Billy Crafton Snowboarding Beginner’s Guide: Part II

More Billy Crafton Snowboarding Tips for Beginners

We’re continuing our Billy Crafton Snowboarding Beginners Guide with another video from the outstanding mentors over at the Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA), and the American Association of Snowboard Instructors (AASI).

Once again, Hally O’Brien and Chris Rogers light the way, this time with a focus on basic movements while on snow.

You’ll learn about skating, gliding, how to get up while still on your snowboard, and how to move uphill, also while still on your board. Let’s dive in…

Snowboarding: How to Skate and Glide

SKATING
The first part of this outstanding video shows the basic moves of skating and gliding. For skating, get your front foot strapped in on the board, put your back foot flat on the snow, and then lift your front foot up.

This is the first step in getting used to the weight of the snowboard. Here, you’re simply getting used to having it attached to your foot.

As for “skating” itself, it’s actually just pushing the snowboard forward. With your front attached to the snowboard, and your back foot in the snow on its heel edge, you take little steps to move the board around when on flat surfaces.

GLIDING
Gliding is how you slide, with one foot in and one foot out, with a bit of a downhill pitch. Skate briefly to get momentum, then pull your back foot up onto the board to glide down. Yep, it’s that easy.

How to Get Up When Snowboarding

At first glance this may sound super simple, but getting up with both feet strapped into a snowboard, and on a smooth often slick surface no less, requires the right technique to go smoothly.

There are two ideal options for this. First, from a seated position, bend your knees and scoot your board up towards your butt. You then lean forward with your upper body, and stand up using ur quads and your core. As with many snowboarding techniques, it’s best to practice this in the flats for a bit so that you’re not contending with the extra gravity while trying to get the hang of it!

The second method is to flip over to your toe edge. Bend one knee, roll over, and stand up on your toes. This simple technique may read a little confusing, however, so watching the video really helps clarify the movement. Jump to 2:01 in the video to see this tip.

Snowboarding: How to Climb Uphill Without Unstrapping

One inevitably of snowboarding is that you WILL wind up somewhere you didn’t intend to be, at one point or another. Sometimes this will happen where your closer to the top than the bottom, requiring you to climb back up, preferably without removing your snowboard.

No worries, for although that may sound daunting at first thought, it really isn’t. To work your way back up, simply dig your toe side edge in, and jump! You essentially jump forward like there’s a tiny jump rope in front of you, and gradually work your way back uphill.

Yes, you may feel a bit like a frog on snow, but believe me, honing this motion will save you a lot of time, since you won’t need to un-attach your snowboard to accomplish it.

I hope you enjoy the second video here and are feeling better about getting out onto the mountain! And if you missed Part I of this guide, click here to get caught up and then get out there!

— Billy Crafton

Here’s the YouTube video link too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF2lf5RGCOw&