Snowboarding for dummies, volume 1

By Matt Boxler

Alas, it’s mid-season already and you’re still not sponsored. There isn’t anyone handing you a new board each week to ride, or tuning it for you after you ride it. No one to coordinate your travel and meal plans. No lift ticket comps or film shoots lined up.

You’re on your own.

Well, join the crowd. Most of us are recreational riders responsible for paying our own way and making our own decisions, from the equipment we ride to the places we ride. All these decisions can be overwhelming. So, to help ease your mind, here’s some quick advice for some of the most pressing questions facing snowboarders today. Take this advice for what it’s worth … which, by the way, is free.

* Should I follow that young kid off that kicker? If you need to ask yourself that question, then the answer is probably ‘no.’ Terrain parks offer a relatively safe way to experience the thrill of catching big air, but no rider, regardless of ability, should ever go off jumps without riding through the park first to check them out. A friend of mine shattered his nose and added a considerable amount of patriotic color to the snow after following a kid off a pretty large kicker. I must say, he did get huge air, though.

* Can’t I just ride the rust off these edges? Unless we travel with personal eequipment tuners, we’re all guilty of this practice to some degree. While the garish rusty hue will in fact disappear after a good run on the snow, bare in mind it’s only a cosmetic fix. The imperfections in your edges caused by neglect remain and, believe it or not, will worsen. It’s better to grab some steel wool in that cabinet beneath the sink and run it up and down your edges. This gets rid of the rust and smoothes minor burrs. Avoid putting a file in your hands unless you know how to use it. Between rides, wipe down your edges with a towel and, if you’re feeling really responsible, run some wax along both edges to further seal out the moisture.

* How young can you be to start snowboarding? First off, if you can read this, you’re probably old enough to begin snowboarding. Most New England resorts don’t offer snowboard instruction to kids until they’re at least 4 years old. The more important number is weight. In order to flex the board properly, a child should weigh at least 60 pounds. Every child is different, however, as some don’t appreciate the snow and cold as much as we’d like. The fastest way kill interest in snowboarding is to push a child into something they don’t want to do. If your 4-year-old is happy climbing up a snowbank and rolling back down, then stick with that.

* Should I wait in the liftline with my friends or jump in the singles line? The real thing to consider is your motives. If you want to cut down on the wait time in line, encourage your friends to queue up behind you in the singles line. If you want to hang with your friends and are in no rush, stay where you are and enjoy. If you want to dump your friends for whatever reason, you can “accidentally” lose them by jumping in the singles line while they wait patiently along with everyone else. Don’t forget to yell out that you’ll “meet them at the top.” Once you’re at the top, where it can become very confusing, simply start down “looking for them.” Just don’t be a dope and make a run beneath the liftline.

* Helmet? Whether or not you have the ability to think on your own, the answer is generally ‘yes.’ Of course it’s your freedom to choose and hopefully resorts will never require helmet use (provided U.S. courts don’t push them that way). I’ve heard the argument from some riders that they won’t get a helmet until they suffer their first head injury. With this logic, my guess is they’ve already suffered a head injury and still don’t realize it.

* Other protective gear? Beyond helmets and wrist guards for learning riders, much of the protective gear designed for snowboarders is largely unnecessary. This isn’t football. It’s not a contact sport. If you require body armor then you should learn how to fall better, or, even, how not to fall at all. Rolling with a fall spreads out the force of impact and transfers the energy elsewhere. Sticking out your arms to absorb impact is a certain recipe for a broken bone or two.

* Straps or step-ins? Straps all the way. In comparison, step-ins are too heavy, bulky, and tend to collect ice. The boots also seem heavier and if you’re ever going to do any hiking in the back country, forget about it. You won’t find much debate out there on this question, Step-ins are out.

* Rails? The answer is “no” due to the simple fact that in order to excel at rail riding, you must dull your edges and crash about a thousand times before you get the hang of it. And since this column was written for those of us who are not likely to be sponsored at any point in our riding careers, why put yourself through that kind of pain?

(Matt Boxler is a member of the North American Snowsports Journalists Association and the Eastern Ski Writers Association).