely aluminum core, stainless steel edges, the highest grade base available, and every other possible belle and/or whistle. If you are the type of person who wants to go fast, a higher end freeride board is right up your alley. (price range: $250-$1000) Powder: Lib Tech has a board that explains this perfectly... It's called the Mullet, but in this case it's long in front and short in back. All "Powder" specific boards have a very set back stance to allow you to float as much and as easily as possible in the powder. Some even have what's known as a swallow tail, which is a tail that splits into two, this allows you to have the tail sink into the snow allowing the nose to float freely above the powder. A good alternative to having a purely powder specific board is to set back a "Freeride" board more than you usually would on those big dump days. "Powder" boards are amazing inside their own element, however, when taken to groomers or anything other than powder these boards become excessive. The extremely large nose as well as some unusual shapes tend to make these boards terrible on hardpack. If you get the chance to ride something like the Travis Rice Banana Hammock in 2 feet of Vermont's finest, do not pass up the opportunity. (price range: $500-$1200) what is flex? Perhaps the most important characteristic of a snowboard, the flex is what determines the type of riding the board is designed for. There are 2 main types of flex to concern yourself with: torsional; which is the horizontal flex of the board (edge to edge) and longitudinal; the vertical flex of the board (tip to tail). So now that you know the differences in terms we can start to explain what to look for in each category. The flex that you feel the most is going to be the longitudinal flex, this is the factor that generally determines the "flex rating" of the board, although torsional flex has a great deal of impact upon "turnability" and edge stability at high speeds. To make this even easier, I am going to break down the different flexes in the way every company does... on a scale of 1 to 10!!! OMG!!! 1-3 rating: Does not exist. If you find something this low it's too soft. Probably not a full wood core. 3-5 rating: This is the category that the majority of all boards under $400 fall into. This flex is ideal for beginner to intermediate riders, as well as low to mid level park boards. Most Jib boards fall into this rating. 5-8 rating: This range of flex encompasses the "All Park" and Jump board categories, as well as the mid to upper mid range freeride boards. 8-10 rating: If a board has this high of a rating you can be sure of two things, it's expensive and very fast. The majority of all high end freeride boards can be included in this group. Hopefully this plethora of knowledge can further assist you in the purchase of a new snowboard. Thanks for reading. -EB Natick |
buying new bindings
If you are thinking about buying your first setup ever...
Cost |
buying new boots [From The Burton LTR Site]
How To Choose Your Boots |
accessories [From The Burton LTR Site]
Accessories
What Do I Wear? |
dial your bindings This is how to customize your bindings to fit your setup. Why settle for preferred stance or general settings for your new hundred dollar plus bindings. Some stuff is dial out of the box... Get those things dialed, or at least know how each setting helps you ride better. The best thing about snowboards is that you can experiment with any stance you want. If you don't like it, change it. That is why rule number 1 is have a screw driver handy at all times. A Burton bullet tool is my favorite, I usually stash one some where at the base of the mountain (don't rely on the mountain to provide tools). Rule Number 2 is use the correct driver for the job, Mounting screws are a size #3 a Driver, Straps are usually a #2. If you strip your inserts that all folks, no warrantys on stuff you break by your own stupidity) Setting up your gear correctly will take about an hour, but will make you ride better for the rest of your life.
Adjusting Your Stance: |
tuning: waxing at home Taking care of your own gear is the next step of becomming a real snowboarder. You should be waxing your board every 5 times you ride, most of the winter every 3 times. Icy hardpack will take all your wax off before the end of the day, powder will give you a bit more time before you need to re apply. You can tell when to wax when you the area close to the edges starts getting dry. In this video we show how to lay down a sweet wax job with the help of Eric From Ass Wax.
Tools To Get The Job Done: As always Eastern Boarder Can bust out a 24hour wax and grind for $25, and save you the time and mess. Just drop it off and pick it up before the weekend. |
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tune or de-tune
Tuning your snowboard correctly makes a terrible-day good. Or a good-day terrible. You might be reading this wondering if I really wrote De-Tune. Yes, De-Tuning is when you intentionally dull the edges so oyo can slide rails easier. (DO NOT do this if you are just starting out riding.) |