Wakeboarding / Snowboarding

Im going snow boarding for the first time in about a week and I was wondering if it is like wakeboarding in any way?

yes. you stand sideways on the board.

Jacob - personally there are a lot of similarities to wakeboarding and snowboarding, I feel the only difference is with snowboarding you have gravity pushing you while in wakeboarding you have a boat pulling you. I've been both wakin and snowboarding for four years now and I've linked the two together with much amazement. Edging is very similar ... where are you going and good luck.

Teri: gravity pulls, just like a boat.

Boarding Similarities: both are done on water: one liquid, the other crystaline.

Snow Pros:
1. Scenery changes more often.
2. Fewer chances for carbon-monoxide poisoning.
3. Less chance of prop rash.
4. No requirement for a 2nd, 3rd, etc.
5. No need to invest in $100,000 worth of gas-gulping hardware just to ride.
6. No need to gesture wildly to in order to change speed.

Snow Cons:
1. Everyone is dressed like lumpy Eskimos.
2. Tan is limited to 6 sq. inches of face.
3. One word: frostbite.
4. Peeing mid-ride more difficult (see #3).
5. Trees are harder than water.

Joe agreed - love your similarity tree ... the only difference is you are holding on to a rope while wakeboarding!

Im going to North Carolina this year. The mountains arent very big but they work.

I find that snowboarding feels like butta sliding on a wakeboard to me. The biggest difference is weight transfer front to back and left to right. I tend to be back foot heavy on water and you can not land like that in the snow. I find spinning easier for me on the snow, but most people are the opposite.

Good luck and be safe!

Hey Jason...missed you at the SBB Meeting on Saturday! Next meeting is Jan. 8th at Woodies in the Delta. Arun might be there, hope you can make it.

Oh yeah, and those face plants are 1000x worse than anything you could get on water. Trust me, I KNOW (side note: thank you to the ski patrol that helped me when i needed you most).

LMAO!

Jacob - I took my first snowboard trip last year, check out this link as I got a lot of great advice..

http://forums.wakeboarder.com/viewtopic.php?t=17462&highlight=

Or, just check this out.... I have more if you need it, how to dress and all that stuff..


Snowboarding tips

keep more weight in the front than the back, you'll have much more control


- Try to pick up speed its easier to turn (and of course I don't mean 50mph).
- Keep your weight on your front leg.
- Do your turns with your backleg by moving it in front or to the back of you.
- while turning try to keep the board on the edge.
- remember you don't have a fin. You really need those edges. It helps if you've been riding a finless wakeboard.
- Gravity and slope are your friends. Unstrapping and skating sucks.
- Take a couple days by yourself or with one friend. Buying a ticket and then trying to keep up with your friends who have ridden for 10 years or whatever will make you hate it.
- You're going to fall. Accept it. It's part of the game. You'll get over it quick though.
- Remember, you don't have a rope to save you. Balance is a bit more key here.
- And, last but not least, MOGULS SUCK ON A SNOWBOARD! Stay away from them!


Go to an easy run and start off by side-slipping down the whole run. By that I mean don't point the board straight down and charge it. Find the sweet spot/balancing point to control the edging (so that you don't fall by overedging or start straight lining down the hill by not edging enough)...you sort of scrape down the whole hill hitting the "brakes" like this, eventually you will find the optimal point of balance to control the edging.


The most important thing - BEND YOUR KNEES! Roll forward and lean on your bindings for toeside edge. Heelside is harder to bend your knees but it's important - you don't want to lock your knees.
As others have said, it's important to have weight on your front foot. If you can't control the board then you aren't balanced on the board. By bending your knees you'll be centered on the board and will have an easier time controlling it.
The hardest thing for me was learning to initiate a ts turn. The trick is to shift your weight to the ball of your front foot to release the back of the board so you can push it around with your back foot.


Just remember Greens are your enemy, they don’t like snowboards. Blues are your friend on a snowboard. The faster you go, the less likely you are to catch an edge. But then again I like going balls to the wall.


Chair Lifts
Un-strap your back leg. Head over to the lift. Scoot up to the waiting line, wait for a chair to pass, then scoot up to the pick-up line, look back, and when the seat comes up, plant your butt in it. Keep the nose of your snowboard up so it doesn't catch on anything. Some people like to rest the edge of the board on their back foot while on the lift to reduce the weight on the front foot.
When you are ready to get off the chair, put your bound foot forward so that the board is parallel with the exit, and place your other foot on the stomp pad (that is, of course, of your board has one). There should be a decline on the exit, so you shouldnt have to push off (nor is it advisable, usually something bad happens). Get completely clear of the exit before you sit down to strap your other foot in, and be prepared to clean the snow from your binding before you strap in to make sure that you get a secure fit. Then be on your merry way down the mountain. Repeat as many times as necessary. Some people like to keep the heel of their back foot hanging off the board a little bit to use as a brake when coming off a lift.

snowboarding's painful. first time i tried i tumbled so hard each time while trying to stop

I just got back from North Carolina. Trust me, there will be plenty of slopes to challenge you I went down a double black diamond on my second day. It took me about 2 hours to get the hang of snowboarding. IMO it is exactly the same as wakeboarding. Once I felt my edges out and got used to the loose/fluid feeling of a snowboard i was riding with the best of them. If you are going to the Banner Elk area I would go to Sugar Mnt before you went to Beech. Much better slopes

check it out

www.skisugar.com (they have a live webcam so you can watch people bust their arse all day)

Good luck, and get ready for some SORE muscles and wrists

(you WILL be addicted)

O yeah, and take this time to learn to ride switch. It helped me out tremendously with riding switch on a wakeboard. You just get so much time on your board when you are snowboarding.

Just got back from 4 days boarding at Big Sky Resort in Montana. No lift lines and no people on the slopes.

http://john.panelmagic.com/bigsky.jpg

and my favorite pic of the trip was James going off a jump...

http://john.panelmagic.com/jamesair.jpg