Snowboarding
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Snowboarding
Snowboarding Terms
Terms
- Snowboard- This is what your ride on down the mountain. It can be a twin tip, directional, long, or short.
- Twin tip- The front of the board is identical to back of the board.
- Directional- The front of the board is angled differently than the back.
- Bindings- This is what keeps you strapped to the board. They can be step-ins or strap ons.
- Boots- The footwear you use while riding the snowboard.
- Clothing- The clothing is self explanatory.
- Toe side- Toe side of your board is facing the mountain.
- Heel side- Heel is facing the mountain.
- Switch- Riding with your opposite foot in the front.
Basics
When you first start snowboarding, you must figure out if you are goofy or regular. This means that you need to find out which foot is your lead foot. A good test to do this is to ride a skateboard and to see which foot you put towards the front of the board. If this still doesn't help, you can do a cartwheel. Whichever foot lands first is your lead foot. A good way to test someone who doesn't know which foot is their lead foot is to stand behind them, ask them to put their feet together and push them from behind. Just enough so they have to step forward and catch themselves, whichever foot they used to catch themselves is supposed to be their dominate foot and the foot they should use as their lead foot. This method works best if you don't tell them that what you are doing is to determine which foot they will use as their lead foot. Because if they know why they are doing it they can choose which foot to use to catch themselves rather than leaving it up to their body to naturally do what it wants to do.
Now that you know which way you will ride, you need to pick out a board. To figure this out, you need to determine what kind of riding you will be doing. If you want to do tricks, you will want a freestyle board, but if you just want to ride down the mountain, you can get an all mountain board. Next, you need to get a good fitting size. A good test to do this is to line the board up to your height. The board should be between your chin and your nose.
Now that you have a board, your going to need boots. To choose out boots, you need to figure out if you want step-in bindings or strap-on bindings. Step-in bindings are easier to get into, but the boots will be stiffer to compensate for the binding. Many people who rent or are starting use step-ins because of its convience. The majority of snowboarders use strap-ons because of the boot being more comfortable. Once you figured out what kind of binding your going to have, you can start looking for a boot. This is basically a comfort issue, so find boots that you feel comfortable in because your not going to want to feel uncomfortable on the mountain all day. Make sure the boots fits snugly. Once your wear them in, the boots will feel a little less tight. Also, you can choose between regular lace boots and Boa lace. The Boa boots use a metal string that you can tighten with a knob.
Getting Started
A good way to get started is to go with friends who have been riding longer than you, so that they can help teach you. Another option is to get lessons from an instructor. Most mountains offer package deals with rentals, lessons, and lift tickets. Just remember that the most important aspect is to be able to stop while in motion on the mountain. This is for not only for your safety, but for the safety of those around you as well.
Snowboarding at Oregon State University
Snowboarding is one of the fastest growing alternative sports in the world. Oregon has some of the best riding that you could imagine. Many of the top pros live in Oregon because you can ride year round. Oregon State University knows that it's students have a passion for riding and they help with the demand. At the Dixon Recreation Center you can wax, retune, detune, or basically do anything to your board that you want to do. They have helpful employees who can explain things to you too. Oregon State University also has a snowboarding club. Through this club you can find friends to ride with, get discounts on tickets, and carpool to the mountain. There a weekly trips to ride every weekend. Lastly, Oregon State University offers a PAC class for snowboarding. These classes take place on Thursdays during winter term. Since the class takes up so much time, you will need to clear your Thursday schedule because the class is an all day trip.
Local Mountains
There are many local mountains to ride on. Some of the most popular are Mount Hood and Mount Bachelor. These mountains offer a wide range of riding and can suite a novice to professional. These mountains also have many resorts on them including:
Getting ready for the season. Should be a good year, Heathers Canyon is Already screeming my name. Season passes are on sale, and are alot cheaper to buy now then when it gets closer to season.
Timerline Update: Timerline is basically open year round because of the Palmer Glacier, it has already recieved traces of snow this winter.
Skibowl Update: Skibowl will most likely open last being that it is the lowest ski resort on Hood. But, when they get snow upper bowl is hard to beat.Also a great place to go and beat the crowds.
Mt. Bachelor Update: Bachelor has new snow makers as of last year, so my guess is they will be open before most other resorts on the Mountain. If you go to Bachelor for the park as I do then you are better off to wait until they get a good base and are able to build the jumps right.
HooDoo Update: Hoodoo usually opens a little bit later then Bachelor. Great palce to try for a first timer. The renovations they did a couple years ago realy make it a better resort.
Local Shops
There are many local stores in Oregon, but I will only be giving links to "core" shops. "Core" shops are more of a specialty store that only deals with that sports good. An example would be Sublimity Snow and Skate because they sell snowboards and skateboards. These employees are far more knowledgeable than a person at GI Joes, and are not owned by a large company. An example that is not a "core" store is GI Joes. They deal with all sporting goods and the employees that they have are not specially trained yo provide information on that sport. A close call of a "core" shop would be Zumiez. Although it is a snowboard store, the employees know little about they products and they are owned by a large, nationwide company. So support local snowboarding shops like:
