Off Topic · OT: Say hello to Winter fellas. (page 1)

Should be a fun couple of days here. Come Monday morning the northern counties will be measuring snow in feet not inches. Even the city right down into central jersey should see at least a moderate snowfall when all is said and done.

About damn time I've gotten sick of mild winters. If for nothing else too many bugs and rodents have been surviving the winters where they're ordinarily wiped out. Well, time for nature to do some population control.

Posted by Cosmic:

Should be a fun couple of days here. Come Monday morning the northern counties will be measuring snow in feet not inches. Even the city right down into central jersey should see at least a moderate snowfall when all is said and done.

About damn time I've gotten sick of mild winters. If for nothing else too many bugs and rodents have been surviving the winters where they're ordinarily wiped out. Well, time for nature to do some population control.

Rodents where do you live cosmic?

I'm down in suburban central jersey. Not too far from the shore. Ants, Bees, Squirrels, Rats, Mice, stray Cats, old people - you name it - it's failed to be killed off during winter the past few years. We're overrun. We need one of those good solid week long freezes this year - you know the type - never seeing 10 degrees above zero for a full week? That'll do the trick!

5-8 inches tomorrow? YUCK

Awesome. More snowboarding for me.

Posted by NYK3:

5-8 inches tomorrow? YUCK

Yep, and a WHOLE lot more for Saturday Night through Monday Morning with a second much larger and colder storm. You can probably triple the amount by then.

Then don't look now, but, the computers want to forecast a blizzard for Christmas Eve. Far too early to put any confidence in that however.

Posted by eViL:

Awesome. More snowboarding for me.

I've skied before, not in a while... never snowboarded but would like to learn, especially now that I'd basically need to relearn how to ski. Any beginner's tips?

Posted by SupremeCommander:

Posted by eViL:

Awesome. More snowboarding for me.

I've skied before, not in a while... never snowboarded but would like to learn, especially now that I'd basically need to relearn how to ski. Any beginner's tips?

Yeah...when you're getting yourself into trouble don't try to separate your legs as if you're still on skies. It really doesn't help the situation.

I'm in the Northeast Bronx. Whatever snow Manhattan gets, we seem to get 2" more.

Might be an excuse to work from home, which I'm not opposed to at this time of year.

Posted by Cosmic:

Posted by SupremeCommander:

Posted by eViL:

Awesome. More snowboarding for me.

I've skied before, not in a while... never snowboarded but would like to learn, especially now that I'd basically need to relearn how to ski. Any beginner's tips?

Yeah...when you're getting yourself into trouble don't try to separate your legs as if you're still on skies. It really doesn't help the situation.

Be super-confident.

Posted by SupremeCommander:

Posted by eViL:

Awesome. More snowboarding for me.

I've skied before, not in a while... never snowboarded but would like to learn, especially now that I'd basically need to relearn how to ski. Any beginner's tips?

First off, this might go without saying, depending on your attitude, but be humble. Unless you have extensive experience in other balance oriented sports (skateboarding or skating/skiing to a lesser degree) you probably just won't have the development in your muscles to truly control the board. Snowboarding requires a very subtle and nuanced control of your body weight that draws on muscles that I'm not sure we develop in everyday activities. Even if you are a terrific athlete, usually you are relying on more explosive strength to get the job done. That same explosive strength really won't help you learn how to balance. You need more core strength and, more than anything, you need muscle and body coordination. So that's why I say that you have to be humble. You might want to be good right away, but more often than not, you'll be awful and frustrated and cold and embarrassed. But really, you have nothing to be embarrassed of. You just need your muscles to get up to speed at doing something that you've never asked them to do before.

Next step, spend at least a day on the bunny slope. You'll save money on a lift ticket (which usually run anywhere from $50-$80). You can learn a lot by hanging on the bunny slope. If you have a buddy that's cool enough to spend a portion of his or her day riding down the mountain with you, then maybe you can take a lift, but don't go by yourself. If you have time off, it's worth going in the middle of the week. The mountain is usually emptier and that provides better conditions for you to learn on. So once you are strapped in and ready to conquer the bunny slope this is what you need to do:

1) Let me jump back a second to one of the most important factors for snowboarding, that is -- boot fit. You need to make sure you fit into your boots. They have to be as snug as they can be without cutting off circulation (by the way, do not double-up on socks, just wear one nice pair of warm socks. Doubling socks is a recipe for killing your circulation). The boots have to be comfortable, but not roomy comfortable, they have to be snug comfortable. Your big toe might even be right up at the front of the boot, almost rubbing -- as long as you're not being crushed, that might be a good fit. Eventually you are going to be on your snowboard shifting your body weight and leaning in different directions to try and gain control. If your foot moves around in your boot, then a lot of the energy you are dedicating to moving the board will be lost. You will either not move your board, or you will end up over-exerting yourself while simultaneously failing to develop your skills.

So once your know boot is a good fit, you want to slide your foot inside, you want to kick the heel as far back as possible and then you want to tighten up them laces (luckily a lot of rental places have good beginner's boots that have simple lacing systems). There's nothing wrong with letting someone else tighten your laces for you if you have to. You'll eventually know how to do it yourself, but you might be better off letting someone help you so you know your first experience won't be a waste.

Once you got your boots fitting nicely, you'll get into your bindings and be locked into the board. The bindings will be easier to fit. Usually they are either strap ins or step ins. Either way, it's pretty straight forward. If you have straps, then get yourself in there as tight as possible without hurting yourself.

2) Now you are locked into your boots, bindings and board. You stand up (that might be a pain in the ass all on its own). Sometimes it's nice to have someone help you stand. (If you haven't caught on, help is nice to have when learning. I'd tell you to spring for some lessons, but I know they can be hit or miss. I've taught about five friends. The ones that had already had lessons told me I was better than their original instructor.) Once you are standing, you want to face the bottom of the slope. Please avoid the temptation to point the nose of your board at the bottom and just ride. This will usually result in a pretty bad fall. You just aren't ready for that yet.

In an ideal scenario, you will face the bottom of the slope and you will keep the board perpendicular to your path. If you are looking down the slope and you envision a straight line to the bottom, your board should make that straight line a T.

(your heel-side)
_______________ <---- Your board

(your toe-side)

      |
      |
      |
      |      <----- your path
      |
      |
      | 

I hope that visual helps. Now that you have yourself situated, you want to raise the toe-side of your board and allow the snow to slide underneath. You will notice that the heel-side of your board will dig into the snow and, hopefully, give you traction. If that doesn't happen, then keep repeating until it does. You will want to have your knees bent in a relaxed but not completely loose posture. You will find that this position takes a pretty heavy toll on the quadriceps. Don't worry it eventually gets easier. This is the first step to learning. I'm going to stop here because this about a days worth of learning for an average beginner. Try to ride down that straight path keeping the board horizontal. Again, don't point the nose straight down. You'll do that eventually, but this lesson is all about control. You want to start slow and that's exactly what this is. This is how you develop your heel-side edge control. It is also how you will stop once you are eventually good enough to ride with the nose pointing downward. As you go through this lesson, you may experience the board pulling you towards the nose or towards the tail. It's natural to go through those struggles. Be safe, if you pick up too much speed, then just tuck and roll, get up and try again. Don't worry. Nobody is watching. You are ready to move on once you can slowly drift down the bunny slope using your heel-side edge and keeping the board horizontal.

VERY IMPORTANT: Always make sure that whichever edge is facing the bottom of the slope is raised. In this lesson, you will keep your toe-side raised the entire time. If you ever let the toe-side edge drop into the snow while you are facing the bottom of the slope, the edge will catch and snap you violently to your knees (wear some kneepads as this is bound to happen at least once). Conversely, if your heel-side is facing the bottom of slope, you will want to raise the heel edge and dig the toe edge into the snow. If you let the heel edge drop while you have your back to the slope, it will catch and snap you violently onto your butt (they sell shorts with butt-padding -- a worthwhile investment for a beginner).

After a day of this, you'll probably be pretty exhausted. Your quads will burn like hell. The next day you'll feel soreness in places you never felt before. This is all good because, as I said before, you'll be developing muscle control that you don't have right off the bat. Don't give up. Good luck!

VERY IMPORTANT: Always make sure that whichever edge is facing the bottom of the slope is raised.

word... otherwise u will be making sure that ur face is gonna be planted in the snow directly in front of you in about .5 seconds.

eViL bro, i always seem to end up on my heel side & my board turns around seemingly involuntarily whenever i switch to my toe turns (obviously i know i'm doing it but i don't know what i'm doing that's causing this)... is there any hints u can give me to make sure i'm distributing my weight correctly while doing my turns... when u turn do u kick out the back of your board while ur lean in on your front leg, or do u just shift your weight?

SupremeCommander and other beginners should ignore this conversation. It might confuse you.

Posted by TMS:

eViL bro, i always seem to end up on my heel side & my board turns around seemingly involuntarily whenever i switch to my toe turns (obviously i know i'm doing it but i don't know what i'm doing that's causing this)... is there any hints u can give me to make sure i'm distributing my weight correctly while doing my turns... when u turn do u kick out the back of your board while ur lean in on your front leg, or do u just shift your weight?

I wanna make sure I know what's going on here...

You're riding heel-side, and when you are switching to toe it over-rotates you back to heel? With your off-foot facing forwards? I'm not sure I'm seeing it, but what I just described is something that happens a lot I'm sure.

Man, I like to think of the movements in as subtle a way as I can. One dude told me to envision it like this: my front foot (regular stance, i.e. left foot) is my control foot. The little toe on my front foot helps me initiate my heel edge, the big toe on my front foot helps me initiate my toe edge. I'm not sure that it works exactly that way, but I think this got me conceptualizing all the movements in a smaller and subtler way. So instead of trying to muscle the board into following me, I was doing less and letting the board do more. The board flexs along it's torso, it can twist. It has a curved cut along the side which makes turning easier. It is pretty much designed to do a lot for you (as opposed to you doing a lot to control it).

You are obviously far along enough that it will come to you. But I'll be happy to keep throwing shit out there until something works. There's so many different ways to look at it. Eventually we'll figure out the way that resonates with you. The toe thing works for me, but my buddy this past weekend wasn't really feeling it. So I told him to be conscious of how the board twists beneath him, and to know that you can use both feet independently to manipulate the board. He liked that better. He said now he feels like he's not throwing his weight around as much but he's still getting the board to to what he wants. Ultimately, that's what we're all going for. You just want that board to be an extension of your body. You think. It moves.

My right arm (left arm if your goofy) definitely play a part in the way I switch between toe and heel. When I'm on my toe edge my arm swings behind me. To get to my heel, I swing it a little forward along with my back foot. To go back to toe, I swing it behind me. Again, it's subtle -- your not trying to generate a lot of movement, you're just shifting weight.

So yeah, to answer your question, I think I am kinda just shifting weight. The board follows. I don't wanna think of it like a kick because then it feels like there my be too much happening there. But I know why one might describe it as a kick because that back foot definitely kicks around back there when your carving. It's more weight shift than kick though.

You're lucky man. You got some nice mountains out there. I was at Kirkwood and Heavenly two years ago.

You're riding heel-side, and when you are switching to toe it over-rotates you back to heel? With your off-foot facing forwards? I'm not sure I'm seeing it, but what I just described is something that happens a lot I'm sure.

yeah that's pretty much what happens... sometimes i find myself riding up on the back end of my board too & poppin a damn wheely... my friends say i look like i'm surfing instead of snowboarding... lol.

i'ma give that toe thing a try tho... going up to Mount Baldy this weekend to get in a few runs... not a big slope but it's the closest one & the lift tickets are only like $15... wanna go check out Mammoth sometime but it's like a 5 hour drive... i hear it's awesome.

I guess I should check what the weather outlook is for Northern New Jersey and give myself extra time in the morning. Bleh. I'm sure the buses will be running late too.

I hope my final gets canceled.

you guys are lucky. i live in south jersey near the shore so we get rain where everwhere else gets snow. it is strange. i live about 45 minutes away from philly and they could get like a foot of snow and we get torrential rain and we are 10 degrees warmer thanks to the ocean. i am a school teacher so snow days are golden.

Oh Yea!! I am going skiing in Vermont on Monday for 3 days. Let it snow, let it snow , let it snow.