Snowboard/Skiing Thread!!

[Real Pol]

Tomcat's right, you need to find some friends who are roughly at the same level as you, slightly better is good as you've got skills to chase.

And when the conditions aren't good you can still have fun messing around.
Remember:
It's never to early to start jumping

If you're struggling with your boarding a lesson would be a good idea. You'll get loads from a snowboarding lesson.

The ice will always make you fall on your arse, but it might be worth getting your edges sharpened.

Here are my snowboarding tips which you should have echoing in your head as you go down the slope (in no order)

- Relax all the way from your shoulders to your ankles, this'll stop you catching edges.
- Stick yer tits out.
- Shoulders back.
- Keep your weight even on both feet.
- Don't hunch.
- Bend your knees into the turn and straighten out of it (always have them slightly bent).
- Always be moving up or down when turning as this reduces the chances of your board juddering out from under you.
- Cowboy stance.
- Remember you are the coolest person on the slopes, FACT!

Stick with it man, once the whole mountain is open it'll seem less busy.

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

thanks guys. i cant wait to start work, right now the only guy i know is my roommate, and hes always at work or drunk. this is not such a great place for someone who doesnt like getting drunk all the time or chasing girls for one night stands.

brukuns - check out mammoth mountain, its near yosemite national park so its not that close but probably the best thing near LA

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

have you guys heard about the pine beetles in the rockies? i heard it stretches from arizona to canada. in summit county CO almost 90 percent of the trees are dead. thats been getting me down too.

[brukuns]

My boss who lives in santa monica told me there's a decent mountain 1:30 hours drive from there... although a good one should be 3:30 hours drive away.

I'll check with the folks there... they'll probably know a good place.

thanks man!

[kitesurfer]

One very lucky chap indeed!

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f49_1227710108

KS

[tree4]

Damn your post beat mine by 8 minutes .damn damn, damn chris.

https://surfing-waves.com/forum/view ... hp?t=13233

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

its finally snowing.

realpol - hunching over seems to come naturally, to keep from losing my balance. should i just stand up straight and take it like a man? (if i fall) and what do you mean always be moving up or down?

[tomcat360]

Good for ya'll, I was starting to get worried. Of course warm weather is here now.Woot.....

And where again are you living/riding/working?

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

copper mountain. if youve ever heard of breckenridge its right by there.

[tomcat360]

Hahaha will you still be there in March??? I will be there for a week

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

cool. yeah i should be, we should go ride. im sure i can get a buddy pass from someone for breck, or if you want a buddy pass for copper i can get some.

[tomcat360]

Tell me about these buddy passes...me and some guys from the ski team are renting a condo--ski-in ski-out right on copper.

I'll warn you now....I'm a two planker.

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

haha. i can get you a few half- off pases at copper. im not sure about the limit, but i think i can get a bunch. for breck, keysttone and a-basin i can get a couple from my friends. if you work for a resort or have a season pass you can get these passes. where is the condo? east village?

its coming down pretty heavy still. by the end of today well have a foot of snow.

[tomcat360]

Sounds awesome, I'll have to check where our condo is.

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

the powder was amazing. im finally tired. it was up to my waist in some areas.

[RJD]

ooooh, trees!!!

[tomcat360]

Righteous!

[Real Pol]

realpol - hunching over seems to come naturally, to keep from losing my balance. should i just stand up straight and take it like a man? (if i fall) and what do you mean always be moving up or down?

I used to hunch (I still do sometimes) it's a really bad habit and it means your weight is not distributed evenly from your toe edge to your heel edge, so you have to over compensate to move from toe to heel edge. Imagine a line going straight up from between your bindings into the sky, you want to have your heavy bits like shoulders and arse as close to that line as possible which makes it easy to change weight in an instant when needed. Hunching puts these bits far away from the line. The reason we hunch is we subconsciously would prefer to fall on our fronts (toe) than our back (heel). Just try and remind yourself as your going down the slope to straighten your back.

Ok, moving up and down. Imagine your going down a nice groomed piste turning as you reach either side of it. As you are moving straight across between turns you should be standing up tall (with only a slight bend in your knees to absorb bumps and move your weight if you need to). Just before you start to turn start bending your knees, keep moving in a downward crouch into the turn. As you start coming out of the turn start standing up straight again until you are moving across the piste standing tall. This should be done in a smooth, fluid motion and at no point during the turn should you be crouching in the same position. You should always be moving up or down.
If you are rigid in a turn (even with your knees bent) it's very easy for bumps to take you unaware and to find yourself horizontal with your board above your head, or for no apparent reason your board skids and judders out from under you. Moving down and up on your turns will drastically reduce the chances of this happening.

Are you still turning by moving your shoulders and then allowing the board to follow (this is what they teach you when you first start) or are turning by moving your board (this is how you actually turn)?

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

i move my shoulders a swing my arms wildley in the air and sometimes i let out a loud skreech. thanks for the advice, ill work on it today, my last day off.

[tomcat360]

I checked where we are staying, center village condos