Are you ready to start snowboarding? The short answer is: Yes! The first day can be a bear, but if you're willing to commit two or three days to start, you can get comfortable in one of the funnest outdoor activities around.
The Environment of Snowboarding
You don't have to hit the backcountry to snowboard. Like other snowsliding, most snowboarding goes on at winter resorts. Resorts plan, maintain, and monitor their trails, labeling them according to a widely used rating system (green for easy, blue for intermediate, and black or "diamond" for difficult). They also offer lessons, making snowboarding one of the simplest, safest outdoor sports to explore.
The Skills of Snowboarding
Snowboarding, like all board sports, requires three things:
- Balance and coordination to stay up on the board and to steer it
- Trunk strength to support your balance and coordination
- Line-picking abilities
Starting with a Lesson
Snowboarding lessons are easily available, and you should take one. Even if you are an experienced surfer or skater, an instructor can show you a few tricks, and the injury potential of snowboarding makes those tips worth learning. A lesson or two will be enough to teach you some simple ways to avoid injuries to your head, wrists, and rear end!
Buying Equipment
Whether you buy equipment depends on two questions: how often do you plan to go, and what kind of snowboarding do you plan to concentrate on?
Boots and a snowboard (and a helmet, if you choose to wear one) can easily total $400, even if you're getting great deals. If you think you're likely to snowboard at resorts maybe a half a dozen times per season -- particularly if you expect to do casual boarding with no special tricks or adventures up your sleeve -- it makes sense to rent at the mountain. That saves you the extra hassle of transporting and maintaining the gear, too. At many resorts, you can spend 15 days on the mountain -- including a few lessons to get you started -- and still spend less than if you buy your own gear.
If you're hard to fit, love to shop, or have specific goals in snowboarding, though, you'll have some decisions to make. The first is what kind of boarding you'll want to do most.
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