|
In this section: |
<< Back to Snow & ski; jobs and courses Doing a season Learn to ski or snowboard A skier learns to snowboard Alternative destinations Ski and chalet jobs |
Learning to snowboard in the Alps Back to basics Liz Robins writes... 'The French man is talking at me. I think the words are English but with an accent like that it all sounds French. He’s waving his arms around a lot. I can see the six-year-olds behind me getting impatient. So, as far as I understand, I have to hold onto this button, wedge it under my bum, face the wrong way up the mountain and, with one foot attached, stay balanced and upright on this plank of wood. No wonder snowboarders don’t like drag lifts. As a skier I’ve never really liked boarders. They’re great people off the piste, but it’s always a boarder who cuts you up, sends you flying, sits on their arse right in your way and prats around so even Mystic Meg couldn’t tell you which way they’re going next. But life is for living and you should seize every opportunity you’re given. So when someone turned up with a board my size (140cm - people laugh and ask who stole the wheels to my skateboard) that’s been left behind from last season and told me I could get free boot hire, well, I can’t really say no can I? Back to my first day out snowboarding and I’m very excited, but getting more and more scared with every ‘good luck’ I’m wished. My boyfriend - a very patient man (he needs to be!) is taking me out on the nursery slope next to the hotel where I work. Prime position for me to loose all dignity I have in front of all the people I work with. As I was previously warned, drag lifts are the ultimate confidence knock for the debutant boarder. Attempt one - fallen. Attempt two - fallen and dragged, legs first, up the slope. Attempt three - fallen again, but this time managed with some, albeit very little, style. Attempt four - leaning into the mountain, shoulders parallel to the board, arm out, and I’m away! Getting off the lift was interesting but I eventually got to the top of the run and forced my back foot into the binding. It’s amazing how long it can take a beginner boarder to cover 15 metres of piste that you’d cover in the blink of en eye on skis. It was painfully slow. I discovered it’s quite easy to slip and slide, falling-leaf style, and I quite enjoyed that because it was something I could actually achieve. But then I was forced to agree that at some point I actually had to learn to turn, and this was not an easy task. My advice to beginner boarders is to wear as much padding as possible. You may look like the Michelin Man but you’ll be grateful. I was told to try and fall on my bum (I have lots of natural padding there) but my knees seemed to have an irrepressible magnetic pull toward the slope and the bruises upon bruises on my knees are evidence of that. It’s frustrating being rubbish again. My language deteriorated with every failed attempt at a toe edge turn and head-on collisions with small people on skis were ominous. Several screams of insistence that I really was leaning forward were swiftly followed by apologies as I realised I actually wasn’t leaning forward at all. For stubborn people such as myself it’s difficult to admit that your instructor may actually know better than yourself. So, with the humility that this realisation brought, the moment finally came. It had to come or else I would’ve gone crazy. The moment finally came where I made my first toe edge turn. Round I went and, realising I’d accomplished what had previously seemed impossible, I screamed! A scream of delight that echoed through the Alps! In the excitement I span, did 360 degrees and landed flat and hard on my bum. But it didn’t matter! Nothing in the world mattered because I’d made a turn! These moments are the kind that go down in personal history, the kind that flash before your eyes just before you die. Your first day of school, the first glimpse of your soulmate, the birth of your first child - all of these compare to the moment you first realise that you can snowboard. A couple of wobbly turns later my achievement was being celebrated with a well-deserved vin chaud and a smug grin on my face. Don’t tell my fellow skiers - they might lynch me - but once you’re over the frustration, snowboarding is actually really good fun!' Click here >> for more winter sports info |
Relevant adverts |
© Copyright 1998-2007 - The Gapyear Company Ltd - Company Registration No: 3597000
