Boarding for beginners

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 10, Issue 454, 22 September 1992, Page 7 (Supplement)

Boarding for beginners

by

Marnie

woodd

The thing that struck me about the skifield this season was the huge number of snow boarders charging around the place.

They make an incredibly loud noise to a beginner skier terrified of being mown down at great speed, and look like it would be really hard to

learn. But before I could make any judgements I had to have a go. So, armed with a board and boots kindly lent by

Max at The Edge snowboard hire in Ohakune, I ventured forth. It was a beautiful fine windless day with very few people on the field, and it seemed a sacrilege to waste such conditions on learning to board when I could have been exhausting myself skiing. There were two other women in my lesson; Vin and Jackie, who were both better skiers than me so I wasn't feeling too confident. Tom Monaghan, our instructor had been boarding for years. A snowboard looks almost like a giant skate-

board without wheels. It's got a binding for each foot positioned in the middle of the board at about a 45 degree angle. Once you're strapped in that's it - there's no quick release like a pair of skis has. Our two hour lesson began with us practicing skating up and down with our front feet strapped into the bindings. It is not a natural position to be standing in my feet wanted to go in the direction they were used to-straight ahead , not sideways. Once my back foot was strapped in I was truly helpless. Balance seemed to be the key, I have never skateboarded or surfed and just standing up without face planting was a major achievement to begin with. Vin was about ready to scream and give up at this stage because she was having problems getting to

her feet. We learnt to slide downhill on first the heel edge then the toe edge. There seemed to be no way of stopping except to fall over. Of course Tom the instructor demonstrated each manoeuvre perfectly and made it look simple, and with much practice it was. The next aim was to traverse in a zigzag down the gentle slope to the pomma lift and catch it back up the hill. Controlling your direction is just a matter of shifting your weight. If your weight is centred over the board you will go straight downhill, if it's over your front foot hopefully you '11 slide forward, etc. Catching a pomma takes on a whole new meaning on a snowboard. You release your rear foot from the binding and stand it on the middle of the board. The lift took off with such a jerk that it

took me three attempts to finally get going. I clung to the pomma the whole way up because I hadn't quite managed to put it between my legs and I wasn't about to try for fear of losing my balance. Two hours passed very quickly, but by the end I was standing up quite happily, able to move where I wanted when I wanted and spending less time face down in the snow. Jackie was a natural, and was practically turning by the end of the lesson, and Vin progressed in leaps and bounds once she got going. They both kept practicing through the afternoon although I couldn't but I had lots of fun and will definitely be going back for another lesson. Turoa has snowboards and boots for hire at $35 per day. At Whakapapa, board and boot hire costs $40 per day.