[Typo3-t3board03] Agenda Snowboard Beginners

[Daniel Brün]

Hi Folks!

For a beginner the most important thing is to be able to practice 
WITHOUT pain. This is no joke ;-) Falling on your butt and your knees on 
hardpack snow can deliver pain that lasts for quite some time. And once 
you fear to fall again (because it already hurts) you don't try new 
stuff anymore, hence flattening the learning-curve.

This is why I recommend the following equipment for beginners:

1. Helmet (can also be rented. If you're planning to stick with 
snowboarding, it might also be a good idea to buy one)

2. Wristguards. You'll have to get up using your hands VERY frequently 
in the beginning... so they're not only good for falling! (There are 
gloves that also have wristguard-functionality, but they're usually 
quite expensive. Otherwise just wear cheap inline-skating-wristguards 
under your regular gloves).

3. Knee-Pads. On the first runs, you WILL fall on your knees. That's a 
classic! Do you know those knee-pads volleyball-players wear? That's 
exactly what you need. This stuff is not very expensive but highly 
recommended, because once your knee is hurt, snowboarding the rest of 
the week can be real pain! Of course, you can also go for the 
special-snowboard-knee-pad (Vans, Burton, ProTec, ...), which is 
slighlty more expensive but also offers more protection.

4. Butt-Pad (I just made that name up;-)). A friend of mine bought some 
padded underwear on our last trip to the mountains. Basically your hips 
and butt are padded with some kind of foam. Not too bad, could have used 
that now and then, too ;-). If you're on a budget, you can also try to 
use some kind of cycling-short and stuff some padding into it, or nails, 
if you want to make sure you don't fall ;-)


Cheers,

Dan