Important Snowboarding Clothes

Snowboarding is fun and exciting but if you do not have the correct and appropriate snowboarding clothes, the fun and excitement will disappear very fast.

One of the most important snowboarding clothes is the jacket. Your jacket should have the capacity to keep you warm and dry. Remember, snow can turn into water very quickly once it comes in contact with your body heat and the feeling is never nice. Therefore, you jacket should be waterproof. Make sure that the lining of your jacket is thick enough to keep you warm but at the same time your jacket should not hinder your movement. Your jacket should fit you snugly while ensuring it does not cut into you. You can either opt for a parka with a hood or a ski jacket depending on what you are comfortable with.

Besides the jacket, pay special attention to your pants. They should be waterproof just like your jacket. Clothes manufacturers make snowboarding pants with suspenders which are similar to waders made for fishing. While other snowboarding pants are just like conventional pants.

Do not attempt to do snowboarding without a pair of warm gloves which do not restrict the mobility of your hands. Make sure your gloves fit you well on the wrist to seal out the cold. Though scarves are not essential for snowboarding, they have their use. You can use scarves to cover your nose and mouth if the weather goes from bad to worse. If you are wearing a scarf, make sure it is waterproof.

The most important part of your snowboarding clothes is your helmet. It is designed to protect you from the cold and from any serious head injuries in case of an accident.

Once you have all the necessary clothing for snowboarding, you are all set to conquer the snow.

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Snowboarding Classes For Beginners

Snowboarding, since it's introduction in 1965, has become an extremely popular sport - the second most popular winter sport in the United States. It is the fastest growing winter sport in the U.S. Only skiing remains more popular.

With that in mind, more ski resorts than ever are beginning to open up some of their ski slopes for either exclusive or shared snowboarding use. For the beginning snowboarder, looking to learn the basic skills, there will be no shortage of places to practice. But snowboarding is not a natural or instinctive skill, so where do you start?

To being with, you should never try to learn snowboarding by yourself. There's too much unnecessary chance of injury. You should always find a qualified expert to teach you. Now this qualified expert can be from a structured environment like a snowboarding school or it can be a friend or family member who has been snowboarding for year and has the knowledge and patience to teach. The important thing is to get trained properly.

No one, especially a beginner should feel embarrassed about attending a snowboarding school. Even snow boarding trainers attend classes in an effort to keep up with the latest snowboarding styles, techniques, and safety protocols. The main decision you will have to make is what type of training you want. Most ski and snowboarding resorts will be able to accommodate you in whichever choice you make.

The most popular type of lesson is the group lesson. Group lessons are relatively inexpensive, well organized, and easy to find. Snowboarding group classes are usually divided by skill levels, so choose the beginning group and you will have few problems. Before enrolling check how many participants are expected in the class. More than 8 snowboarders in a class will probably be too many to allow the instructor to give you the level of attention you need.

To further save on money, if you plan in advance, you can often find coupons or discount books that will give you a nice percentage off of the class fee if you enroll in advance and are willing to pay with a credit card.
If you have the money, and feel that you need more support and attention, you can sign up for a private lesson. Of course, private lessons are more pricey. As the only student, however, you can be sure of receiving instructions geared expressly for your skill level. You will also be more comfortable in learning at your own pace as there will be no other students to hold you back.

A nice compromise between group lessons and private lessons is the private group lesson where you and friends can hire an instructor to teach you as a class. This has the benefit of letting you learn in a relaxed environment with friends and while usually more expensive than group lessons, will be much less expensive than private lessons.

The popularity of snowboard Olympic winners like Shaun White, Hannah Teter, Seth Wescott, and others will only increase the popularity of snowboarding itself. Want to see what all the funs about? Sign up for your snowboarding class today.

Jim Garza is the owner and webmaster of http://www.snowboardingmarketplace.com a winter sports web site specializing in articles and information on snowboarding googles and accessories.

A Beginner's Guide to Snowboarding

Nothing is more inviting than the first drop of snow in the winter. It signals a start of the best holidays which, despite of the cold could warm the spirit of anyone who enjoys the winter activities. One of the most famous winter activities is snowboarding. Every year, winter resorts all over the world, attract hundreds of thousands of snowboarding enthusiast of all ages, eager to get their adrenaline pumping and their snowboards jetting down that slope.

However, as fun and exciting as it is, snowboarding can be challenging and at times dangerous for beginners. So before you put on that snowboard and jump of that snow slope, here are basic things to know about snowboarding.

First, one has to have the right gear for snowboarding. Some nice warm clothes are a prerequisite unless you would like to have the cold beat you from enjoying. Avoid cotton clothes. Choose synthetic, moisture resistant clothing. Gloves or mittens as well as a sturdy headgear and goggles or shades are also important for protection.

Next is choosing your snowboard. In buying your own snowboard, think of how you would like to ride it. A freestyle snowboard would be different from the downhill snowboard. Read the catalogues and ask questions from experts and those who have been snowboarding for some time. If there are demos you can watch then it will be better since you can see the boards in action. One may also try it themselves to get a personal feel of the board. Investing in a good snowboard can be costly so one wants to do it right the first time.

Another important piece of equipment is a good pair of snowboard boots. When buying your snowboard boots make sure that they fit well with the snowboard socks on. They should be very comfortable. Feet should be well secured inside the boots otherwise it will affect the snowboarder's performance.
It is also important to get good snowboard bindings since it is that piece of equipment that connects the snowboarder to his board. Nowadays, there are various styles and types of snowboard bindings. However, like the boots, it has to be comfortable and must secure the rider's feet in place so it is important to try the bindings on before buying them.

Once the equipment has been taken care of, it is imperative for someone new to snowboarding to take lessons from a professional instructor. As mentioned earlier, snowboarding can be fun but it has its share of danger so it is better to learn the basics of the sports first. In almost every ski resort, there are snowboarding classes facilitated by instructors who are into the sport for quite some time now. This will be beneficial can help avoid accidents. Always go in pairs. Slopes are divided based on the skill levels of skiers so it will be best to try out your skills on the easier slopes first.

So there you have it, some guidelines and things to do to make sure that you will enjoy your first day of snowboarding. Just always remember to put safety first at all times. That way you will get to snowboard the next day and improve your skills some more.

All About Snowboarding

A snowboard is a must have piece of equipment of course when going snowboarding. It is one of the most important pieces, but you will also need to be wearing the proper attire to protect you when falling in the snow and keep you warm. Snowboarding comes under the category of adventure sports and is participated in many different ski resorts all over the world, with some of the most popular places to visit being the USA and Europe. Fans of this sport will travel the world whether it is just for leisure or the take part in competitions. Finding a place with steep slopes that they like will result in many re-visits. Skiing can sometimes become mixed up with this sport however they are very different apart from that they both need snow! There are numerous variants which make snowboarding a distinct sport altogether.

Skiing is a sport in which a person will two skies attached to each foot, unlike having just one large board. The skier shifts the balance of the body from one ski to the other. Snowboarding has major differences in the style and the nature of how you go down the mountain. The boarder shifts the balance of their weight from one side to the other side of the board depending on which direction they wish to head in and how far a drop they are gliding down.

A person who has watched this sport but never actually participated may think it appears easy but can be quite tricky to master at first. The rules of this sport are simple but require a lot of practice and the skill of balancing your body weight, this can be most difficult when beginners pick up speed but once you have gotten the hang of it you will fall in love with this sport. The skill and mastery can only be achieved by practice, as the saying goes practice makes perfect. The act of balancing the weight of the body varies from one slope to the other slope, as the steepness of the slope increases the speed of the boarder and hence the act of balancing varies.

Snowboarding is done with a snowboard and there are two styles of carrying out this sport. The first style is known as free style which is done by very experienced boarders as they show off their balancing tricks by jumping, spinning and carrying out other developed tricks. The other style is free riding where you just ride and slide on the steep slopes of the snow clad mountains.

Zoe Robinson is an enthusiastic writer in the subject matter of skateboarding and snowboarding. The websites recommended by Zoe Robinson have been thoroughly researched and come highly acclaimed from direct experience.

History of Snowboarding and Its Competitions

Although some people think that snowboarding is a relatively recent invention, the fact is that a similar "sport" can be traced back several centuries. In the 1920s, children experimented with something that is similar to today's boards. It was in the 60s, however, that snow boarding (what we today recognize as the sport) was "invented" by Sherman Poppen.

Later on, the board Poppen invented (called originally the "Snurfer, a combination of "snow" and "surfing") was re-modified by several people. Today, there are several types of boards and the equipment required by each is unique. The most significant events in the history of this now popular sport include:

1. The Snurfer sells (in the 60s) well and becomes an instant success; its use later on inspires some of the people who go on to make it better.


2. Dimitrije Milovich starts Winterstick in the early 70s. He patents a new type of board which also becomes very popular; his products are sold all over the world and he becomes one of the first innovators for the Snurfer.


3. Jake Burton and Tom Sims come on the scene and each comes up with his own version of a snow board; both winners of snowboarding medals. The two duke it out over a number of years and both have phenomenal success, both as business men and as snowboarding competitors. In fact, both host some of the first "snowboarding medals" competitions.


4. The National Snow Surfing Championship (1982) in Vermont becomes the first national championship; it is very successful and covered by some top-rated TV shows like Good Morning America and The Today Show. Participants are said to go as fast as 50 miles per hour, which at the time was very impressive and helped to attract more fans to the sport. This event then became the US Open Snowboarding Championship, which then moved to Stratton Mountain in Vermont (from Suicide Six resort). This event today draws thousands.


5. In the mid 80s ski resorts were finally convinced to open their doors to snowboarders. Previously, snowboarders were not welcome, supposedly because insurance would not cover them. It turned out, however, that insurance did cover the sport. What resorts feared, however, was the unkempt look of the young people that snowboarded. They feared that the more traditional looking skiers would object to the sport on the same course; there were concerns about safety. These concerns, however dissipated when resorts saw how lucrative snowboarding competitions could be for the towns that hosted them.


6. In 1992, Doug Waugh invented the Pipe Dragon, a machine that could construct and maintain snow half-pipes (which were previously created by hand). This allowed the easier and cheaper maintenance of snowboarding courses.


7. Snow boarding was finally allowed into the Olympics in the 1998 Nagano, Japan games. Previously, some athletes boycotted the Olympics because it had not allowed the sport in.


8. Shaun White, one of the greatest snow boarders to day, had a perfect competition season in 2005-2006. He even went on to win the US Open, which had previously eluded him.


9. Craig Kelly, Terje Haakonsen, and Shaun Palmer set their marks as some of the greatest snowboarders to date.


10. The International Snowboarding Federation (ISF) and the International Ski Federation both recognized and sponsored competitions on snowboarding, which added status to the sport.


11. The snow boarding games in the Olympics included giant slalom and half-pipe competitions; they later included a snowboard cross that included obstacles, tight turns and other difficulties (usually involving 4 competitors going down the course-the winner advancing).

Today, snowboarding is one f the highlights of the winter Olympics. The sport makes millions of dollars for sponsor of events and the makers of the equipment that is sold. Many of the people who ski also snowboard, and vice versa. Snowboarding award medals, obtained at snowboarding competitions are only the tip of the iceberg for winning athletes. They also obtain fame, money, and the admiration of millions.

For snowboarding competition awards visit http://www.justawardmedals.com/Snowboarding_medals_s/146.htm.