Snowboard Lesson – Air Time

Launching into the air on a snowboard is a natural progression that should be undertaken once you've taken a snowboard lessonor two, and are now comfortable with linking turns and stopping. Start with small moguls, banks or headwalls with safe landing areas. A couple of speed checks though the launch area will familiarise you with what lies ahead. Look for modest downslopes for smooth landings and relax.
As you approach the jump lay your snowboard flat to the snow to provide maximum speed, bend your knees into a knock-kneed position and assume a low, tucked position. Your arms and hands should be in front of you body at the same width as your shoulders. For maximum air, you need to time your lift-off with a full body extension (an Ollie), swing your arms up and spring off the snow as you reach the crest of the jump. In the air, keep your weight centred and bring your knees up towards your chest. Don't lean over or bend from the waist, this will put you off-balance. Use your hands for balance at first, once you've found your balance point then start trying grabs. To land, drop your back leg slightly and let the tail of the snowboard touch the snow first. Let gravity bring the rest of the board down smoothly, keep your knees bent and absorb the landing. Keep your hands in front of you and avoid "butt-checking" your landing.
To dial in snowboard lessons like this one before you even hit the slopes, Click here, and be on your way to becoming a master of snowboarding.

Snowboard Lesson – Balance

Balance is one of the most important tools you need for snowboarding, and this is one snowboard lesson you can do from home. Proper body position is the key to clean, powerful turns. You can practice getting the correct body position in a hallway or some other place where you can catch your balance. I'd suggest a carpeted hallway as your edges will quickly ruin a polished wooden floor, or may slip out from under you on pristine marble.
To begin your snowboard lesson at home, strap into your board, with your boots on, and stand in a relaxed position, knees bent so you could absorb terrain with your lower body. Now pretend you are making a turn. Your aim is to get as much angle on the board without touching the walls for balance and then hold it for as long as possible. To do this properly you must tilt the board with your knees and keep your hips and shoulders in a vertical line. This snowboard lesson works for toeside and heelside turns in soft or hard boots.
When you take this snowboard lesson to the snow, as you make your turn, the goal is to keep your hips and shoulders vertical throughout the entire turn. Your knees tilt the snowboard and your arms stay in a relaxed position facing down the hill.
Don't lay over the carve! Although it is fun it is not the best way to hold an edge and can see you eating snow more often than not. If your shoulders dip then it should be to the outside of the turn, not the inside. This is called counter-balancing and one of the best techniques to do this is to imagine that you're holding a heavy bucket of sand in your outside hand. Try holding it out as far and as low as you can. You may think your over-compensating, but you're really lining up your balance correctly. If your still at home doing your snowboard lesson in the hallway, your could use a real bucket of sand to counter-balance, just don't drop the bucket and spill the sand all over the carpet.
To learn more techniques and rapidly improve your snowboarding skills, all from home, click here and start your ultimate snowboard lesson.

Snowboard Lesson - Powder Riding

If there's one thing I love about snowboarding, then it would be have to be laying a fresh line down on fresh snow ... not just any snow ... crisp, dry, fluffy back-country powder snow. The smile it puts on my face, looking back up the slope I've just ridden down with my mate, is one of pure ecstasy. Laying down that perfect arc into deep powder gives a true feeling of accomplishment and I know that without that snowboard lesson that arc wouldn't look that perfect... In fact, it would probably have meant me in a heap at the bottom of the slope and rag-doll marks, from the entry point to the slope, all the way down, ruining that pristine slice of natures' beauty.
While its more than fine, if not fun (sometimes), to take a tumble in deep powder, knowing that by taking a simple snowboard lesson I would be able to lay down something of beauty (the perfect arc) is far more appealing. It would look great in a photo shot or in a video
So get that snowboard lesson and you'll be charging down the deep slopes and laying down the perfect arc too.
Mantra: There are no friends on a powder day!

Snowboard Lesson - Are you Goofy?

I'm often asked by new-comers to snowboarding "How do I know if I'm goofy?", there's no true answer to this question, especially nowadays with switch-stance riding being common place and the better you get at both ways, the better rider you'll become. So I usually suggest a snowboard lesson to get you riding both regular and goofy (forwards & switch).
Most riders will always favour one way or the other, if you've come from a surfing or skateboarding background you'll probably have a fair idea which foot forward you prefer. Although, some of the best riders I know are regular (left-foot forward) riders of a snowboard but ride their skateboards goofy, for them it's all about the foot they like pushing with on the snow and concrete.
A good test is to stand still and relax, then get one of your mates to push you from behind, the foot that goes forward to re-balance yourself, 9 times out of 10, is the one that you should put as your front foot on your snowboard. I did this test once with a newbie who over-thought it too much and never put the same foot forward to balance themselves once, I sent them for a snowboard lesson instead, it was much easier to let a paid instructor deal with a tricky customer than eat into my riding time. Even the instructor got frustrated and told them to trade in the snowboard for a set of ski's, that way there'd be no argument as to which foot went forward!