Club-Ski CERN ch snowboard tutor: Equipement basics

Tutor – Equipement basics

Choice of board

A beginner is greeted from the start with a wide choice of boards, freestyle, freeride or alpine… but… which one to choose?

We generally recommend a freeride board for beginners because these boards are well suited for a wide variety of conditions.  When choosing your board try to choose one that is more flexible than stiff, a flexible board is easier to turn than a stiff one.  An alpine board for instance is normally quite stiff.

For a more detailed discussion of the types of boards and what size board to choose check  Snowboards: Thoughts for the first time buyer

Boots: Hard or Soft?

It is possible to learn in either hard or soft boots and we have not observed any difference in learning curves across the two types. However it is probably best to start with soft boots, as not only they are much more versatile but more comfortable (reason in it's own right to quit skiing and get into snowboarding 😉 ). Your old or cheap ski boots may be used initially, but once basic progress has been made the lack of lateral flex on the ski boots become prohibitive to learning more advanced manoeuvres.  In any case Snowboard boots used from the start aid the correct stance and weight distribution, but this may be a more expensive option (especially if you have growing children!)

Bindings

Click here for a detailed explanation !

Clothing

A minimum set of clothing would probably be this:

  • Boots

  • Warm socks

  • Trousers, they should be waterproof.

  • Inner vest, polyester

  • Fleece

  • Jacket, it should be waterproof minimum.

  • Gloves. Preferably snowboard ones, they protect better than ski ones because they are larger.

  • Goggles (if it's foggy or windy) and sunglasses (if it's sunny)

  • Woolly hat

  • Scarf or other item to cover your neck if it's windy

Protections

Wrist-protectors, are a MUST for beginners, the on-line type used by skaters is perfectly OK. 

We also HIGHLY RECOMMEND wearing helmets, they have proven time and again their usefulness at whatever level of riding.

You might also want to consider knee pads…

NEW D.I.Y.!!!

The must have this season !! A very, very clever idea bought to you by Phill, it's the ultimate solution for isolation and protection, the bumpad

 

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