Another Snowboarder Developed?

This weekend some members of the extended family came to town from a state where they don't get much snow. Parents, grandparents, and little kids enjoyed some time at a sledding hill. We had saucers, a Flexible Flyer, and one rectangular (and slow!) sled.

Though the hill had a mere 35 (or was it 50?) vertical rise, walking up it made me appreciate modern technology. As I told a few people: "God made snow; man made lifts."

But of course I had to take my snowboard, too. It made me think of the old-school snowboarders, who had to hike everywhere they went. I didn't have nearly as many trips down as I would have had even with a rope tow, and it was a lot more work. But then again, it was a different experience, and had its own joys. So old school.

This afternoon I introduced another member of the family to snowboarding. His young son made jokes about how his dad was going to "get killed," but the old man did very well. I knew our time was limited, so I gave him an abbreviated lesson that was short on some elementary skills (skating, sliding with one foot in) and long on just riding down the hill. He started working on the j-turns fairly well, especially on the toeside. I could see the usefulness of his ski background as he talked about the pros and cons of going down the slope in one particular direction.

As I said, it was a short session, and we soon returned to helping the kids hurl themselves down the short hill in plastic sleds. My family member / student may in time take a lesson when there's more terrain (e.g., Colorado). It would be great to see the little lesson of today result in another adult snowboarder, and riding companion.

The Midwestern Connection

The Midwest has plenty of good qualities, but great snowboarding terrain is not one of them. Even so, the region develops plenty of skiers and riders, as the Chicago Tribune describes ("Midwest resorts excel in ski lessons," January 20, 2008)

It mentions that there are “more than 100” ski resorts in the region. You can, by the way, see the web site of all of them through GraysOnTrays: see the Great Lakes page for Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, and the Midwest page for Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and the Dakotas.

According to one official of Vail Resorts (which owns Vail, Breckenridge, Keystone, Heavenly and Beaver Creek resorts), Chicago is once again the second city—this time in providing the most number of customers to the company.

The Tribune article describes regional ski areas, including Wilmot (Wisconsin), Grand Geneva (Wisconsin), Shanty Creek (Michigan) and others.

If you’re interested in a long-weekend getaway to introduce your children to skiing or snowboarding, the article is especially useful, because it describes the children’s programs at various resorts.

Did you ever wonder how the number of snowboard instructors compares with that of ski instructors? Wilmot has 240 instructors, of whom 60 are snowboarders. Assuming that nobody among the 240 teachers both skiing and snowboarding (most likely an invalid assumption, but close enough to the truth), that’s a ratio of 3 ski instructors to every 1 snowboard instructor. That sounds similar to industry averages for the customer base, but I digress.

Are you ready for a magic carpet ride? The director of the snowsports school at Grand Geneva says they "have really revolutionized the learning process" for helping students—especially children—spend more time trying to make turns and less time grappling with the rope. I certainly would have benefited from a carpet too, as it took me quite a while to handle a rope tow during my early days on a board.

Five Tips for Snowboarding

In the Sierra Sun (February 13), Max (Margaret) Shu Teasdale offers 5 tips for beginning snowboarders. Depending on where you live, you can probably do two of them in your back yard or at a local park. No lift required.

They are:

• Practice your stance.
  
• Practice skating
  
• Try some J-turns
  
• Try some C-turns
  
• Learn to get on and off the lift.

I would add one other item: practice straight glides. That is, find a very, very small hill--so small that it doesn't even qualify as a small bump. Put your foot in the front binding, and start sliding until you come to a stop.

Being a "Progressive" Snowboarder

Do a Google search for the words "progressive" and "snowboarding," and you'll find over 250,000 hits.

You may be wondering "What in the world does this mean?"

I've recently created a new page at GraysonTrays.com to answer answer that question.

Be sure to check out the related topic of riding levels, which is more related to taking lessons than anything else.

What a Lesson

In addition to writing about snowboarding and simply riding around, I also teach snowboarding. Being an adult snowboarder it in itself somewhat of a novelty, at least in the Midwest. Being an adult snowboard instructor is also fairly unusual.

The instructor corps of the snowsports school where I teach leans towards the older side on skiing, and on the younger side on snowboarding.

Most of the lessons I give are to late elementary or middle-school students. I take special delight in teaching adults, but when you're in a service business, you respond to the market.

And of the lessons I give, most are basic lessons, to people just starting out. (For one thing, I'm in no way ready to perform most freestyle tricks, let alone teach someone how to do them.) The lessons are typically 90 minutes long, though I often take a big longer.

On this weekend last, I was given a private lesson to teach. It was scheduled for 2 hours, but went on for a third when the customer and his mother decided on a third hour.

It took a good chunk out of the day--and the best time for riding--but there's nothing to challenge your understanding of something like trying to teach it to someone else.

End of the Teaching Season.

Yesterday was the end of my teaching season.

What, you say. Hasn't it has been over for weeks?

Well yes it has. The last lesson I gave was sometime in late March. But the hill where I teach went on for another week or two. And last night, we remembered the season.

If you've never thought of it, you might be surprised at the number of people required to keep a ski area open.

There are, customers aside, at least six important groups of people who make a day area work: owners, office staff, lodge staff (kitchen, primarily), hill and other maintenance (groomers, snow makers, lift operators), ski patrol, and instructors.

Last night our little area had its "Annual Instructor & Patrol Spring Banquet." Though instructors got the top billing, the event was really more a celebration of ski patrollers than anything else. After the meal, there were awards for best rookie patroller, most spirited patroller, and so forth. No such awards for instructors.

Then again, I don't begrudge the patrol for any commendations they receive or wish to bestow on its members. At a recruiting open house, I learned that ski patrollers have to undergo OEC (Outdoor Education Care) before the season starts, and do dryland training. as well. Something about walking up the hill on Saturday mornings. In ski boots.

One curious thing that I noted about the evening: a large portion of the crowd seemed to be north of 40 years old. This is similar to my observations about snowsports journalists, and of ski club memberships. Perhaps younger folks do participate, but have very young children who keep them at home during the evening. I'm not sure. It did seem, from my limited observations, that many people knew each other for quite a while.

The evening ended with a long video that showed different parts of the season, from the snow-making operations to mid-season skiing and riding to bumps skiing to freestyle tricks. To be truthful, most of the soundtrack did not appeal to me. It would have been nice to see more snowboarding and less skiing. But overall, the video was a great reminder of the season.

NASJA 11: Snowboarding With Poles

Snowboarding with poles? What could be sillier than that? After all, in snowboarding, you rock back and forth between heel and toe, while on skis you rock from one side of the foot to the other.

I have read, on occasion, a recommendation for novices to try snowboarding with poles. But while at Crested Butte, I saw something I had never seen before: someone navigating an expert pitch while on a snowboard, and using skis.

Riding up the Paradise lift, you'll see some steep glades to your east. They're double diamonds. And who did I see coming through those glades, but a snowboarder with ski poles. It was an odd sight.

What gives? Perhaps the poles were for flatter sections--after all, you don't come out of terrain like that at a great speed. Perhaps they somehow assisted in making tight turns, though at the moment I can't figure out how that would happen.

Any thoughts? Leave a comment.

NASJA 7: T-Bar!

I've never liked surface lifts, whether I was on skis or on a snowboard. And for a snowboarder, face it, surface lifts were designed with skiers in mind.

But can a snowboarder make peace with surface lifts?

I struggled a long time to master tow ropes, but that's as far as I got in using surface lifts. Until now.

I spent the day touring the mountain, from edge to edge, with some other participants in the conference. By mid-afternoon, someone suggested we head up to an area that required using a t-bar. I was hesitant, but decided to take the effort.

First we went up the High Lift, and then, the North Face lift. Both lifts served diamond or double diamond terrain.

I did manage to make it up the two lifts. Here are some things that worked for me along the way. They may work for you. Though a t-bar can take two people uphill, it's best for you to go up solo.

1. Slide into place, on one side or the other of where the line will be. Your uphill foot should be in the binding; your downhill foot should not be in its binding. Note that you will also have an uphill hand and a downhill hand.

2. When the bar comes around, put your uphill hand on the line. With your downhill hand, push the bar into place. This means placing a butt cheek against the bar.

3. As you go up, you may be tempted to let your uphill arm do all the work, by grasping the line. That's a mistake; you'll tire out very quickly. Successfully using a t-bar requires letting the line do the work, through the bar, not you doing the work through holding the line in a death grip with your uphill arm.

4. You may find a tendency for the bar to slip away from you. That's not good news. To counteract this tendency, rest your downhill hand on the opposite side of the bar (where someone else would be standing), and periodically shove the bar closer to you.

5. As you ascend, maintain a slight bend in your knees. That way you can absorb small changes in the terrain.

6. Will your back foot slip off the board if it's not in a binding? Probably. The most important thing is to not panic. The second thing is to not over correct. Simply put your foot back on the board; don't stomp.

7. Note that the terrain may become more steep as you get towards the end of the ride. Stick with it and you'll be rewarded with new terrain.

Complete Your Turns

I gave a lesson today, to a young guy I'll call Robert. He told me that he has taken a snowboard out "in my backyard" a few times, though I wasn't sure what that went.

We went through the preliminary stuff, and then moved over to the bunny hill. He had a natural inclination to make toeside turns. But heelside turns? Those were another matter. I gave him some ideas on how to initiative and stick with a heelside turn, but he just couldn't do it.

That's not unusual; many new riders favor toeside turns. For one thing, you can see where you are going more easily. And it's more like the natural motion of walking forward, in a circle. Going heelside can feel like walking backwards.

Sometime after his lesson, another instructor came up to me and said "Did you have the kid in the blue jacket this morning?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Well you should up to the top of the bunny hill. He's doing some great jumps!"

And sure enough, he was doing jumps. Some boys had built a small kicker, and a lot of riders (all under 15, I would guess) took turns "getting air," anywhere from 2 inches to 4 feet.

"Hey, I hear you're doing some great stuff up here," I said to Robert after I arrived in the area.

"Should I do a 180 or a nose grab?," he asked.

"How about a 180? I like the way those look," I said.

He did a tail grab instead. Oh well, it was still enjoyable to watch.

I ended up making a few jumps too. Nothing major, but enough to participate.

I was glad that Robert was able to get in some enjoyment from making those jumps. Now if he could just get those heelside turns worked out.

His experience made me wonder: is it possible to become a serious (enough for a small ski hill) freestyle rider without being able to link turns?

In Defense of Step-in Bindings

A lot of experienced snowboarders have bad things to say about step-in bindings.

I'm going to be a contrarian and say that there ought to be more rather than fewer step-ins. I think they would help grow the sport.

Consider, for example, the cross-over skier. Someone's been a skier for a while, sees a lot of riders, and wants to give snowboarding a try. What's he used to in bindings? Step-ins. Toe, heel, click, and off he skis.

He then goes to the rental shop to get snowboarding gear. Straps? More work:
- Bending over for a prolonged time OR sitting down and then standing up with both feet in (neither are easy)
- Fidgeting with threading one piece of plastic through another (often requiring removing one's gloves--brrr!)
- Not stepping on a flopping rear strap while doing skating exercises.

I recently taught a very good skier how to ride. We did sessions at two different ski areas. One had step-ins; one had straps. The verdict? "Damn straps!"

I must say that step-ins don't always live up to their promise. More than once I have had to point out to one of my students the need to clear snow away from the binding on the board, the metal bar on the boot, or both. When I tried step-ins (admittedly, four years ago), I always had a hard time knowing whether I was "in" or not.

Count me in the "love 'em" camp of Flows. Adjust your settings on the dry land, slap that back lever into place on the mountain, and slide away. But even here, there are some problems, notably, a beginner getting into them on uneven ground. (One solution: enter toeside and then do a ground roll if a heelside ride-off is desired.)

In short, I think there's plenty of room for someone to come up with a newbie-friendly binding system that will work in a variety of conditions. Learning how to ride is difficult enough, especially if you're older than, say, 21. It's too bad that the equipment makes that more difficult than it otherwise could be.

A Cold Day in Snowboard Instruction

Back-to-back-to-back! What a day of giving lessons.

I've got a long drive to my teaching "mountain," but with the iPod, it isn't so bad. In fact, it's a time that I can use to catch up on some radio programs I have missed. I still wish that the place was closer to home, but I really enjoy the people there.

Sometime after I arrived, I saw David, another instructor. We ended up parking next to each other. He led our new instructor's clinic last year. He’s one of the older “young” guys, and he has a young child, which I like. A little more relate-to-able than some of other instructors. I told him about the trip to Aspen and how I had enjoyed teaching my sister-in-law how to ride. He had two boards with him, and one had Flow bindings from about five years ago. I mentioned my strong belief in that design, and he said that he thought it was good for beginners.

I clocked in at 9:30 and wandered around a bit waiting for the 9:50 “bell.” (We met at a picnic shelter with a bell inside it.) I saw Brenda, another instructor. She's somewhat older than me. I've shadowed her in a few lessons, and we easily talk with each other. I hung out with her until 10 and then, as she was gathering her students, I went off for some solo riding for 45-50 minutes.

I spent a week in Aspen, and I was reminded again that I am back in the Midwest. Just as I’m warming up on my slide down the hill, the trail comes to a end. I’ll say this in in the favor of my home place, though: the snow was nicely groomed, and you could still see the seams in places.

Oddly enough, I found one place where I didn't like snow being groomed: on one of the "road" trails. Normally it’s an enjoyable trip. The road gives me that feeling of a kid running through the woods. But this morning the seams slowed me down. So I went back to some steeper slopes.

At 10:45 I showed up at the bell to see if there were any students for me. Oh yes there were. Four. Four! Three adults and a youngster. One guy was late teens/early 20s. Then there was another guy, with his 12-year old daughter, and a friend of his visiting from out of town. Oddly enough, the young man had the most difficult time of the four. He was particularly troubled by the bindings. I don't know why he had trouble, but he just couldn't get the boots to click. (They are step-ins.) After a while it became obvious that there were differing levels of ability in the group. I hate it when that happens, but it’s inevitable. The 12-year old was doing so-so, as was the out-of-town guest. The dad (a skier) did really well.

The lesson ran long. Mine always do; I like to give the students a lot to work on. After we broke up, I had enough time to go to the car, get some food, and return to the bell with a few minutes to spare before the next appointed meeting.

I'm at the bell, talking with two of the younger instructors when the ski school director calls my name. I've got four more students: a guy and his teenaged son, and two other people. (As I write this now, names from the two lessons are merging and I can’t remember the two other people.) As with the first group, some students did better than others, and I spend a lot of time shuttling between a more advanced student, to the person having a lot of trouble with the very basics, to the person who gets some things but not others. Do I like private lessons! It's so much easier to concentrate on one student.

Time's up--beyond up, really--and we scatter. I return to my car for another snack, and head back to the bell. Should I ask to be let free, or should I volunteer for another lesson?

Go see if there’s a need for another lesson, I think. It’s not like I’m missing out on some best-in-world terrain if I spend some more time on the bunny hill.

The director says "You haven't ridden a lot. Are you ready for another lesson?" He says that he's got two more adults for a lesson. Seeing that they're adults--a demographic I don't get to teach that often--I say "sure." After all, I'm here to get experience teaching, right?

This class consists of a young guy and his girlfriend. As I start the lesson, I go back to the basics, talking about the shape of the board, how to fall, and so forth. As I tick off these points, I wonder if I have made them to the other two classes. Back-to-back-to-back can be demanding, I am learning.

The guy does fairly well once we get going. The girl is always one step behind. It’s back to the split attention mode again. Give him one drill, give her another. I feel sorry for her; I’d like so much to see her “get it,” and I wonder if there’s something else I can do to help. My mind goes blank, except for the thought that everyone progresses at different speeds.

My work suddenly becomes easier, though for the wrong reasons. The girl takes an awkward fall and lands on her wrist. She suspects a sprain and says that she’s going in. Both of the students had been on rollerblades, and she says that she has broken her wrist before, so she knows what a badly hurt wrist feels like. It isn’t broken, but she needs to stop.

I spend another 50 minutes with the guy. The light is starting to fade, which is difficult for anyone, but especially a beginner. He has some successes, and a lot of wipeouts. Still, he doesn’t seem to mind. I encourage him that a maniacal attitude is good; that’s how I learned how to ride.

After the lesson, I think about catching some riding on my own. But the window of opportunity for riding the bumps has gone. They’re too icy now. So too, I suspect, is the giant headwall. It would have made a fun challenge early in the day, but now it would just be a nasty get-through-it experience. I decide to pack it in.

I go back to my car and swap my snowboard boots for some worn out, floppy shoes that I use for driving. Usually I take a big plastic bin o’ gear from the car to the lodge and change: off with the impact shorts, off with the knee pads, on with the shorts that I wear over my long underwear. But today I’m just cold and want to get going.

So who should I meet in the parking lot? David. The same guy I started the day with. We talk about the lessons we gave. Since I’m a freelance worker in my day job, this is about the only time that I get to talk shop with someone who does the same kind of work that I do.

I’ve been outside in the 20 degree cold (with a few indoor breaks) for nearly 8 hours. More than half that time I’ve been walking around talking with people, observing students, and otherwise not even on my board, let alone riding. But it’s been a good day in the snowboarding world anyway.

Do the Discount Deal

One of the best deals in snowboarding is the newbie package. (In the business, first-timers are often called "never-evers.") Whether it is called Get Hooked, Beginner's Magic, Learn to Ride, or something else, the idea is the same: give new snowboarders a three-fold package of snowboarding gear rental (boots, binding, board), a lift ticket, and a group lesson. It's common for the package to be spread out over two or three different sessions, meaning that you don't have to conquer everything in one day.

The package price is better than what you would get by purchasing all three items separately, often, better than purchasing just two of the items on separate days.

For example, the "Beginner's Magic" program in Aspen gives you three days of tickets, equipment, and instruction, for $339. If you bought those items separately, the cost would be $675.

If you simply bought tickets and rentals, the cost would be $338, if you purchase at peak times.

For the fee of $1, you get some great instruction.

Similar deals can be found elsewhere. At Wild Mountain, in Minnesota, a $99 "get hooked" package gives you rentals, tickets, and instruction for 3 days. Purchase tickets and rentals alone, and that sets you back $186.

Much like retail stores sell loss-leaders in hopes of getting you through the door to buy something else, ski areas offer deeply discounted packages to newbies in hopes of creating lifelong customers.

It worked with me. It might work for you, too.

Learning to Ride from a Deck of Cards

Can you learn to ride from playing a game of cards? Not likely, but you might benefit from some Snowboard Training Cards.

Produced by Sport Moves, the pack contains 60 cards. The cards are coated, just like the standard set that you would use for poker.

Each card has information on both front and back side, with both text and graphics. The graphics of snowboarders engaged in various movements are keyed to numbered paragraphs.

Here's the table of contents:

Before the lift covers stance, edges, board flex, the fall line, the responsibility code and trail markers, and a variety of basic movements.

Getting moving tells you about surface and chair lifts, slide slips, traverses, garlands, the falling leaf, and connecting turns.

Riding conditions take you through how changes in the snow and terrain can affect what you do while snowboarding.

freestyle and park cards address safety concerns and a variety of trick maneuvers, including grabs, rails, and the halfpipe.

Competition is a short topic, with one card each discussing the basics of alpine racing, boardercross, halfpipe competitions, and slopestyle.

The home practice routine gives a workout routine.

Bonus drills continue the theme, but require equipment such as a balance board or a trampoline, or getting on the mountain.

Finally equipment cards describe the "3 b's" of boots, boards, and bindings, helping you figure out what to buy.

The cards won't substitute for lessons or time on the snow, but they can be a helpful introduction or refresher. At under $10--about the cost of an over-priced, greasy lunch slopeside--it could be money well spent.

You can buy a pack through the Grays on Trays store.