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Tips
to help you begin your rewarding career as a snowboarder |
You’ve heard your friends talk about it, you’ve seen it on TV and
now you’re ready. You want to start snowboarding. Fantastic! You’ve made the right decision.
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Snowboarding opens up an
entirely new way to see Japan. It is a chance to see the splendor of the
Japanese mountainside and explore the soft Japanese powder snow.
A number of years ago, I heard that the Japanese government
attempted to stall the import of foreign skis to Japan. The government,
obviously strapped for a reason to stop the imports, stated that foreign skis
would not work in Japan because Japanese snow is different. I don’t
know if it is different or not, but Japanese powder is splendid and I can
personally tell you that foreign snowboards work beautifully in it. There is no
better way to experience this powder than through the winding graceful dance of
a snowboard and there can be no better escape from the dull reality of everyday
life. When your boss is nagging or the students are confused or the work week
is otherwise dragging on and you’re wondering why you came to this
God-forsaken country in the first place, snowboarding opens the windows of your
hectic, scrambled mind giving the fresh breeze that helps to remind you that
Japan is a beautiful country after all. A weekend of snowboarding leaves me
refreshed and ready to take on Monday with both hands and just wrestle it
mercilessly to the floor. Snowboarding is freedom.
Snowboarding gives you the chance to see the
most beautiful parts of Japan
But that freedom comes with a price. A price you must pay not
only in yen but also in time and effort. It’s not exactly cheap but, with
Japanese banks offering .0003% interest, I can’t think of a better place to
invest my money than in a hobby like snowboarding. Like anything else, if
you’re frugal, you can stretch your snowboarding yen quite far.
You shouldn’t be frugal with the amount of time you devote
to learning your new hobby, however. I don’t know anybody who was able to
just strap on a snowboard and start boarding on the first day without putting
in some time or breaking his thumb. It doesn’t happen instantly so, if you
really want to learn to snowboard, you should make a commitment to trying it at
least three times before giving up. The first day is harsh and painful.
You’ll fall on your butt, strain your stomach muscles, twist your ankles, and
slam your face repeatedly into snow - getting a good look at that Japanese
powder up close. But on your second and third days, your countless failures
will slowly be replaced by successful traverses, turns, and stops. The elation
you feel with each successful set of turns you make will pay you back for your
time, money, and effort. The steep learning curve of snowboarding will lift you
up high and the heavens will open to embrace you so, have faith in yourself and
give yourself the proper amount of time to learn.
The first day is harsh
In the following weeks, to help you make the most of that
crucial learning time, I will do my best to help you tackle that first
frustrating run. For starters, I have included a series of tips for your first
trip to the slopes that should get you to the resort and on the hill with
everything you need. So wax up, strap on and let’s get going!
Your end, actually. The first thing to do when you
decide to go snowboarding is to spend the 2,000-3,000 yen it costs for a Ketsu-pado,
a butt-pad. It may be difficult to bring yourself to spend the money when
you are not even sure if you will continue snowboarding, but you won’t regret
it. Snowboarding without a butt-pad can be painful to your ass - as well as to
your reputation when people at the office realize you are walking funny the
following Monday – so, even if you have a custom, all weather, 24-hour
emergency butt-pad already built in, like me, you’ll regret it if you don’t
go out there with a little extra padding.
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Pack a little
padding... |
...or suffer
serious blowout |
I may joke around a lot, but even professional snowboarders
spend most of their day on their rear-ends so, you should seriously consider
purchasing a ketsu-pado. These pads, which resemble spandex shorts with
stiff pads attached, are rarely available at the slopes so pick one up at a
sporting goods store before you leave home. If you’d like to make yourself
distinguishable as a beginning snowboarder, try wearing your butt-pad outside
your snow-pants.
Rent a snowboard with a bad-ass emblem that comes up between
your chin and your nose when it stands on end. If it comes up between your chin
and your nose when it is standing on it’s side, you have just rented a
queen-size mattress so, depending on your plans for the rest of the day, you
may or may not wish to return it for a full refund.
Make sure to rent a board with a badd-ass
emblem on it, tough guy
When renting, there isn’t often much you can do about the
state of the edges on the board. Ideally they should be sharp enough to shave
Shoko Asahara’s back. I’m not exactly sure how you are going to be able to
test this sharpness, which may make it difficult to complain. In any case, the
sharper it is the better, so don’t be shy about asking for a different board.
Those edges had better be sharp - this guy is
hairy!
Your rental boots should be snug but not tight up in the toes.
Make sure that all of the binding straps are present and
tightly attached to the bindings before you hit the slope. All this checking
may sound like overkill but you would be surprised at the stories I have heard
– especially at ALTS-Bandai. Your first day on a snowboard should be spent
trying to master the basics, not thinking of creative ways to get down the hill
with half a binding.
Put your boots and straps on TIGHTLY. Loose bindings and boots
will detrimentally affect your steering ability - which will detrimentally
affect your face.
Renting boots, bindings, and a board will probably cost you
between 1,000 – 5,000 yen depending on the location. If you are a member of a
tour group, the cost will be cheaper. Also, if you buy a lift ticket,
there are often discount coupons for renting attached so bust out your kanji
dictionary and keep your eyes peeled (see Lift Tickets below.)
Many snowboard beginners automatically buy the lift ticket out
of habit and then never even ride the lift – a complete waste of precious
curry funds. A lift ticket is never required simply to enter the slope area so
don’t purchase it until you are ready to use it.
Lift ticket costs vary depending upon the ski resort. Expect to
pay between 3,000 – 5,000 yen. Check out the information on the resort pages
on skijapanguide, and much more detailed stuff for the new season online in the
fall.
For your first run, climb to an isolated, shallow, and spacious
portion of the hill, where the ladies can’t see you, and try getting down
anyway you can. There are only two turns so you’ll soon get the hang of it.
Take your time and give yourself plenty of room to wander to the right and to
the left. If you find yourself running out of space before you are able to stop
the board, you may wish to move to a more open area or an emergency room bed.
(More details about exactly how to ‘wander right and left’ will follow in
the weeks to come.)
Get a snowboarding friend to help you through those first
couple of hours. However, remember that no matter how much advice you receive,
you must develop your own relationship with the balance of the board, which is
something that no person or book can explain to you. If you feel that your
relationship with your friend or your board is threatened by your friend’s
endlessly useless criticism, tell him/her to meet you at the ramen shop later.
Don't let first day frustration get to you
I know that I am going to take some heat for this but I urge
beginning snowboarders not to take lessons for a variety of reasons.
Personally I believe there is no correct way to snowboard. Therefore, I
think it is best to try snowboarding on your own and then seeking the advice of
an instructor when you have specific questions. In the following weeks, I will
write more details about why I feel this way, but basically I think
beginners’ lessons in Japan are expensive and oftentimes too conservatively
basic to be of practical use. However, I do realize that lessons help people to
avoid bad habits, so regardless about how I feel about it, everyone has to
weigh his/her own decision. In the following weeks, in order to assist you with
the lesson decision, I will offer tips on snowboarding technique and how to
find a quality instructor, so stay tuned.
It is practically guaranteed that the first day on a snowboard
will be the worst day of your life. It is not a difficult sport but it does
take time to learn so don’t get frustrated. Although the first day may be the
worst, with perseverance and a good attitude, your third or fourth day on a
snowboard will beat out your wedding day as the finest (or the third worst
depending upon whom you marry.) You’ll soon be happy as a knuckle dragging
chimp while enjoying your weekends away from the blue-suit blues of everyday
life. Welcome to the ‘board!
Yes! I'm a boarder
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