What size snowboard is appropriate for a petite girl?

Tips for a plus size girl learning to snowboard?

• I am about a 250 lb female who has been losing weight pretty regularly and have wanted to snowboard for a long time, but never had the courage. I am at a point now where I feel ...show more

• Answer:

  Determine your stance, rent gear and get a lesson, learn how to fall correctly, wear wrist guards and a helmet, and take the learning slowly and master each skill until you feel comforable with it. I didn't learn to ride until I was 30 and now I've been teaching kids for over 10 years - don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it because you can. These are some beginner tips that I have been writing: You will probably be renting, so let the staff fit the boots and board correctly for you - and take a group lesson for a couple times and practice what you learn in the afternoon. Here are the basics of learning the way that I was taught to teach: To determine your stance, slide on a hard floor in your socks, which foot is in front? Left foot in front - Regular stance, Right foot in front - Goofy stance. The rental place will ask you this. Day 1 lesson usually includes: Learn how to fall. Forward on to your forearms - never your hands as you can break yours wrists. Backward onto one side of your butt and try to roll - never your hands or the center of your butt as you can break your tailbone. Consider wearing wrist guards and a helmet Turning - think about turning as additional pressure on the front toe or heel. Turning a snowboard is all about edge control. When you have the board across the hill and stand up on the heel edge, you can tilt your feet forward to slide down the hill, tilt back to get more edge bite and stop - the basic side slip. To turn, you bite the edge into the snow and then put pressure on the downhill egde of your front foot. This will release the edge in the front only and the nose of the board will start to swing down the hill. This will also put your weight forward which is correct. Then, put equal pressure back on the uphill edge with both feet and you will turn back across the hill and stop. Practice this a lot until you can get the board almost straight down the hill before returning to a stop. Day 2 lesson: A complete turn is just a continuation of this exercise. Use more pressure on the downhill side of the front foot to release the front of the edge and the board will swing faster toward the fall line. You MUST wait for the board to cross the fall line (straight down the hill) before you transition your weight to the other edge (or you will catch the downhill edge - ouch). Then use equal pressure on both feet on the new uphill edge to get the board to move back across the hill - this is a complete turn. Once you are doing these in both directions, you can start linking the turns. Good Luck