snowboarding essentials
Protective Snowboarding Gear: A Must For Beginners And Expert Snowboarders
An extreme winter sport, snowboarding can cause injuries to the rider that could be as small as innocent and minor slips or as harsh as crashes that have a high impact and the consequences could be rather dire. The newcomer to snowboarding is often the most vulnerable and gets injured even while undertaking less risky maneuvers. All this implies that the snowboarder requires protective snowboarding gear and this is more relevant to snowboarders that have not yet learned how to keep a stable stance on a snowboard and so face more threat of being injured.
In fact, it is believed that as many as 25% of injuries take place during the first experience a snowboarder has with snowboarding and nearly 50% take place during the first season.
First Time Snowboarders
First time snowboarders as well as regular snowboarders need protective gear and some of these are snowboard wrist guards, snowboard knee pads, snowboard hip pads, snowboard helmets, and a safety leash. The most common of all injuries that can be sustained by snowboarders is the wrist injury, which may be caused when one slips backwards or lands on the hands and the hard impact may cause sprains or fractures.
Protective gear such as Snowboard Specific Wrist Guards are ideal in preventing injuries as it can ease the force of the fall on the joints of the upper body. When hard collisions, such as hitting a tree or impacting from unexpected angles or turning motions occurs, the knees may get injured and so one needs protective snowboarding gear such as knee pads to help prevent contusions.
Another protective snowboarding gear that is used by snowboarders to cushion the fall as well as keep the seat warm and dry is the hip pad which is stretchable and can be pulled on like biked shorts. The extra padding in the backside of the Snowboard Hip Pads prevents tailbone bruises and the beginning snowboarder who does not wish to purchase such protective snowboarding gear may even rent out snowboard hip pads for the first few days of riding on the slopes.
It should be kept in mind that even professional riders use protective snowboarding gear such as hip pads, especially when trying out new moves in the halfpipe and terrain parks.
Sometimes the snowboarder may crash with natural objects such as hard snow or ice surface conditions or rocks and trees and this may result in serious injuries. This means that one should use protective snowboarding gear such as a helmet, even if one is very able and has high level of expertise.
Finally, one may need another protective snowboarding gear called the safety leash, which is a safety must and is essentially a non-releasing strap that can be wrapped around the leg to prevent the snowboard from getting away accidentally.
About the Author
For more information on protective snowboarding gear visit http://www.snowboarderbasics.com/ or http://snow-boards.blogspot.com/
Should I tackle the Terrain Park, or should I perfect everything else?
Well, assuming when you clicked this, you know it’s About Snowboarding. I’m in the sixth week of a program called CHILL (again, assuming you’ve heard of it, it teaches kids in the city how to snowboard, and helps build self-esteem, etc.) and I feel like after the program is over I’d like to continue snowboarding. But, to the essential question, I can link turns, heel stop, toe stop, our last time there, I probably fell 10 times out of probably 25 runs more than once in a specific run [mostly in my last run]. So, based on this would you reccommend me trying to perfect my turns and stops, so I don’t fall at all, and then tackle a terrain park, or just go for the terrain park? Also, I’m not on a “baby hill” I’m currently on a steeper larger hill (something that usings a chair lift) and this week I’llbe moving up.
P.S. I know, I’ll have to make the decision on my own, based on my comfortability level, but can I get some insight?
…I copied and pasted this answer from the same answer I gave on your other question, just cause I wanted the 10 extra points! Seriously dude, if you do hit the park and have questions specific to a certain feature (kickers, drops, rails, boxes, etc) then post them here and I can help you out. Pick out your favorite feature and focus on it. Personally I love the kickers and big air, rails are alright but not as fun for me as hitting a 40 foot booter. Pick one area you want to get good on and really work on that feature. It is inevitable, youre going to be taking some slams, so pick one feature and work on it until you figure it out. Then try the next feature. Dont try everything at once or you’ll be taking a heavy beating all day.
(PASTED ANSWER FROM YOUR OTHER QUESTION)
Yes, just need to get comfortable with speed first. Really, you should be able to take on a black diamond run (groomer) without falling before you hit the park. The reason is to successfully land a jump or slide a rail, you need speed. Coming up short on a jump can sometimes be the worst case scenario. Velocity is your friend in the park.
Honestly, if you decide to hit the park anyway make sure you at least do it on a ’soft day’….like really the best time to try stuff in the park is during spring (march-may) when the snow is soft and slushy. Don’t hit the park when its icy and rock hard, because the ice can seriously be harder than concrete. That’s why here in Tahoe we call it Sierra cement.
Personally, I usually don’t ride park until 11am, any day, because I like the sun to warm things up first. Let the sun soften the snow before you hit it. Otherwise if you’re felling confident then go hit it. Start out small and work your way up to bigger stuff. But at least wait until the snow softens up first.
ALA 100 – easy instruction on the essentials of snowboarding