Snowboarding Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description

Disciplines

Freeride

The object in freeride is simply to have fun cruising down the mountain. The majority of snowboarders reside within this sub-style category. Freeride is also known as all-mountain snowboarding. Another variant of Freeriding is extreme snowboarding.

Freeride snowboarding is influenced significantly by surfing, where the focus is on making clean lines in the snow. Many freeride purists attach an almost spiritual connotation to carving down the mountain.

Describes snowboarders who prefer to spend most of their time getting air using ramps and half-pipes. Typically, a wider & shorter snowboard between 130 and 170 centimeters is combined with soft-shelled boots to afford the rider with more flexibility. The flexibility of the fiberglass snowboard allows it to flex on the transitions of a half pipe or obstacle, while the more flexible boots make it easier for the rider to make tight turns.

Freestyle snowboarding is influenced greatly by skateboarding. Many ski areass operate terrain parks which often simulate the urban skateboard environment, complete with handrails, funboxes and machine formed jumps.

Relative to freestyle and freeriding, there aren't very many people involved in the Alpine subdiscipline. Alpine snowboarders use longer, narrow boards and the hard-shelled boots which resemble ski boots. The alpine board is designed primarily for carving down pistes, both feet are angled sharply forward.

Boards

The snowboards used in the different disciplines also come in different styles. Longer boards achieve higher speed and stability, shorter boards turn easier and are more suited for freestyle jumps. A flexible board can carve in tighter curves, but begins to wobble at higher speeds.

Currently the following four types of boards are often discerned:

• Racing: long, very stiff, hard boots, slightly waisted, directional.
• Alpine: long, stiff, hard boots, slightly waisted, directional.
• Freecarve: very waisted, flexible, medium length, hard or soft boots, directional.
• Freeride: waisted, flexible, short to medium length, soft boots, bi-directional.
• Freestyle: waisted, flexible, short, soft boots, bi-directional, light.

Snowboard bindings, unlike ski bindings, do not automatically release upon impact or after falling over. With skis, this mechanism was originally meant to protect from nasty breaks caused by skis torn in different directions. It is not required when snowboarding, as the rider's legs are fixed in a static position. Furthermore it reduces the chance of the board going downhill riderless (and the rider speeding downhill on his back as he has no more means to keep a grip on a steep slope).

Bindings can be released manually and exist in strap-on and step-in variants. Step-in bindings need a stiffer shoe sole and are therefore more common for hard boot riders.

Leash

The snowboard is attached to the front leg of the rider with a short leash. This keeps snowboards belonging to inattentive riders or riders who are non compos mentis for other reasons from unmanned downhill rides.

Technique

Learning How to Snowboard

Typically, the first couple of days learning how to snowboard are harder than skiing, with many more falls and bruises. However, some consider snowboarding easier to learn than skiing, requiring only the mastery of two edges as opposed to four edges and two poles in skiing with no chance of crossing your skiis. Others believe that the snowboarding motion, which requires leaning into turns beyond the natural comfort level of one's center of gravity, and the lack of stability from just one edge are far more difficult skills to master than skiing.

Safety Tips

• As the snowboard is not very stable unless it is in motion, the first lesson before learning to ride should be to learn to fall correctly to avoid injuries. The basic principle here is, when loosing balance, to crouch down to reduce the falling height of the upper body.

• Wearing safety gear is highly recommended. The body parts most affected by injuries are the wrists, the tailbone and the head. Useful safety gear includes wrist guards, padded or protected snowboard pants and a helmet.

• Padding can be useful on other body parts like hips, knees, spine and shoulders.

• General safety tips for winter sports, alpine conditions and skiing should also be respected.

See also: Boarder Cross, Skateboarding, Freebord, Skateboarding trick

This is an Article on Snowboarding. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Snowboarding

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