I always like to be on an edge, never on the flat of the board.

Years ago, I broke my leg pretty bad snowboarding. Stratton, Vermont. Went off a tiny jump, landed in wet snow and twisted. I heard/felt "snap snap" and it felt as if I hyper-extended my toes. Incidentally, Stratton has excellent medical facilities -- not that I would want to visit the med center again! :eek:

I was in a cast, then brace for a total of 6 months. Five separate breaks along the front bone of my left leg. Fortunately, I didn't need any pins or extensive surgery. But it was bad.

I wound up proposing to my wife with my leg in a brace!

The day I got out of my brace, my snowboarding buddies threw me a party, and gave me as a gift a Burton PJ race board. When there was enough snow on the ground and on the slopes, I strapped that puppy on, and never looked back.

My snowboard buddies said that after breaking my leg was the best thing for my snowboarding -- I was much less "stiff" on the board, and I started "going with the flow." Both of those are essential elements of good boarding -- too bad I learned that the hard way!

-Z-man.

Never Summer Snowboards Are Great. I Am On My Second One And Love It.

Get a skateboard and carve it down the street. That will give you the feel for what you need to do in the snow.

Always ride a edge.

If you got big feet look for a FatBob.

All this talk of the boarders cutting back and forth on the hill reminds me of one thing...the downhill rider has the RIGHT OF WAY.

Helmethead

I know this is completely off the topic of Motions gear choices, I just couldn't resist.

I personally don't care if you are on skis or a board as long as you are having fun and being curtious to others who gives a rats batooty whats under your feet.

BUT. . .
How is it easier to ski yet you can't handle 3 feet of powder?

Do whichever one makes you happy, but I can promise you that many many people enjoy skiing in 3 feet or more of pow. If they didn't it would be hard to explain why Alta has people in line waiting for the first chair of the morning after a huge storm just hit.

Rich

Good info guys, thanks. I'm planning to give boarding a try in a couple weeks, but I'm a little worried since I never was any good at skateboarding. Of course I can always go back to skis :).

Awesome advice from everyone, thanks. I ended up with the following:

Burton Bullet 164
Flow bindings
K2 Boa boots

Its a relatively low-end package, but will do me good for a year or two while I decide if I want to continue and step up.

Hope to hit the mountain for some riding later this week & will report back.

good luck

Looks like a decent package, I think its hard to go wrong with a Burton. If you get out often enough I think you will be surprised at how quickly you progress. Good Luck

I agree, I think you will like that combo. I have a Ride 163 with flow bindings and DC judge boots. I love the flow bindings but prob not the best for really hard core. I think the boot fit and comfort is the most important part of the set up. Have fun!

I am REALLY happy with the new setup. The boots are uber comfortable and I love the step in bindings. No more fiddle******* around for 5 minutes every time I get off of the lift. The board is much more responsive than the rental board, but I can really feel the extra length. Will take some getting use to.

I'm really confused about the right/left foot forward thing, though. I was left foot forward in my lesson and the instructor thought I was trying to be right foot forward. So I went goofy with my board, but it just does not feel natural. Is there any way to really tell which you are?

Anyway, I think I fractured a rib today in a big downhill bite, so no more riding for me for a couple of months :(

Sorry about the rib buddy.
My boards have motors attached now; ha!

As for the foot forward thing; we run across this all the time with slalom skiing and wake boarding......

I say the strong leg goes to the back; for power in turning and control.

There is a test I've seen others do; stand relaxed, straight up and have someone push you gently on your back. The foot you put forward should be your back foot?

FWIW,
Merry Christmas buddy!
Happy boarding.......... you're wife must be enjoying your pain?

Typical is right handed, left foot forward. I know a couple of "goofy" right handers, but they are rare.

I find that "control" comes from the rear foot. You keep 70% of your weight on the forward foot. If you need to switch directions quickly, you can learn to kick the back of the board around. While not strictly "the correct way", it can save your butt to avoid a collision. It is also very useful in the moguls, when you want to switch direction on the top of a mogul.

If you can find a skateboard, try riding it around. You'll very quickly figure out which foot goes forward for you.

Having someone push you, and seeing what foot goes forward first, like Rob suggest, can work. Although he has it backwards! The foot that goes forward first should be your forward foot. That test doesn't alway work for all people, though. Riding a skateboard, you will 100% of the time naturally put your natural foot forward after a couple of tries.

Rob, thanks. Merry Christmas! Lili is enjoying very much pampering me... I don't mind at all :)

Redbeard, I skate with right foot forward, but goofy on the board just doesn't feel right. Only way to find out is to try the other way!

HUGE +1! this has to be my biggest pet peeve!

A PJ...Interesting. I picked up snowboarding in January '92 and my choice, since I wanted to use hard boots, was a PJ or an M. I went with the M. I used the M until it cracked and bought a used "e"-deck. Great board and I still use it. I need to upgrade one of these years, but it's very hard to read and understand which board to get, based on my style and the descriptions given.

I still use hard boots. I was using Salomon rear entry ski boots for a very long time, until I cracked one in Dec 99.

I didn't take to snow boarding too well. I took an all day lesson the first day and thought I was making progress until I bruised some ribs during a fall the second day. After the fall I went for a private lesson as a last ditch effort to figure it out. That went alright until I twisted my ankle getting off the lift, my only lift fall of the day :(. That was it for this trip, I went back to skis. Maybe I'll try it again next time when I've healed. With the bruised ribs, I won't be karting for a while.

BTW, I'm really glad I wore a helmet. I took hard head hits on a forward and backward fall. Maybe someone of my height shouldn't be doing this.

We've done some boarding this year in Colorado and California.

I've always been a big snowboarder defender, but I am beginning to have to grudgingly admit that the "snowboard crowd" does tend to attract a few more punks than the ski crowd. (The vast majority, still, board responsibly).

I've also reconfirmed, like many of you here have found, that it is a pretty darn hazardous sport. Any time you get home in one piece is a successful trip!

8 year old:

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