After 12 Years of Skiing, I Tried Snowboarding. Here’s What I Learned.

I’ve been pretty comfortable with skiing for a while now. I know how it all works, I know how to put on the boots, the skis, and how to get on and off the lift. I know how much weight needs to be on the skis and where — it’s pretty second nature to me at this point. (okay, fine, I still struggle with black diamonds). I love the feeling of the cold, Rocky Mountain wind on my face as I zoom down the gleaming slopes, my skis making that crisp sound every time I make an S-curve, with no worries of falling on my ass.

So why on earth did I want to try snowboarding?

Well, for one, I had someone to give me pointers (my boyfriend).

But two, I wanted to get outside of my comfort zone a little bit. I wanted something new to figure out. Skiing is pretty relaxing to me — it doesn’t really require much thought, only reflexes unless I decide to really push myself. I wanted a new challenge.

I am the kind of person that loves to try new things, however, I get wary when that thing could potentially lead to injury. I tried snowboarding in Wisconsin, not the Rockies, but, trying a new sport that could potentially lead to a bunch of bruises? Kinda big for me.

I’m not going to lie, after I successfully dismounted the magic carpet and was on top of the bunny hill (gotta start small, right?) my palms started sweating. I had to get down this hill on one piece of plastic, not two, and I couldn’t just slide down on my butt.

After FINALLY getting up onto the board, the panic set in a bit. The board just kept moving, even though I was technically braking. Didn’t see that one coming. On skiis, you can basically just stand still on the slope, even if you’re not facing down the hill, and you won’t move. Definitely wasn’t prepared for that.

In the beginning, every time I tried facing the board down the hill, not sideways, I fell because I got scared, something I wish I wouldn’t have done as much. A lot of the day was spent sitting halfway down the hill, panting because I had to get up yet again.

However, once I got over that fear and realized I had control, it got MUCH easier — I didn’t give in to the fall as much. And that was so exciting to me. It was a change for me to test my individual, physical coordination in a new way.

If you’re new to snowboarding, yes, it is scary to face the board down the hill. But what you should remember and what I learned is that you have control. You can “brake” (make the board perpendicular to the hill) whenever you need to. So just go for it, and break when you need to. You’re going to fall. But, if you can control your speed, that fall will be somewhat controlled.

After falling out of sheer fear multiple times, I finally started understanding that I had control. I just needed to practice switching from braking to moving a lot.

If you are also a skier that wants to try snowboarding, or just want to try snowboarding period, here are a few pointers. Obviously, I am NOT a pro snowboarder, but these are some tips that helped me the most on my first day of snowboarding:

1. When you’re trying to get up, put the board close to your butt and use your quads to get up (it’s painful, I know). Then, to avoid just falling back down again, put some of your weight on your TOES. The board will move, yes, but if you’re perpendicular to the slope, it’ll be a slow movement.
2. People will say “brake by keeping your weight on your heels.” But I learned that it’s easy to put too much weight there, and you’ll end up falling on your butt.
3. Keep your knees bent at all times with your arms out for balance.
4. Learn how to switch from braking to moving on a really tiny hill first before trying to send it down any larger hills. This will teach you the control that you’ll need later.
5. If you want to move a certain direction, physically put your weight on that foot and literally look in that direction.
6. Speaking of looking, don’t look down. Look out towards the bottom of the mountain.

The MOST important tip? Try not to hesitate — snowboarding does require a certain measure of assertiveness — if you hesitate too much, you’ll fall.

Snowboarding is one of those things that REQUIRES practice, but it’s easy to see improvement if you just do your best and have patience.

Have fun trying something new and challenging yourself. It was so cool to me to see a little bit of improvement by the end of the day, especially because I was so terrified in the beginning.

One more thing — you will be sore the next day.