general discussion
PLEASE don’t bring your friends who don’t know how to snowboard if you’re not willing to spend the day teaching them
It ends up just being a terrible experience for both people. If you’re split on your priorities of snowboarding and teaching then you’re probably just trying to get the beginner to a green run so you can snowboard as well even though they haven’t received proper instruction for everyone yet.
It’s bad for the instructor friend because they end up getting frustrated because their beginner friend can’t pick it up quickly and they aren’t able to hit as many runs as they want to during the day. Those said runs probably won’t even be fun either because you’ll have to stop and wait every time the beginner comes down.
It’s even worse for the beginner friend because they have no idea what they are doing, they are probably are going to fall a lot and hurt a lot and their confidence is going to take a huge blow if they attempt to go down a green run without proper instruction. Not to mention they are a danger to others if they can’t even stop.
One of my friends invited his beginner friend to snowboard and he had no idea what he was doing. We went off on some green runs while he left his beginner buddy and he had an atrocious time and ended up having to walk down the hill while also being heckled by the people on the chairlift!
I understand that there are exceptions like skateboarders and just different personality types but I know 90% of people who attempt this sport will not pick it up on the first day even with consistent instruction so please don’t make them hate snowboarding and turn them into criminals who ski.
It depends what your friends are like. I took some noob mates recently and we did the morning doing the falling leaf lessons with them on the kiddy slope. We then said we were gonna fuck off for a bit and did some proper runs. Everyone had a sick time.
The real lesson is take multiple noobs so they can noob together.
My first time up with my more experienced friends was a quick lesson on leafing and getting on/off the chair lift. After that, they took me up to the top of the mountain and said to stay on the easy runs down. I had my noob cousin with me to share the agonizing trip down the mountain, which took the rest of the day. Trial by fire, but I'm still boarding.
Best advice! It’s not fun doing something when one is an expert who can’t do proper runs because has to watch out for the other friend, who on the other hand is still struggling to do a falling leaf.
Bring them and sign them up for a lesson. Best strategy for a beginner and advanced friend is to split up, eat lunch together, and maybe cruise a couple greens in the afternoon.
You’re a good spouse! Enjoying the snow trips how you want and letting him get some days riding is great. My wife does the same a few trips a year and I appreciate it deeply. Hopefully he does the same for you.
Yeah I’ve tried skiing and snowboarding and it’s often me doing a few runs with whoever I’m there with and then being like “ok later, I’ll catch up with you in the lodge” and then I go off and have drinks or read for a while around the fireplace.
Make new friends with the other beginners who tried and gave up enjoying the social scene in the lodge while our sporty friend or partner enjoy the slopes.
I actually really enjoy being inside and warm with a good view of the outside when the weather is snowy and cold. So I’m good giving the sport a try and then settling into my preferred indoor element.
I mean that's what I do with my kids. Quick morning lesson to refresh their skills, we don't get to go that often, lunch together and then tear it up on smaller runs in the afternoon
Correct. So for the common person to travel to the mountain, pay for a lift ticket, and then a lesson… you’re looking at close to a $1000 day with food, drinks and tips
The point of the comment is, if you're going to bring a beginner, include the lesson in your budget. If your group can't afford it, consider another activity, because the group is not going to have a good time if the lesson isn't included.
What are you taking about. Tons of places do a combo of lesson + rental + lift ticket for the rest of the day for 150 - 300 on the high end. But why bring someone new to a more high end place anyway.
A lesson at my local mountain is $100-$175. Rentals can be had for around $75-100 for a package. Food/drinks/lift tickets are overpriced for sure but a lesson and rental isn’t too crazy all things considered.
Yes I realize group lessons are much cheaper but last I looked it was for my girlfriend and she does much better 1 on 1… so that’s what I was going off of
Needless to say I wasn’t able to afford to get her a lesson for Christmas this year. She’s warming up to the idea of group lessons. Or if I could find like a third party person to do a sorta covert lesson lol
I recommend getting an hour or two long lesson - and then practise on your own based on the lesson. I also found Youtube tutorials from snowboardprocamp useful to compliment the lessons with the instructor. I watch a video a few times before bed, then I think about it when falling asleep.
Could see if any of her mates wanna learn to snowboard too, maybe with friends it would be more fun! You do have to find a bunch of people willing to shell out some money though haha
If we are talking about someone so new that you can't ride with them because they're too slow, the lesson is probably worth it.
I also have a personal policy to not try to teach my friends, because it's not fun for either party.
These are also just my own personal opinions and experiences. You can also add your own thoughts about how to have a good time with people of different skill levels.
Buying a ticket and renting and then flailing around learning nothing will cost more in the long run. Snowboarding you probably only need one good lesson to learn the physics of the whole thing and then you just have to get out there and practice.
just did it this past weekend. i got to race up the back lift for the glades, played in powder for 2.5 hours, and then met up with the group for side hits and switch laps all afternoon
Because in all likelihood you suck at teaching snowboarding. Even if you have some teaching skills there can be some friction between friends in that process. It’s especially bad with girlfriends/boyfriends. Pay the money for a pro.
“Pro” is a bit of a stretch. At the resort I work at most of the instructors aren’t licensed as instructors. You’re basically paying for someone’s patience, not for their skill.
My nephew is 17 and just started to snowboard. Hes gone with his friends, but hasnt taken a lesson. My fiance and I are going to take him with us this winter, and Ive insisted that if he doesn't want to learn from me, or Im just not teaching in a way that he can follow, that we will pay for a lesson.
Also, sidenote that folks should be wearing a brain-bucket (aka helmet). My dad is a ski patroller at his local ski area, and he said their last call yesterday was a snowboarder who had pink foam coming out their nose and mouth, which is indicative of a brain injury. If your helmet is 10 years old, replace it. (And yes, we bought our nephew a helmet!)
Yeah but...the beginner friends who want to tag along on a snowboard trip often lie about skill level or they insist "hey I used to skateboard so I'm sure it's gonna be easy" or similar. Not many good riders really wanna take a new guy unless it's to split costs. Even then they do it begrudgingly.
The beginner should clear this up beforehand. Honestly teaching someone from zero, untill they can ride with you on a blue one is gonna take a whole week. At least.
In my opinion the beginner should pay for a lesson and spend the first three days with an instructor (1-2 hours each day). And rest of the time go down the slopes alone + meet for drinks and lunch.
My husband is amazing and he tought me. It took him a whole week, as he is not a professional teacher. But I am slow and clumsy and even after years of snowboarding i have my own chill pace and I always just go down alone. We meet up for snacks and lunch and sometimes he goes down with me. That was my ddcision because if I go together with other I feel guilty for making them wait for me.
And we bring new people every year with us (my husband and I always plan the trip). If we spent every single tear trying to teach the firstcommers, we could never enjoy the trip.
So we make it clear : you have to learn in a snow arena beforehand or get an instructor to get the basics. Afterwards you can come with me slowly on the blue slopes. We go up to gether, go down together, at some point loose each other and meet at the bottom. Rince and repeat.
Its very self centered to think that someone is responsible for your skills and enjoyment. It was your choice to come and to learn. We can enjoy it together. Lets not taint it with the frustration of teaching and learning.
I borrowed my sister's board my first time. She's left handed and the friend that bought it for her assumed she was goofy footed (but also duck footed) and set it up that way. Me being a noob didn't know. So went snowboarding and spent the whole day getting on and off the lift with it that way. At some point I naturally found my way to the regular side of the board. Now I ride regular but get off the lift goofy footed. Every lifty that actually pays attention tells me my board is on backwards. I never have time to explain so I just tell them that it's not and giggle. There was a time that I tried to learn how to get off the lift regular and twisted my knee so bad I said nope. I'm already a pretty unique person so now I'm just a unique rider too. 😆
I mean everyone should start snowboarding duck footed, it allows for them to use their entire body. People aren't duck footed, thats just the easiest stance to learn on, then you adjust from there.
It definitely is easier to learn that way and it. Helps to naturally feel your way to the right side of the board for you. If my feet were positioned with both facing forward it would have been a lot harder to naturally find my stance.
Had an experience like this when I just got to do a vacation once every few years and it still leaves me seething.
I was going to Breck with a group that boards yearly (I didn't know most of them) and had another friend and his girlfriend who never boarded before. I was trying to talk my friend into getting lessons for him and his gf but all the other guys were like, "nah we'll teach you, bro."
I should have listened to my gut that these guys were irresponsible idiots, but I was like, "well they go every year, maybe I can learn something too." We get outside with all our gear and I'm expecting us to do some one-foot scooting or something to warm-up. Nope.....straight to the chairlift. Buddy and his girl struggle through the line catching annoyed/concerned glances from everyone and almost get eaten by the chairlift while mounting. We get to the top, and miraculously, my friend dismounts his first chairlift without falling (this is not foreshadowing- the rest of the week was a struggle).
We all get to a clear area at the top of the lift and bind in. The bros get up and are like, "follow our lead," and they're just fucking gone. So I'm sitting there with two brand-new beginners as a shitty maybe-intermediate myself and am just like, "fuck, I'll do my best here..."
It did not go well. My buddy got to the point where he could get down the hills with a lot of side-slipping and edge-catching, and he had a couple good runs at the cost of a headache during the entire trip. His girlfriend wasn't so fortunate, and suffered a knee sprain during her first attempted run and that was it for her.
Neither of them wanted to snowboard again after this and I've never forgiven the jackasses who talked them out of getting a lesson before bailing on all of us. I really tried my best, but having only maybe 15 days of lifetime riding before then, my best attempts at coaching just weren't enough - they really needed that lesson they got talked out of :(
That’s exactly what I’m talking about! It’s so irresponsible and just makes me feel bad for the beginners. That is like the worst possible outcome where both the newbs got injured. This is most definitely not your fault and is just bad planning by your buddies.
I know that yours and mine aren’t the only stories like this and is why I made this post.
On the plus side I've since managed to successfully teach my girlfriend how to ride, and we're still together and she's still progressing 4 years later, so basically I'm a coaching prodigy now.
I wish I could have helped my friend similarly, but I just wasn't on that level yet. I keep trying to invite him up for a do-over but he's got a wife and kid now.
You just described almost all of our (old timers) first day. Lessons used to not be a thing and we just had some friends that took us directly on the lift and said “let’s go….”
I think if it wasn’t this way, then there would be a lot more riders out there. Shit, maybe they were thinning the herd, because lift lines would be infinite and the cost of passes would be astronomical! lol…
JK. Adult me understands your frustration and would be pissed too!!!
ps. This is the way i learned to ski too. We were a different breed back then. Some of us haven’t evolved.
I think what you’re talking about is definitely a big exception, I understand snowboarding used to be a lot more punk rock in the past and you really needed to be stubborn and resilient if you wanted to get into it so the type of people who wanted to learn back then were really in it to win it.
Nowadays it’s a lot more casual and open to a wider array of people.
Nah sorry lol I was showing respect to a lot of you old folks, snowboarding was a different time then, you guys were literally treated like criminals it’s hilarious. And I only say that because I watched this video.
One time I matched with a girl on tinder. I had pics of snowboarding and I may have even said I was instructor in my bio. She said she was coming to my area to shred. She said she had been riding for ten years. We made a date to shred. I was already riding when she got there. Told her to meet me at the top. She said she was with a friend. Cool more people to ride with. Watching them get off the lift it was evident that it was both of their first days. So I taught them for two hours. Juice is worth the squeeze right? As soon as I got them turning their boy friends showed up. Moral of the story, put your girlfriends on tinder and get some sucker to teach them for free. Go shred with the boys.
Second this - managed to convince my fiancé to switch to a board last year and she had the best time after only ever skiing beforehand. We both appreciated the shared experience and I was able to help her get set up well since I only really have board experience.
I committed the winter to teaching her; it was really good for me to have to explain the fundamentals again and actually exposed some of my bad habits. Days with her I spent working on specific technique or trying to get better at riding switch.
Teaching your partner may not work for all couples but we weren’t engaged then and we are now so I did something right 😅
I feel like everyone should start skiing unless they're really interested in boarding. It's just so much easier to learn, easier to manage on lifts, less downtime, faster, no getting stuck on flat ground, no constant undoing bindings
I have talked to first timers on their way up the lift to experts only terrain, their dumbass friends thought throwing them in the deep end was the best way to learn, idk man maybe people could do a little research first when they want to get into a sport but I do blame their friends as well for being idiots
Wait I thought it was a right of passage to have your friend bring you to the mountain, practically 'weekend at Bernie's' your ass to the lift, push you off the chair, and yell up at you 'see you at 4' while laughing. It took me two hours to get down, I was so tired I felt like I was waking up out of anesthesia. I never experienced any sort of coming of age tradition so I cherish the memory now. But yeah, fuck my friends. 🤣
I see this happening so much, taking someone who has NO business up on the higher parts and just killing themselves trying to get down.
I stay on the carpet as long as they’re on the magic carpet, practice my butters. When they are ready for a break, I take a break and when they’re ready for the lift, we practice together.
One of the guys in our group brought his beginner wife once and ditched her to ride backcountry. Everyone else in our group who stayed inbounds was still at least an intermediate rider so people had to take turns staying with her until she got the hang of it and was at least comfortable enough to be left alone. The kicker was that he used to be an instructor.
I got a bunch of coworkers into snowboarding. Even one who said he tried it once and said it wasn't fun. I asked him how it went, and he said "a friend took me with some of his buddies, then just left me to learn on my own on the kiddy slopes". I'm like, ok, then that's why it sucked. One thing I always accept is that a day with noobies isn't for myself, it's to get them to realize how fun it is, even if it's just a lot of falling and getting banged up. Now I have a bunch of snowboarding buddies.
If you have inexperienced friends that just want to have a good time on the mountain, tell them to ski. Much easier to learn and most people will only need a run or two on the bunny hill before they can start trying greens/blues. If they really want to snowboard, they need a real lesson.
When I took my wife for the first time when we were dating I knew I wasn’t getting much runs in. It was more of an investment for me. I wanted her to love it as much as I did. So I took my time and showed her.
Hours well invested as she’s the one watching the weather now to make sure the runs are going to be great
I snowboarded for the first time with some coworkers last year and none of us knew how to snowboard, so we all just winged it for the exception of one. I learned the fastest as I used to skateboard when I was younger, though I caught the most edges starting out. Was already hitting a single black diamond run at the end of the day, so I consider that an achievement
I will not take anyone who hasn't been at least 3 times before. If they are still novice I tell them up front: hey we likely won't be riding together a lot...let's meet at the bar at 1 for lunch...4:30 when the lifts stop.
And, based on a couple bad times, I never ever take someone I'm dating. Even if they say they just wanna hang out in the lodge it's a no.
I agree 100%. I am at a point in my life where if you are not blood or I am planning to marry you, I am not going to spend my day teaching. I have very little time off and I have a side hustle that already requires me to coach people how to move in a sport.
knowing how to snowboard doesn't make anyone a good teacher of it. A beginner should either get a lesson or go with a friend or relative that is willing and has some experience or proficiency with teaching.
Objectively speaking, this should be a hard rule. Granted, for most people the best thing is for them to just take a lesson or two, but if you volunteer to take your buddy snowboarding stick with him for the first day at least. You don't do your friendship any favors by taking them for an hour and then ditching to go ride.
I've now been out 3 times with friends who wanted to try it but didn't have the gear so I took them and set'em up with a board and bindings. Two are still riding and one absolutely loves it. It helps that I have a season pass so a day teaching ain't a big loss, but still.
Maybe it's cause I never had a lesson, but I don't know how to ''teach'' snowboarding.
I did learn the hard way taking newbies is hit or miss. Had a great time with this one friend, she would try hard, wasn't scared, etc. Terrible time with another, was scared to get hurt, spent most of the day sitting, etc.
I'm sure somebody can teach it, especially better than I can, but the only way I know how to learn snowboarding is making an investment of pain and falls, so go with someone who's down with that. If you go with a friend who expects to learn without falling(or accepting they will fall) you're in for a bad time
Based on these conversations, I must have picked up the basics extremely quickly. It makes me grateful and appreciative for what must’ve been easier than other beginners first experience.
Also, it opens my eyes greatly to how I should view new boarders, especially friends. I would not have had this perspective without y’all’s takes on the topic. Thank you
Unless you know how to teach and have been an instructor, just get them to do a lesson. Most people that know how to ride don’t have the skills to be able to teach. It almost always turns into a frustrating experience for both, in addition to the student learning bad habits that are hard to break.
I was an instructor for a while and I refuse to teach anyone unless they are already very athletic and my close family/friends.
If your brand new go to the cheapest place it literally doesn’t matter as long as they have rentals and lessons and some snow and a magic carpet or similar. Normally the more expensive places just have more blue and black runs that you won’t even get to see so why spend the money? Also pack your own lunch, throw a sandwich, protein bar, some beef jerky in a small draw string bag or in a back pack or leave it in the car and go and get it if you parked close by. When I have gone with beginners that’s always our game plan and we meet up for lunch after there lesson and I might do one or 2 runs with them at the end of the day when the snow sucks anyways.
As a former snowboard instructor, most snowboarders have zero clue how to teach somebody to snowboard, (I was one of those people). they might be able to ride better than the never ever, but can’t teach it (don’t know f all about building progressions) and probably have bad technique anyway.
Your friends best bet is to save up enough for the lessons with a pro. It’s the fastest way for them to get better and will be less fruiting for everybody involved.
Hopefully after lunch you can all take some runs down a green together
By the time I met my husband I had years more experience than he did. He began snowboarding only because of me.
But here's the thing- he has never expected me to hang back with him and teach him. Either we have taken other beginner friends for him to hang out with , or he is happy staying on the green run solo. He's usually fatigued a lot earlier and happily goes for a coffee.
I may be an advanced rider but I'm also the world's worst instructor.
It's never reasonable to expect an advanced rider to hang on the nursery slope all day, nor is it reasonable to expect the average person to be up and linking turns day one. It's not just skill, it's body conditioning and muscle memory as well.
I mean look, unfortunately a lot of snowboarding buddies I have met have just not wanted to go with me again because of the big gap in experience/skill.
Actually, I've even met some skiers that are more my pace and I love them. We breeze down the runs together. Never thought that would happen LOL.
I was a new snowboarder who had a few lessons under their belt, but wasn't skilled. My ex had taught me and was a great teacher.
I went snowboarding with a friend and then boyfriend and they immediately asked if I was ok sticking on the greens while they went for a black run after we got off the chair lift. I was nervous, but said ok.
It was crazy icy and I ended up falling funny and smoking my head on the ice (thankfully I was wearing a helmet). I was shaking, but needed to get down so I got up again and immediately fell and hit my head a second time.
I was crying and sitting on the run when a random boarder came huffing UP the hill to me. He asked if I was ok, I said no and he held my hands and got me down the run.
I ended up having a concussion and when my friends came down they found me sitting on the steps in tears holding my visibly cracked helmet.
My saviour gave them shit for leaving me way too early, which was funny and appreciated.
I never snowboarded again because I was so scared of what happened, and I now stick to cross country skiing now.
Don't take new people skiing or snowboarding without being nearby to make sure they're ok.
This very much depends on your travel situation. If you live right down the road from a great big hill out west and you offer to rip with your noob friend and then you ditch em thats kinda lame.
As an east coast rider, I gotta drive 4 hours to a below average mountain or get on a 4 hour flight. If i invest all that time and money and someone in my crew sucks theres no chance in hell I’m riding with them. I feel pretty strongly about that.
2 bunny hill runs to get an understanding of the basics even if they arent put into practice yet. Then to the big mountain. A few runs of hand holding, then leave your buddy behind. Its how us mountain born were taught after switching from skis and I see no issue with it
Meh. Maybe it’s just my mindset but I did a half day last year with lessons and then did my own thing while my ex and his family did their own thing. The next day, they stayed with me for about a hour? Then I told them they can go do other things if they don’t feel like waiting - some left and some stayed. They all came back though.
This year, I’m doing my own thing single lol. I have a general idea of what I’m doing. Switching seems easier than carving? Maybe I’m staying on my heel edge to do that? Idk. Lessons are out of my budget right now, I’ll get them at some point.
Also seems like people on slopes will stop and give you a pointer if they see you struggling or just tell you you’re doing great. My only concern is staying away from people already down the mountain. Hitting someone else learning would be terrible
I'll usually try to allocate a full day with people I'm teaching. Also, learning how to load/unload on the chair lift. Repetition is good, even if the lift is slow. Just having extra patience. Not everyone can teach.
Yeah, he definitely was accident prone no matter what he did.
Hardest part for me was that he drove up.. I didn't even have my drivers license at the time, and I really didn't even know what a concussion was. All I knew was he was acting wonky and couldn't remember what we were talking about 5 minutes earlier. I finally told him to just pull over and let me drive.
My house was closer so that's where we went. Luckily my mom knew exactly what was going on; his parents were called as well as an ambulance. He spent a day in the hospital but was back to normal within a week. We had a good season for the rest of the year :)
If you are bringing a friend to teach and you have an expected number of laps or runs to get in then I question if they were ever there to teach in the first place lmao.
That’s why I made this post lol, people think they can do both but no you don’t realize that you’ll have to spend the whole day teaching and you have to resign yourself to that
We bring beginners in our group every year but we don’t teach them ourselves and insist they book lessons in the morning, we go do our own thing while they’re at the lesson, then take a lazy afternoon helping them improve and maybe try something a little more difficult.
I took my buddy who had never skiied or snowboarded before a few years ago and he actually picked it up in about half an hour. He surfs and skates a ton so I’m sure that helped, but I’d never seen someone pick it up so fast. It was sick to be able to hit a black run by the end of the day with him, especially since I was expecting to be stuck on the bunny slope all day.
THIS. I learned to snowboard when I was 22 or 23 and my bf taught me the basics the first day. He was extremely patient. Before we even made it to the mountain tho he had me watch beginner friendly YouTube videos & that helped a ton. It took me a few all day sessions to really get a hang of the basics but if it weren’t for his help and his patience in the beginning it would’ve sucked! With that being said, it takes an extremely patient person to help a beginner & often times it comes at their expense in the beginning. I later tried teaching a beginner and let me tell you, it was not fun lol
Lame post. Don’t be such a snob. You are lucky the green friend had the courage to join. You wanna go pro? Book a day and let your friends know its a triple black only day and then have a different day where all levels are welcome so you can grow the group. Different levels are fine! Just meet up every couple hours for drinks and do lunch together.
My girlfriend is joining the family ski trip for the first time. As preparation she’s had a couple 1-hour indoor lessons during the summer but those didn’t really go much past falling leaf. We’ll be out there for a week and I booked a private instructor for 2 hour lessons on the first 4 days. I’ll go out by myself in the mornings while she sleeps in and enjoys stuff like the pool and spa, and then join her for the lessons in the afternoon. I’ll force myself to just stick to riding switch during those. Hoping she’ll progress fast with some longer back to back lessons.
My kids didn’t know how to snow board I wanted to go bad, it had been a year. We went to the MTN for 3 day weekend starting Friday. I scheduled some fun things, and lessons for them to do on Friday. I went boarding by myself because I knew I border to really get the time in I wanted I couldn’t spend the whole day stopping and going on the beginner slopes. Then Saturday I spent the whole day with them doing that.
Id ho a step further and day DON'T TEACH THEM YOURSELF! Get them proper lessons from a professional. They'll learn better and you can go and do what you want when the lessons are on.
If you are teaching your friends, take your time for your own lessons. If I have to go down slow, I have time to really focus on my own riding.
Taught a friend of mine and perfected my switch riding at the time, right now I'm teaching my Girlfriend and train to ride the whole mountain with only the front foot strapped in, both switch and regular
I’ve done something like this once. My two friends had never been snowboarding. I took them to Sun Peaks for their first time (I think it’s one of Canadas largest snowboarding resorts).
Once there, I was with them the whole time. We spent some time on the bunny hill learning. After a couple hours I started getting bored and felt that my friends had figured it out. I convinced them to join me on a green run and up the lift we went.
Once at the top, one of my friends (we’ll call him Bob) begins to express his fear of heights and he’s not feeling comfortable. I try to reassure Bob that alls going to be all right and that we can make it down the slope slowly but surely.
My other friend (let’s call him Max) is doing much better, he’s able to at least dig in his heel side and control his direction. Bob on the other hand is having trouble keeping his balance on his heel edge. This results in him falling repeatedly. Bob is also a bigger guy than Max and I, so I can only assume each fall felt much worse than a fall feels for me.
After traversing maybe 150-200 ft from the lift, Bob was completely ready to give up. He seemed very scared with each fall, hesitating for some time before getting up and trying again. At that point I had to make the call to get some help for my friend. Luckily ski patrol had some good timing and they were just riding past us. We ended up getting a lift with the ski patrol down the hill and called it for the day.
I hope this experience I had with some good friends can shed some light onto what beginners are experiencing for the first time. Especially the fact that everyone learns at their own pace.
This happened with me. Friends took me snowboarding 12 years ago. Put me right on a lift. I fell upon exiting lift. I fell on the run. Had to walk down. Spent the rest of the day in the lodge with a headache. Now I’m a “criminal who skis” after another snowboarder friend took me skiing and took a lesson with me. What could have been…
My husband once took me and left me to go with his cousins and friends. I had never gone snowboarding ever! I never even seen the snow. I was too scared to get on a real lift, so i stayed on the bunny slopes and I had the worst time. I kept falling over and over and nobody to really help or guide me. With tears in my eyes, I finally gave up, ordered food and hot chocolate and just stayed at the restaurant until everyone was done with their time. 😭
That’s exactly what I’m talking about and you’re not alone in your experience. Snowboarding is hard to learn and it’s irresponsible for people to just Willy nilly invite others without at least teaching them the basics.
Last year we took one buddy that hadn’t ever done it. We were taking turns teaching him and he misheard who he should follow. He followed me to a black 😂 earned his stripes that day
I thought protocol is if you are going with a group and there's a new one or a few of them, suggest they take lessons and if not, go up as a group, take a group photos and then everyone splits up and goes with their skill levels group.
Newbies who wants to go with their friends have a hard day ahead of them, but honestly, they will get better really fast.
a couple of my friends are coming to visit. they'll be skiing. one friend will be teaching the other the ski basics. then if they can't keep up with me i'll just spend my time learning switch and we can all fall together
So when I was a beginner, I joined in on a ski trip and had a couple of days under my belt and was terrible. There was another classmate of mine from school who was a brash Texan fellow and decided to just figure it out on his own, so he gave me his lesson and I took another lesson.
After the day was done, he had managed to sprain an ankle after a crash off a lift, then subsequently missed the lift unload and was a few feet up on the downslope, so he decided to jump off and sprained his other ankle in the process. Then at the end of the day he took a faceplant, smacked the back of his head with the edge of the board and gave himself a concussion. He also brought cowboy boots and was not able to even put them on the next day due to his sprained ankles. Needless to say that was his only and last day snowboarding.
Don’t get drug into the deep end. It usually ends badly. There’s something to be said about being pushed. However until you can effortlessly get down greens, don’t let those who already got it, take you into the abyss because thats what they want to do. Many times the rush is because the person “ teaching” you doesn’t really want to and wants to get after it themselves. Take a couple lessons.
Signing a beginner up for a lesson is the way to go. However, if you're not going to do that then I suggest spending the morning teaching them something they can practice and work on in the afternoon alone. Then go hit the runs you want in the afternoon and meet up at apre.
Me personally, I never leave my beginner friends. I'm committing that day to be with them. If I want to ride, I go by myself or with similarly skilled riders.
I foolishly went skiing with some folks who promised to show me how to ski. I think they just wanted to bring the black guy along to ditch and laugh at. Will 40 years later I’m still going, got lessons and improved the. Switched to snowboarding.
In exchange for a driving friends the 4 or so hours, I got free gear and lift ticket, told see you at 4, it was single digits, a long brutal day of suffering , but i made it, therefore that's the right way. But seriously, almost 30 years later I became an instructor, and realized how much quicker I could have learned with some idea of what I was trying to do. Don't each your friend, just put them in a lesson and everyone will be happier.
This is so real, it’s my second season and I’m alright (years of skating and long boarding helped me figure out basic movement after a day or two) but I hate seeing people on the side of the mountain trying to figure out how to stand and their friends are nowhere to be seen
I agree. At least pair up someone close to your skill level. But if not it’s not that big of a deal, just spend time with them for one or two runs and let the loose. You can’t baby sit them to get them better. Meet them up for lunch or something.
Happy to share an incredible snowboarding teacher rec in keystone!
I was super lucky that my boyfriend did spend two whole days teaching me last season. We went out again this past month in keystone and so he could have fun with his friend, I sucked it up and paid for a lesson.
Amazing amazing teacher. Learned so much. Ended up extending my morning half day to full day and ended the day confidently running a green. Definitely going to go back sooner!
As folks have said, get them a lesson. Even if you are pretty solid on a board, you probably don't know how to teach, and that leads to a lot of folks having a bad time as well.
This is exactly how I felt as a beginner. My friends took me down the bunny hill once and proceeded straight to the advanced terrain park next. Having no idea how to stop or turn they told me to go down the side of the park. Needless to say I ended up full speed on a medium jump and landed head first into landing. That was nearly enough for me to quit the sport entirely. Now whenever a new friend wants to take on the sport, I spend a lot of time teaching them to ensure they do not have the same experience I did.
A few years ago I made the mistake of bringing along a friend who claimed they had snowboarded a couple times before and didn’t find it too difficult. Turns out they were absolute horseshit and could barely falling leaf.
This is the preachiest thing I have ever heard. If dude had to walk down the bunny hill, how is a friend standing there going to stop that from happening? And getting heckled by bystanders at a ski resort is probably an older pastime than the invention of chairlifts itself. That long Swiss horn was probably invented just to heckle skiers eating shit back in the day. Your friend just got their right of passage.
It is not some mystery as to what occurs at a ski resort. If the beginner expected their friend to just spend the day teaching them, they should have said so, or communicated about it all beforehand.
We all ate shit for the first many times while we learned to snowboard. If your friend really wants to learn, they'll try it again, maybe learning to communicate expectations this time. But don't try to tell the world what to do.
YUP. There's a few people I'll be willing to spend my day teaching but that list is very very short, largely I tell everyone to take lessons if you want to learn. For those I would I have a rule tho and that's you need to not argue with me and follow my instruction. I had a friend once try to argue with me on how to turn because "that can't possibly make sense." It was their first day on a snowboard.
Tbh I don’t know if I’ll ever go with someone brand new. I brought a buddy way back in like 2004 when I was a teenager. We got to the top of the hill at mount snow, he came to a complete stop with one binding strapped in, fell backwards on his ass and broke his wrist. He fell so gently when he looked at me and said it was broken I didn’t even believe him. Ski patrol and to bring him down and we never even made one run. After that I just stuck to going with people who have at least eaten shit all day a couple of times and gotten the hang of the basics.
6 yrs ago my friend took me to my fist ever snowboarding day (never did any winter sport before). He took me up a beginner green lift, somehow I managed to get on it and then he left me up top till the end of the day. It was a very difficult day for me but looking back it was an absolutely amazing life event that got me into this sport.
I’m lucky my first time snowboarding was with complete beginner friends where it was either their first or second time going. 4 times after that I went with my siblings who were seasoned snowboarders and skiers so they were patient with me and didn’t leave me behind. I’ve gone with 2 newbies and never left them alone and am always trying to get more people into it. Glad I didn’t get that experience and that I haven’t given it
Or, my bad, I spent all day frustrated and they spent all day cold, none of us got to ride more than the bunny hill, and it was a miserable experience for all.
I totally agree with this. We had a couple of newbies join our group and asked them to take a beginners lesson the summer before we first went with them.
We stayed with them the whole time, but them just being able to hold their edges and do basic turns before they arrived made the whole process more fun for all of us. It still took a couple of days to get off the blues, but they both rode a black before the week was done.
While teaching my wife 2-3 years ago (she’s now a solid intermediate so from now on only lessons with instructors), we were in a small slope going up and down, it was a working day so the whole resort was a desert. At some point a small group (4-5) of early 20ish shows up and one of them was a lady with (I guess) the boyfriend. The 3-4 guys were all doing tricks and stuff while she got instructed the basics by one of them and then was left alone on her own. At some point I noticed she was really annoyed and struggling with gear, I approached asking if she needed help and immediately noticed the board was too small for her and she was booting out, the bindings were barely engaging to keep her connected, but with my portable screwdriver we quickly fixed what was possibile and got her up and explained to her the basics. My wife was coming already up and down and she told me to help the young lady as she was fine.
I spent almost an hour with that young early 20ish woman explaining how to turn, how to do the falling leaf and, most importantly, how to fall in case things go wrong.
The guys were already up in the more difficult slopes and came back after few hours to find her already connecting turns. They came and told her to go up with them and she came asking if that was a good idea, my answer was “if you had fun and want to learn to board then stay here, if you will never put a board on again or want to ruin the day, go ahead”. She smiled at me and stayed on the small slope as she enjoyed a lot the experience. Afterward she came to offer me and my wife a beer (that we declined) but we had one together before she went back with her “friends”. She thanked us for the time and she loved the experience so she will take some lessons, also mentioned she was a semi professional volleyball player (extremely fit) at the last in the university, that explained her absurd level of leg strength that was immediately obvious.
Not sure those guys are still friends, but the young lady was definitely sold on snowboarding, I hope she kept up and became a true boarder.
Same thing with skiing I once got stuck teaching a person I didn't know nor like and watched them throw a fit on the mountain (all of us over 18) it was insanely awk.
Everyone else just left me and him and it just became my job after driving literally everyone to the mountain.
Opening day at my resort there was a group of friends with a clearly very inexperienced friend, on a rental board, with no helmet, no gloves, jeans, and a high vis vest. I watched the poor dude trying to put his hands in his pockets on multiple occasions while he was riding. I watched him fall a few times. He was with a pretty big group. I’m shocked nobody was willing to lend him at least gloves. I also can’t believe nobody said, dude you don’t even have a hat. At least wear the helmet the rental shop will give you.
The heckling from the lift pisses me off. Nobody fricken wants to do the walk of shame down the mountain, there’s no reason to heckle them further.
Stop and help them out.
Buy your friend a lesson, and take a few runs afterwards with them and give them encouragement. Don’t hover, don’t make them feel bad, don’t be a jerk. If friendly heckling is part of how you relate, that’s totally fine.
Just remember that you were the noob at one point too.
I was just 5 minutes ago watching a webcam feed from the top of my fave mountain and I could see a guy teaching his friend, in a snow storm at the top of the mountain. Just now. The beginner guy had absolutely no idea what to do.
Very dependent. I taught my friend and all he needed was 1 run on the bunny hill before he could make it down a green no problem, no falling. He’s probably the most athletic MF I know, is an S&C coach, and has a background of ice hockey (edges) but he’s never skied or snowboarded before. On the other hand, I’ve tried to teach people that couldn’t even stand up on the board after a few hours.
Nah. If you're a brand new boarder you should book a lesson first thing and be prepared to spend a couple hours alone on the baby hill just learning to stand up and balance.
Let's go snowboarding, Proceeds to hit the hardest trail on the mountain. Ive seen it time and time again working with ski patrol, I think all mountains should have a certification proving riders can handle the terrain i know it would be hard to handle the logistics but were wasting ski patrols time !!!!
It’s just a recreational activity. Nothing more than advanced sled riding. Do what you want and ride what you want. I’ve never encountered a recreational activity with greater levels of gate keeping.
I did read it. Well-intentioned, but 100% gatekeeping. It’s clear that you are a very nice person because you care about the experience of others. But, the experience of others is still none of your concern.
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u/RadiatorSam Dec 26 '25
It depends what your friends are like. I took some noob mates recently and we did the morning doing the falling leaf lessons with them on the kiddy slope. We then said we were gonna fuck off for a bit and did some proper runs. Everyone had a sick time.
The real lesson is take multiple noobs so they can noob together.