Expert Snowboarding Tips & Tricks

Expert Snowboarding Tips

Our expert snowboarding tips are for those of you that are already boarding confidently and are ready to start thinking about taking your board off piste or into the park. If you are not quite up to this level yet then why not check out our beginners snowboard tips, intermediate snowboard tips or advanced snowboard tips to give you an edge when you next get on your board.

For those of you ready to up your skills and take thinks a bit further, read on. These tips of course can’t take the place of an instructor who will be able to give you real hands on advice, see exactly where you need help and take you step by step through the moves to get where you want to be.

They can however give you a few things to bear in mind and think about when you are next on the slopes and give you a little helping hand in the right direction.

Snowboarding in Powder

Powder snow is a lot different to the flat and groomed snow of the slopes. It is heavier, stickier and, of course, deeper. It will clog up underneath your board, throw you off balance, chuck varying terrains and depths at you, hide rocks and also give you sweetest and most awesome ride you have ever had.

But first you need to learn how to ride in powder. The top two tips for snowboarding in powder are to lift the nose out of the powder when turning and to let your legs flex with the terrain as you ride.

To lift the nose out of the powder you need to lean backwards a little on your board as you move into the turn so that the nose of the board can lift a little and move over the powder rather than getting stuck in the heavy wet snow. Not lifting the nose of the board up enough during turns is one of the main reasons for losing balance and ending up with a face full of snow.

Letting your legs relax and flex with the terrain rather than stay rigid will also really help you with powder riding. The terrain off piste is always more lumpy and unpredictable than the groomed slopes and there often hidden rocks and lumps and bumps that you can’t necessarily see. So allowing your legs to move up and down with the terrain, keeping them lose and flexible whilst retaining your stance and position is an important part to riding off piste.

Jumps and Tricks

Let’s face it, one of the biggest draws of snowboarding is looking cool and doing awesome tricks, riding rails, and mastering the pipe. But before you can start getting major air you need to master small, easy jumps like doing Ollies off rollers and kickers, practicing 180s on the flat and then move on to doing 50:50’s and indy grabs off small boxes and rails.

To start with keep it small, simple and slow and build up from there. The most important thing to remember when starting boxes and rails is to keep your knees bent; your body low and approach everything straight and flat. The more you land well the more you will build your confidence and your skills to try bigger and faster stuff.

And most importantly have fun and remember that nothing can beat getting real hands on instruction from a qualified expert. We run courses for snowboarders from beginners classes to rider development lessons and even offer 5 hour intensive day courses.