paging UK Boarders: newbie question for the locals

Guys/Gals,

I was thinking of learning to snowboard with 4 friends in the next
few months. I was considering doing a "Learn to board in a day" course
in either MK (expensive, but local) or Tamworth (further away, but
cheaper).

Can anyone who's actually done one of these tell me if they're any
good ?
Will I actually be able to board after one of these courses ?
How fit do my fairly unfit mates need to be for this ?


Thanks,


Bryan

On Tue, 30 May 2006 10:10:03 GMT, allegedly
wrote:

I was thinking of learning to snowboard with 4 friends in the next
few months. I was considering doing a "Learn to board in a day" course
in either MK (expensive, but local) or Tamworth (further away, but
cheaper).

In terms of actual slope, MK is better than Tamworth... but if the cost of
4 people sharing fuel is cheaper than the price difference, then Tamworth
will be fine also.

Can anyone who's actually done one of these tell me if they're any
good ?
Will I actually be able to board after one of these courses ?

I haven't but my friend's wife did. Although she could ski, so had some
upfront awareness of snow, and edge control. Anyway, by the end of the
day, she was declared fit for using the slope without an instructor.

How fit do my fairly unfit mates need to be for this ?

Reasonably. You'll be falling a lot, so if you body can take punishment
then you'll be better off than someone who feels pain a lot, bruises
easily and takes long to recover from knocks.

- Dave.

--
The only powder to get high on, falls from the sky.
http://www.vpas.org/ - Snowboarding the worlds pow pow -
Securing your e-mail

The Snowboard FAQ lives here - http://rssFAQ.org/

Switters wrote:
On Tue, 30 May 2006 10:10:03 GMT, allegedly
wrote:

I was thinking of learning to snowboard with 4 friends in the next
few months. I was considering doing a "Learn to board in a day" course
in either MK (expensive, but local) or Tamworth (further away, but
cheaper).

In terms of actual slope, MK is better than Tamworth... but if the cost of
4 people sharing fuel is cheaper than the price difference, then Tamworth
will be fine also.

It's =A3150 / person in MK, =A379 / person in Tamworth. So MK would have
to be a bunch better as there's no way it's =A3350 extra quids worth of
fuel. Hopefully someone will turn up who's tried one or the other
course and can give me a first-hand review.

Failing that - how / where did any of the UK people learn ?
Individual lessons ?
Took a holiday somewhere snowy ?
We're born as little grinders and just grew bigger ?

wrote:
Switters wrote:
On Tue, 30 May 2006 10:10:03 GMT,
allegedly wrote:

I was thinking of learning to snowboard with 4 friends in the next
few months. I was considering doing a "Learn to board in a day"
course in either MK (expensive, but local) or Tamworth (further
away, but cheaper).

In terms of actual slope, MK is better than Tamworth... but if the
cost of 4 people sharing fuel is cheaper than the price difference,
then Tamworth will be fine also.

It's £150 / person in MK, £79 / person in Tamworth. So MK would have
to be a bunch better as there's no way it's £350 extra quids worth of
fuel. Hopefully someone will turn up who's tried one or the other
course and can give me a first-hand review.


I haven't learned at either, although MK does have a beginners only slope
and a conveyor belt (not been to Tamworth for a while so don't know if
they've changed things there)

Failing that - how / where did any of the UK people learn ?
Individual lessons ?
Took a holiday somewhere snowy ?
We're born as little grinders and just grew bigger ?

I learned on a dry slope - snow was a doddle after that experience!

cupra wrote:
I learned on a dry slope - snow was a doddle after that experience!

I wondered about how that could possibly work with a snowboard[1] but
since there's a "real snow" place in MK (25 mins away) I decided that
I'd hopefully never need to find out.



[1] I have no clue about skiing at all - but I naively assumed that you
just went flying straight down it with the points facing the bottom so
that might work out. It occurs to me, as I write this, that skiing may
be even more complicated than I'd imagined. Still not interested
though.

wrote:

I was considering doing a "Learn to board in a day" course
in either MK (expensive, but local) or Tamworth (further away, but
cheaper).

If you can be arsed with a web-based forum, it might be worth taking a look
at snowboardclub.co.uk (apologies if its bad netiquette to be recommending
that here).

In particular, this thread may interest you:
http://www.snowboardclub.co.uk/PNphp...c-t-13059.html

hth
Sean
x

On Tue, 30 May 2006 14:28:37 GMT, allegedly
wrote:

cupra wrote:
I learned on a dry slope - snow was a doddle after that experience!

I wondered about how that could possibly work with a snowboard[1] but
since there's a "real snow" place in MK (25 mins away) I decided that
I'd hopefully never need to find out.

A board, and skis are slippery when they're placed on top of the bristles
that make up a dry slope.

[1] I have no clue about skiing at all - but I naively assumed that you
just went flying straight down it with the points facing the bottom so
that might work out.

Depends what you mean by points and bottom. You go downhill with the tip
of the ski (or board) facing downhill, or more usually, close to downhill.
The quickest line down is called the fall line, and usually you zigzag
down the fall line, depending on the steepness of the slope.

At this very basic level, boards and skis work the same way. Essentially
a board is a very fat (and short) ski, or a ski is a very very skinny
board.

- Dave.

--
The only powder to get high on, falls from the sky.
http://www.vpas.org/ - Snowboarding the worlds pow pow -
Securing your e-mail

The Snowboard FAQ lives here - http://rssFAQ.org/

Sean wrote:
wrote:

I was considering doing a "Learn to board in a day" course
in either MK (expensive, but local) or Tamworth (further away, but
cheaper).

If you can be arsed with a web-based forum, it might be worth taking a look
at snowboardclub.co.uk (apologies if its bad netiquette to be recommending
that here).

I can be arsed - but I'll have to look later on. I have no idea if it's
bad netiquette but I doubt that it is since the answer is helpful,
usenet is not a commercial medium and I suspect that you're gaining
nothing by recommending it i.e. you don't own the site / get kickbacks
for sending them traffic. I could be wrong - that's happened before.


In particular, this thread may interest you:
http://www.snowboardclub.co.uk/PNphp...c-t-13059.html


Cool. I'll take a look later.

Switters wrote:
On Tue, 30 May 2006 14:28:37 GMT, allegedly
wrote:
[1] I have no clue about skiing at all - but I naively assumed that you
just went flying straight down it with the points facing the bottom so
that might work out.

Depends what you mean by points and bottom. You go downhill with the tip
of the ski (or board) facing downhill, or more usually, close to downhill.
The quickest line down is called the fall line, and usually you zigzag
down the fall line, depending on the steepness of the slope.

By points I meant the pointy bits at the front of the ski.
By bottom I meant where the snow[1] in an avalanche is trying[2] to
get.


At this very basic level, boards and skis work the same way. Essentially
a board is a very fat (and short) ski, or a ski is a very very skinny
board.

Yeah, in retrospect they are probably quite similar and my simple point
it downwards thought probably applies to snowboards as well. I still
don't fancy dry slopes though.


[1] and dirt and rocks and suprised squirrels and whatever else is in
an avalanche - never really seen one
[2] and never having seen one I'm assuming that they run all the way to
the foot of the mountain - maybe they don't. Possibly I should stick to
what I know for explanations - but where's the fun in that ?

On 2006-05-30, wrote:

Failing that - how / where did any of the UK people learn ?

I learnt on the snow, outdoors, in Scotland. Without any lessons.

Possibly not as good an option if you live in Southern England, and
certainly no use in Summer. But if there's good snow it can certainly
be worth a weekend trip. The problem is it's hard to plan in advance.

--
David Taylor