Get Ready to snowboard Guide Part 5: The Basics

Wikihow is filled with amazing photos such as this one. Moment totally captured!

Chances are if you’re reading this site it’s because you already snowboard, but maybe, just maybe, you’re thinking about taking it up this year. We’re equal-opportunity shit talkers, so don’t worry, we’ve got you covered right here. However, it’s been a long time since anyone here at YoBeat fell into the “beginner” category, so rather than come up with our own tips, we turned to the ultimate source of snowboard know-how, Wikihow, for some very important pointers.

1. Dress Appropriately

This is the first point in the How to Snowboard entry, so it must be a big deal. This entry is filled with such useful nuggets as “Tucking your pants into your boots or having the boots touch your skin hurts a lot after a day of snowboarding.” There are also tips for looking your best in the Be a Snow-Bro article, including how to “Get steezed out.” Hint: “Bright colors and flat-brimmed caps will help with this. Bonus points for stylie wrap-around sunglasses. Don’t forget the brodana as an essential accessory with many uses.”

Do you think these people know the integral role they play in teaching people snowboard basics?

2. Get in Shape

The wiki entry for this one makes it sound really hard. They lost us somewhere in the middle of this line… “Isometric neck strengthening-Wrist flexor and extensor strength-Wrist flexor and extensor flexibility-Rotator cuff strengthening-Hip flexor stretching-Glute medius strength” so we stopped reading. But we recommend not drinking so much beer and maybe getting off the couch and going skateboarding or something. However, wiki warns, “Skating can be dangerous don’t attempt tricks that are far above you skill level the last thing you want to do is hurt yourself and compromise your snowboarding season.” Good advice!

Weird. This photo is actually kinda cool. Thanks wiki!

3. Learn how to get on and off the chair lift

This is a very integral part of being able to snowboard so thankfully there are wiki entries on both getting on and getting off. Just to scare you a little, Wiki warns about getting on the lift, “when things go wrong, the whole world will seem to despise you for shutting down the lift,” so pay close attention. To get on you’ll “Release your rear foot from its binding” then “’Skate’ to the chairlift line.” Then there are 4 more steps before we get to the important “Sit down in the chair” part. Clearly this is very complicated so you’ll probably want to read this entry twice. Then when you’re done, you’ll be a pro lift-getter-onner, so make sure to lean how to get off as well by reading How to Get off A Chairlift.

4. Figure out what to do when you get to the top.

Wiki has all the ways you can get down the hill covered: Straight, Through Moguls , the Halfpipe, and even the under appreciated art of Turning.  Don’t worry, it might take you a couple tries to get all of these things right, but since you have time to read these posts over and over before the season starts, you should be fine!

Sick action!

5. Learn a backflip

Even if you can’t master the turning part, the backflip is the next logical step in your snowboard career. Wiki knows, “The backflip on a snowboard is one of the coolest and stylyest tricks out there,” so read up on it here.

And that’s pretty much it. If you’re wearing the right clothes, in the right shape and know how to get up and down the hill, then flip over in the air, you’re pretty much a snowboarder. Now that it’s official, feel free to use your new-found passion to get closer to a friend. It may also be time to start looking for sponsors, which according to wiki “you don’t even need to be that good” just “put yourself out there.”  Or maybe, just maybe, you’ll simply want to get rad, and there’s an entry about that too.