Learning to Snowboard

Having come to Chamonix with a few years skiing experience under my belt, I really wasn’t sure where the green and blue runs were and had certainly not been on any baby slopes - so it was like discovering a new side to Chamonix. And I quite liked going ‘back to basics’ and being intimidated on the piste again.

Day one and we met at the Savoy- the beginners area around the back of the Club Med. We found a small section of very easy gradient ground to get the basics going. After establishing that I was a ‘ regular’ rider (left foot forward), Sarah, my ‘coach’ soon had us sideslipping and traversing on our heel edges then toe edges and was running up and down the hill holding our hands as we tried to turn. And this seemed to be my real problem. Turning. I could just about do it on the back to front edge, but front to back just wasn’t happening. I kept picking up too much speed, over edging and constantly putting my weight on the back foot. Sarah gave me a few suggestions to try and help me keep my weight forward, such as imaging I’m shinning a torch that’s on my knee around a corner. I managed the odd turn from time to time. But it was still not clicking and I was still landing on the exact same spot on my upper left backside cheek!

After a few 1-2 hour sessions for a few days, we went up to the green run at Flegere, but I was still struggling to do controlled turns and was really wondering why I couldn't crack it. I also discovered the ‘joys’ of getting out of the chair lift as a boarder and how annoying it is when skiers just casually stand right in front of the exit and look at you like you’re an idiot when you crash into them.

A few days later, another friend gave me a board that had been lying about his work office and some (slightly too big) boots. Excellent- I thought, as it would save me some money in board hire.

Me and my friend Catherine, who I was learning with, then headed up to Brevent and attempted the blue run there- the only way other than walking- to access the beginners green area. A pretty unsuccessful slip slide down that, led to a nerve wracking attempt at a drag lift and a few unlinked turns down the green. I was really thinking now perhaps this wasn't the sport for me. As well as falling on the exact same spot on my backside all the time, I was suffering from ‘whiplash.’

Then another friend, Andy, suggested we went to Vormaine. I’d never actually heard of this wide and easy angled beginners area at the foot of Le Tour - and it was most definitely the best area for learners. After getting a few runs on the tiniest baby slope and learning correct drag lift technique, I attempted the longer green run down. Andy suggested that as I turned to ‘look up the mountain’- and he stood behind, waving at me. For some reason this worked. Perhaps it helped me to scrub my speed as I went down. I was soon doing fairly fluid linked turns down the green.

Motivated by the success I spent an hour or two alone for the next few days there and at Planards, the other beginners area which actually looks surprisingly steep. I continued to link my turns here slowly and surely and began to feel that ‘lean’ that I admired when I watched boarders cruise along the slopes.

A few days later another friend Adie, who’s a qualified instructor as well, and who had been observing my snowboarding struggles via Facebook, offered to give me a lesson at Le Tour. We headed up and did the blue run off Les Autannes chair lift. Adie immediately noticed that the board I was using had been set to a ‘duck’ position - where both feet are pointing outwards while the shoulders are parallel to the board. this would explain why I was wondering if I was actually a ‘regular’ rider ( left foot forward ) or if I’d made a mistake and was goofy ( right foot forward)! Apparently duck is good if you do a lot of tricks, but it was making me only ride on the heel edge while traversing forwards and preventing me being comfortable enough to turn on my toe side.

As soon as Adie changed the binding something just clicked and I was off. We lapped the blue run and even the red run. Adie suggested I stopped looking up the hill and looked to the direction of where I wanted to turn. This really changed everything, and my confidence began to soar - enough to try the very slushy home run down!

Since then I felt confident to go off by myself and explore the other easier slopes. The blue from the top of Les Houches is good, even the home run is doable when you can control your speed. Brevent’s blues tend to be a little tighter and trickier, and I am yet to attempt Grandes Montets. Revisiting some of the spots I’d struggled with at first was rewarding, now being able to actually do them. I’m feeling pretty hooked on boarding at the moment so have barely taken my skis out. Not a bad way to make the most of the end of season slush!