Snowboarding - Moving Around on the Flats

Tomas Sbertoli: Hi! I am Tomas Sbertoli, Director of Snowsports here at Wintergreen Resort in Virginia. Today I am teaching you about snowboarding. The next thing we are going to do is strap into the binding and do some movements here around the flat area before we get started gliding down the hill. The first thing we want to do is strap our front foot in. We leave our go back foot out for now. Hold the straps back out of the way, slide your foot into the binding, and then snug the binding down around your ankle. With the back foot out, what you have got to figure out now is how it's easier for you to move. For some people the skate zone is having the foot in front of the board like a skateboard and for other people it is having it behind the board and just leaning back a little bit. Either way, that you are most comfortable is fine.

The next thing is being able to turn around on the board. Use your free foot as a pivot point and just simply move the board around. Have it up on its edge, so that it sticks in the snow and you can make a full turn with relative ease. Moving up the hill, you are just going to simply step the board up behind your foot, and use that free foot to walk up the hill very slowly and easily.

Okay, these are the basic movements out on the flat. Once you practice them and get comfortable, you are ready to walk up the hill little ways. Turn around and practice that hill side glide. So we will try that next.