Videos to help you learn snowboarding Not everyone has the same style of learning. Some learn best from reading. Others use trial and error. If you learn from watching other people, some of the videos below might help you. They won't substitute for a lessons from a competent instructor, but they will give you an edge when you go to the mountain. There are plenty of videos out there to help you jib, grind rails, and huck your carcass off of money booters so that (one hopes) you won't end up with hospital air. Say what? Just as we thought. Straight-forward, non-nonsense videos on the basics of riding are few and far between. For the longest time, snowboarding-related videos focused on spins, jumps, and fearless tricks that most adults contemplating snowboarding might watch for "how do they do that?" entertainment--but not as guides to learning. Now that's starting to change. Fresh Start Snowboarding The first video we came across that offers tips on the basics of snowboarding is Fresh Start Snowboarding. This video is put together by Kurt Kilinna, a snowboarding instructor who has been certified by the American Association of Snowboard Instructors (AASI). In this video, Kurt thoroughly explains and demonstrates the basics of snowboarding, such as one-footed skating, straight glides, j-turns, and then linked turns. If you're an engineer, you'll especially enjoy his use of graph paper and a protractor to explain some concepts. But don't worry; if you didn't do well in math, you can still benefit from this 80-minute presentation. Purchase either the DVD (click above) or if you want to save a few bucks, download the video from Amazon.com. Purchase through the links here, and Amazon will throw a few pennies our way. The Snow Professors SnowProfessor.com is a fairly new site created by Rick and Jill, a brother and sister, respectively, living in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. Both have multiple AASI certifications. The site has videos about how to buy equipment as well as snowboard reviews (currently limited to Burton products). Many of the basic steps that you will cover in introductory lessons have their own short videos. The topics include glides, j-turns, and using the chair lift. There are also more advanced topics available. Jill and Rick will be adding more videos in the months to come. Keep a watch on this site. MonkeySee MonkeySee is a site that offers instructional videos on a variety of sports. Snowboarding is just one of them. The site isn't put together as well as the Snow Professors. For one thing, both ski and snowboarding are listed in the same category--even if you pick snowboarding. This produces some visual clutter. And it doesn't appear that there's an easy way of getting a comprehensive list of snowboarding-related videos on the site. YouTube Videos How about YouTube? There are plenty of snowboarding-related videos on YouTube, though they're of varied quality, to say the least. A lot are of the "Hey folks, look at this" quality. But can you find some good instructional videos on the site? So far, there are a limited number of useful videos, with rather poor visual quality. We looked for some helpful videos, especially those identified as coming from AASI-certified instructors. Here are the best. "Crossover turns" "Riding with trees" "Nose press" "Dropping in the halfpipe" "Smartstyle" -- safety in the terrain park. DISCUSSION Stop by the Grays on Trays discussion board to add your comments or questions relating to snowboarding lessons. Return to the home page.