Tsuihousha

Hello, i was wondering if anyone can help me with a setup for snowboarding. I am new to it and still havent done it but i wanna buy some fairly cheap stuff because i wanna start. I dont know anything about it though like how tall the board has to be and what difference there are in boots and bindings and all that. If anyone can give me some advice it would be kool, Thanks in advance. Laterz

cherryBox

let me put it this way:

I was over at wal-mart last night, and there was an employee of the optometry shop sitting at his post, playing one of the demo 'first act' electric guitars. You know, the $99 deals. he had it plugged into this crappy wal-mart amp. And here this guy sat, just nochalantly belting out licks. Not trying at all, but doing things to this axe that have probably never been done on HALF the stratocasters ever sold.

so... it really doesnt' matter what equipment you have.

but...I totally realize that it takes confidence to ride, and it's hard to have that 'confident first day' if your gear looks like you just ripped off the tard squad.



I started riding 3 years ago, but I have gotten 100+ days each season since. I'm still rockin the same gear.

here's the skinny: you gotta get some bad ___ boots. ignore the brand. find a pair that you think you could wear for a week. if you have big feet, try and get into the smallest boots possible.

don't buy a wide board, even if you're a size 15. get risers.

don't stand in the store and flex the boards like everybody else.

find something that you can afford. if you buy right now, it will cost you an arm and a leg. I'd say wait until labor day if you can, but you could still find some good deals now if you look hard. stay away from burton, ride - you would never begin to tap your investment as a beginner. a decent, cheap beginner board is Lamar - used is ok too, just get it ground, and you'll be rockin.

bindings - i went cheap with the first set, and bent them in three rides. granted, I probably avoided breaking my leg becasue they 'gave', but I finally went with some Rides - they are BOMB PROOF and last you FOREVER.

Also, if you haven't heard, it usually takes three days to get the hang. It's the truth, but after my first day, I was pretty pumped, and went and bought the boots.

WEAR A HELMET.

The first few times, wear kneepads under your snowpants, and wear wristguards under your gloves. And don't wear ANYTHING with cotton or fleece - it's like a snow magnet. If you think you won't look cool with kneepads and wristguards on, don't worry - you're going to spend most of the day on your ___ anyhow.

khaye

he's right about the boots(spend the most of your budget on a good pair). find one the that's very snug(minimum to no heel lift at all). as far as the board size, it should be between the chin-the tip of your nose. the longer the board the faster it goes.

ohh yeah since it's gonna be your first time i suggest you do a lot of leg and thigh excercises. and start at the intermediate slopes, cuz you're never gonna learn from the bunny slopes

hotbox05

how can you ride 100 days per season? do you live in a year round magical snow city?

khaye

i think colorado's season starts early and ends late

hotbox05

100 days long? almost a third of the year. wow. if i lived there i'd snowboard too. but seeing as i have to drive about two hours to get to good places and even then.... eh i'll pass . i kinda miss it tho. one day

Typhoon

I got top of the line equipment to learn on after about 4 sessions at a mountain. To be honest just get whatever feels comfortable and learn on that really good equipment wont do anything for you but make you fall more when you go faster without knowing how to control that speed. Get something used and dont get clip in binding unless you want to have a lot of sprained ankles. Boots I would agree is the only thing you shouldnt go too cheap on get somethign comfortable and you are good but board and bindings youll be wasting your money getting high quality equipment.

You can get a used board and bindings that are good to learn on for about 150-200. Oh and dont waste your time on lessons or the bunny slopes they are compeltely useless. Go with someone who knows how to ride and ride with them on the blue trails youll fall a lot thats guranteed and youll get lots of snow in your face but all that will be worth when you learn 3x as fast as the people on the bunny slopes with instructors.

vietTC07

http://snowboard.colonies.com

its a nice forum... should answer a lot of your future quesitons too

Harman

If this is the first time you snowboard, always get an instructor to learn the basic. Here in Tahoe, equipment rental plus lesson are actually pretty affordable. Start at bunny hills. I learnt my lesson when my novice friend brought me to the top of the mountain and I was just, literally, rolling down to the foot of the mountain all the way. The hard part was to get up on a steep slope after the fall. This sport can be dangerous if you're not careful and not fall correctly (always fall on your butt). Before go out there and buy any equipment, you can tried different kind of snowboard, bindings and boots at the equipment rental. See for yourself which one do you like most.

cherryBox

YES, it's called COLORADO

Our season starts in October, and the last two years, has run until the Fourth of July. I usually get up 2-3x/wk, and a handful of week-long trips.
(Especially to Wolf Creek in Pagosa - that's the best place on earth after a big dump)

I work as a web developer, and met the guys i work with while living in Breckenridge. We moved down to denver, but I still have a place up there.
Since we are all still true to our roots, we work 4 tens durring the season, and remote work is always a possibility. In fact, I'm in Breck right now.

good catch, typhoon. I kinda took that as a given. yeah, DONT GET CLIP-INS (clickers)...get straps. I hear FLOW bindings are good, but I've never ridden them.


depends... if you have a friend who has been up >50x and <100, and they are willing to go at YOUR pace, I agree. you can ususally find private lessons, and those are definitely the way to go. Pricey, but worth it.

If you do this with a 'friend' rather than an instructor, remember, a real friend would never, at any point, possibly say "ok, that's great, keep doin that and i'm gonna take a run on ______ and i'll see you in a few minutes". Make sure they are down to go at YOUR pace.

I have a funny feeling that what we call bunny slopes here (and I didn't mean that to sound l33t or snotty) are closer to blues at Big Bear...that's what I've heard, at least. There's some truth to that, though, and I wouldn't start any friends out on blues. obviously your temptation would be to practice on the flats first, and then get to movin, but it's similar to riding a bike in that it's hard to balance a bike sitting still. once you get a little speed, it's a breeze.

I'm gonna pause a second while that bike analogy sinks in.

if you can find a hill that's about a 15-20 degree pitch, that's a great place to start. keep your knees bent. the whole time. go down on your back edge the whole way, and start again, this time with your toe edge. While 'edging', pay special attention to the speed control that comes from leaning into the hill, and also notice how leaning into the fall line (away from mountain) speeds you up slightly. go back up and do the 'falling leaf' (just like it sounds, it's a series of cutting movements down the hill on a single edge) all the way down - heel edge first, then try that toe edge. once you make those four runs, try to link wide turns from heel to toe. don't try to throw the board with your weight, or 'fishtail', rather, just lean into your turn, and get up on your edge. the board will do the rest.

Tsuihousha

awesome, this is good ___ advice guys thanks, keep anything coming while im still saving up for my stuff =) oh and i have a friend whos been up quite a bit but i gotta see if hes willing to slow down with me and give me a few lesson runs and stuff. THe trick to that i think is this, my one friend has been a lot and knows what hes doing so he'l give me my basic lessons then so i dont ruin all his fun ill have my other friend with me who has only been like twice before so he can be more my pace the rest of the day =)~ sound good? does to me. heheh.again ty for all the help and keep it commin if you think of anything else.

ScionxR

I see you live in CA. Big 5 Sports is going to run 50% off last years boards and most stores are sitting on a lot. You can find them as low as $50. Then get good boots and bindings elsewhere

Tsuihousha

50 for a board?! thats awesome =) thanx for the tip hehe