A Beginner's Guide to Snowboarding with Tips from an Instructor

Snowboarding is a fun, thrilling sport that is enjoyed every year by thousands of people around the world. If you’re new to hitting the slopes or simply need a refresher, we’re here to teach you the basic moves to get snowboarding. We spoke with certified ski and snowboarding instructor Kent Bry to learn how to find your stance, get on your board, skate, glide, stop, and so much more. Read on to learn how to snowboard!

Beginner Tips to Start Snowboarding

Choose a softer rocker-dominant snowboard that comes up to chin height.
Determine your lead foot and fit your bindings on both feet.
Ride the ski lift up, go to the edge of the hill, and strap up to start snowboarding.
Stand up on your board (without turning) so the lead end of the board is pointing downhill.
Shift your weight to one foot and use that food as a pedal to turn left or right.
Practice garlands to control your speed—lean your body into the side of the slope.
Turn the board so you’re perpendicular to the slope, then lean back to come to a stop.

Section 1 of 11:

How to Determine Your Stance

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Determine your lead foot. You should know which foot you'll be leading with before you head up to the slopes. This will help you know how to set the bindings when you snowboard. An easy way to check your lead foot is to run and slide across a very smooth floor, such as polished concrete or hardwood. Whichever foot ends up sticking out in front of you is your lead foot. Bry says that another way to find your lead foot is to stand with your feet squared and have a friend push you from behind. The foot you step forward with first should be your lead foot. It's just a natural reaction.
- Don't guess. Bry says that your lead foot won't necessarily match up with the side of your body you prefer for anything else. Being right- or left-handed, or sliding into base with a particular foot in baseball, doesn't necessarily mean your lead foot will follow suit.
- Don't worry. If you find that you prefer not to lead with your lead foot, nothing's stopping you from doing so. Finding your lead foot is just a useful way for most people to figure out which way to stand on the board. It's not set in stone.
- Bry says that leading with your left foot is called “regular foot,” while leading with your right foot is called “goofy foot.” Either stance is fine to have, it’s just important that you feel comfortable.

Section 2 of 11:

How to Strap Into Your Snowboard

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1
Determine what type of bindings you have. There are 2 common types: strap bindings and speed entry bindings. ^{[1]
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- Strap bindings are the most commonly seen snowboard bindings. They consist of a base for the bottom of your boot and a set of secure synthetic straps (usually 2 straps) that are tightened over the boot to lock it into the base.
- Speed entry (or convenience entry) bindings look similar to strap bindings, except the back of the boot base (called the “highback”) has a hinge that allows you to slide your foot in quickly. Speed entry bindings are common, but tend to be a bit more expensive than strap bindings.
- There are other, rarer types of bindings available, but these are not often seen except on high-end boards, particular brands, and really old bindings.
2
Fit your bindings. Put your lead foot in the front binding. Fasten your bindings tightly and be sure the base of the binding fits your boot snugly, then repeat for your other foot. Move and bounce around a bit to get a feel for the board. ^{[2]
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- If the board seems to be on backward when you look down at it, you may need to have the bindings turned to match your stance. If you're buying a new board, the shop will probably be happy to do this for you for free.
- If you feel unstable, your bindings may be too close together or too far apart. Check to be sure your feet are roughly shoulder-width apart to ensure a proper stance.
- Check the angles of the bindings. The angle between both bindings should be 24 to 30 degrees. There are 2 main types of stance: "duck" or "symmetrical" (for example 15 and -15) or "forward" (for example 24 and -6). While mostly a thing of personal preference, angles of your choice should represent how you will be riding. For instance, take a symmetrical stance for park riding, which is a slightly forward stance for higher speeds. Alpine boards need a lot more forward stance.

Section 3 of 11:

Proper Snowboarding Posture

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1
Bend your knees and align your hips and shoulders with the board. Place your feet about shoulder width apart and slightly bend your knees so they line up with your toes. Don’t lock your knees—instead keep them loose and relaxed. Then, straighten your back and line up your hips and shoulders with your knees and your board. ^{[3]
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- Ensure your posture is grounded and relaxed by doing a few squats. Then, slide your board side to side and do a few jumps.
2
Relax your upper body and hang your arms loosely at your sides. In snowboarding, your legs, knees, and ankles do all the hard work. Simply relax your shoulders while keeping your back straight. Then, allow your arms to hang loosely on either side of your body. ^{[4]
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- Keep your head straight up and facing the front of your board.
- Avoid angling your chest toward the front of your board—your upper body needs to align with the board and line up over your knees and hips.

Section 4 of 11:

How to Skate

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Strap in your front foot and use your back foot to push you forward. Skating is an important skill for moving around on flat snow and making your way to the chairlift. Simply strap in your front foot and keep your back foot unstrapped. Then, position your back foot next to the heel side of your board. Simply take small, short steps to move yourself forward. ^{[5]
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- Be careful not to push your back foot past the back binding. This can lead you to spreading your legs too far apart, which can cause you to lose your balance or do a split.

Section 5 of 11:

How to Glide

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Strap in your front foot and place your back foot against the back binding. Gliding is an essential skill for getting off the chairlift and moving around on very gentle slopes. Strap in your front foot and keep your back foot unstrapped. Then, place it on your board and rest it against the back binding. Assume your proper posture (knees slightly bent over your toes, hips and shoulders aligned, arms and shoulders loose) and simply ride the board forward. ^{[6]
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- Practice gliding on a flat surface at first. Skate forward a few steps and then place your back foot on the board. This helps you find your balance and get used to riding the board.
- Once you’re comfortable with gliding on a flat surface, practice the move on a very gentle hill. Ensure the hill has a runout (flat area at the bottom) to naturally stop you in case you feel like you’re going too fast or you’re going to lose control.

Section 6 of 11:

How to Stop

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Come to a stop by turning your board perpendicular to the slope. Being able to stop and restart is key to staying safe on the slopes. Or, come to a near-stop, if you prefer—the important thing is to know how to do it: ^{[7]
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- To start to slow down, Bry says to turn your snowboard so that you're perpendicular to the slope of the mountain. Be sure nobody is bearing down on your position from further up the hill.
- Then, lean into the slope of the hill as far as you can without falling over. This will put almost your entire weight on one edge of the board, forcing it to slow quickly.
- As you lean into the hill, lean back on your rear foot at the same time. This further reduces the effective surface area of the board. The more you lean back, the faster you'll stop.
  - Don't lean onto your back foot when doing a turn and trying to stop—this can cause you to develop the wrong habits. Ideally, your weight should always be on both feet. However, for learning purposes, it is good to have most of your body weight on your front foot during certain phases of a turn.
- Once you're ready to continue, shift your weight diagonally so the board starts turning downward. Apply pressure to your lead foot again.
- Read the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS)’s 10 Code of Conduct rules ; they apply in all ski resorts.

Section 7 of 11:

How to Turn

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Practice garlands to get comfortable with turning. It's important to know how to control your speed, and turning is the only way to do this while you're on the slope. Garland is a turn without an edge change (i.e., going from toe-edge to heel-edge, or vice versa). When you can do garlands on both board edges, you might ask someone to assist you when trying your first full turn with an edge change. If you try to do full turns with an edge change without practicing garlands, you might end up with an incorrect form (e.g., sweeping with the back foot) as displayed in the image above. This can stop you from progressing in the future, as fixing an incorrect technique can take up to 10 times longer than learning from scratch. ^{[8]
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- Lean your body into the side of the slope to put weight on one edge of your snowboard. The edge your feet are pointing towards is the “toe edge” while the edge behind them is the “heel edge.”
- Try both heel and toe edge garlands. You have to be able to do both with a very similar radius. Make sure to control your garland by shifting your weight (and fine-tuning it with your front foot, using it as a "pedal"). It is a good idea to have most of your body weight on a front foot (lean forward) when the board is headed down the fall line (the steepest path down the slope). The biggest mistake many beginners make is keeping your body weight on your back foot. In such cases, leaning onto your heel/toe edge does not make the board turn properly, as if your weight was on both feet. Trying to keep most of your weight on a front foot while heading down the fall line will ensure that your weight is not on your back foot. After some time, it will feel very natural to keep your weight on both feet at all times.
- Use weight shift to control your garlands and turns. While some schools teach you to help yourself with a shoulder rotation, this method might cover your mistakes, but not fix them. Maintain a straight back and bent knees as you do this, for safety reasons.

Section 8 of 11:

Moving Downhill

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1
Get on your snowboard and put on your leash. Secure your lead foot in place, but leave your back foot free for now. Once your lead foot is securely bound to your board, put on your snowboard leash to keep your snowboard from escaping down a hill when you step out of it. Leashes come in varying lengths; the most common type is long enough to strap below your knee. However, the leash should be among the least of your concerns; before even considering using a leash, a series of exercises with one foot strapped in should be done.
- Secure the leash to your snowboard, if it's not already integrated into the binding. ^{[9]
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- Wrap the leash around your lower leg and secure it snugly. For short wire leashes, attach the other end to your boot lace instead.
- Be sure your leash is clearly visible. Many resorts won't allow you to snowboard without a visible leash.
2
Strap up your rear foot to the board. Go to the edge of the hill and sit down with your board perpendicular to the slope. This makes your board act as “brake” to keep you from sliding.
- Put your rear boot into its binding. Make sure the bindings are snug and secure.
  - If you can move your foot while in the binding, or pull your heel up from the base, it's too loose.
- Double-check your lead foot and leash to ensure they're secure as well.
3
Head downhill. Now that you're strapped in, you're ready to ride. Stand up and don't turn your snowboard so that the lead end of the board is pointing down the hill. Bry recommends learning to slip down the fall line sideways first, otherwise, you'll simply go downhill at full speed. Once you can control the speed and stop on one edge (toe or heel), sit down, roll over, and learn to control the speed and stop on the other edge.
- To move to the side, shift some of your body weight to one of your feet and use that foot as a pedal to turn more or less downhill. Learn to control your movement direction while keeping most of your weight on that foot.
- Keep your knees slightly bent and your back straight to maintain balance as you gather speed.

Section 9 of 11:

How to Get On and Off a Ski Lift

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1
Ride the ski lift up once you’re ready to snowboard. Skate forward to the “Wait here” sign by pushing off the snow with your back foot and sliding forward on the board, like a skateboard. When it’s your turn to get on , skate up to the “Load here” sign. Bend your knees and sit down on the chair once it hits the back of your knees. Then, pull the safety bar down over your lap. ^{[10]
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- While you’re waiting, keep your back foot on the toe-side edge of your board so your feet are next to one another. This makes it easier to get on the lift.
- Your snowboard will dangle a bit from your lead foot as you ride up. This is fine.
2
Get off the ski lift carefully. Once you reach the top of the lift, slide off the chair and onto your board. To avoid falling off, align the board straight forward. As soon as it touches the snow, shift at least 50% of your body weight onto your front foot. Press your back foot onto the board and against the back binding while bending your knees and keeping your back straight. You'll usually land on a little hill where you can then turn and make your way to the larger hill. Simply ride down to the flat area. ^{[11]
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- If you equipped your board with a stomp pad, it should be easy for you to stay balanced for this part.

Section 10 of 11:

What to Wear Snowboarding

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1
Dress warmly and wear safety gear. In short, you'll need clothing that keeps you warm and dry, a pair of snowboarding boots, and some safety gear. ^{[12]
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- The full rundown of snowboarding equipment available is a long list, but these are the basics every snowboarder should have:
  - A snowboard leash , to prevent runaway boards
  - Snow pants or a snow bib , which is basically a pair of snow overalls
  - A snow coat , not too loosely fit
  - Snowboarding boots , which are specially designed to strap easily into the snowboard
  - A crash helmet , to protect your head
  - Thermal layers , such as long johns and wool socks
  - Snow gloves with gauntlet cuffs
  - Skiing or snowboarding goggles , to reduce glare and protect your eyes from particulate matter
2
Check everything for fit. In particular, wear your helmet and boots properly. The helmet shouldn't move around on your head, or ride low on your eyes. It should be snug but not too tight. Boots should be tight but comfortable. ^{[13]
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- If your boots are too big, you can end up over-tightening them and losing circulation in your feet.
- Wear snowboarding socks that come up past the top of your boots to prevent the boots (or your pants) from chafing around your ankles.

Section 11 of 11:

Choosing a Snowboard

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1
Size the board to your height and weight. Even more important than the type of board you buy is the fit of the board to your body . As a general rule of thumb, your board should come up to about the height of your chin or nose when it’s stood on its end. Any lower may be too short while any taller is probably too long. ^{[14]
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- Each board has a weight range, as well. For example, the same person could use a 153 centimeter (60.2 in) board for learning and for jibbing (riding boxes and rails in the park), 157 centimeter (61.8 in) board for big park jumps and all-mountain use, 160 centimeter (63 in) board for freeride and 166 centimeter (65.4 in) alpine board. Always check the manufacturer's recommended weight range and keep in mind the conditions you will be riding in.
The only really important consideration for board width is keeping your feet from sticking out too much. Be sure the board you choose is wide enough—there are special "wide" boards for those with feet bigger than US 11/EU 44.5. You should be able to tilt the board at least 55 degrees before your toes or heels contact the surface, but then again it depends on how aggressively you will be tilting the board while riding. If your toes and heels don't stick out at all, you will not have so much control over the board. ^{[15]
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Pick a board in your price range. As a beginning boarder, price is probably a big concern for you. There are definite differences in performance between a top-of-the-line board and something basic, but it is almost always easier to learn with an appropriate "beginner" board than a top-of-the-line one, since expensive boards are often designed for certain "non-beginner" purposes.
- To save extra money, consider buying a lightly-used snowboard at a swap, or buying a previous year's model of the board you want. These are basically just as good as their current equivalents and can often be purchased for a much lower price.
- Consider what graphics, if any, you want on the underside of your board. If it's something you care about, choosing the right design can help you make a fun personal statement on the slopes.
4
Get a board that matches your snowboarding style. Most snowboards are purpose-specific, so if you're more interested in one or another specific aspect of the sport, there are specialized boards that can maximize your experience in the future. It is still advised to start with a softer rocker-dominant snowboard, as you will progress much faster than if you picked a snowboard designed for high speeds. ^{[16]
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- All-mountain boards are the standard snowboards you'll see everywhere on the mountain. They're great for speed and carving (turning) on a downhill slope, but still short and wide enough to try tricks, spins, and catching big air, as well. Boards in this category can vary vastly in terms of technical specifications such as profile, flex, etc.
- Freeride snowboards are designed to float in fresh uncompressed snow (powder). This style of board can be distinguished by a long and wide nose, short tail, and powder-specific profile. Bry says they also tend to float more on the top of the snow, which makes them easier to control.
- Freestyle or technical boards are a little bit shorter and wider than all-mountain models. They're more flexible as well, which gives them superior control for precise movements. Freestyle boards are preferred for riding snow parks (technical courses) and pipes. Boards in this category can vary wildly too. Some of them (softer and rocker-profiled ones) are also a good choice for many beginners because of their responsiveness.
- Alpine or carve boards are longer, thinner, and less flexible than the other two types. They're built for high speed and smooth carving down the side of the mountain. If a fast downhill experience is what you're after, consider an alpine board after you've learned to ride very well and carve.
Consider getting a stomp pad . This is a grip pad that goes on your snowboard, just above the binding for your back foot. It gives you a place to put your back foot temporarily, for times when you need to move a little ways but you haven't bound both of your feet to the board yet. ^{[17]
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Techniques, Exercises, and Gear

Basic Snowboarding Techniques

Exercises to Build Snowboard Stamina

Necessary Snowboard Gear

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How do I go faster without falling down?

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Lower your center of gravity (i.e. bend your knees) and lean forward. Standing up straight and leaning back will make you lose your balance. Bending forward and placing pressure on your leading foot will make you go faster.

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How do you know when to stop?

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You'll know to stop when your legs start to hurt or you start messing up a bit (it means you're not concentrating).

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Why should I sit down at the top of the mountain?

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You do this so that you won't slide around when you are trying to attach your non-leading foot to the board.

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Don't give up! It takes time to get the hang of snowboarding. The first day is always the toughest.

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Don't worry about falling. Olympian snowboarders did it too, once.

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Pay for a lesson if you can. No amount of reading can match the effectiveness of a real-life lesson from an experienced snowboarder.

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The advice in this section is based on the lived experiences of wikiHow readers like you. If you have a helpful tip you’d like to share on wikiHow, please submit it in the field below.

If you’re worried about falling and hurting yourself, wear wrist guards, elbow pads, knee pads, or shin guards while snowboarding. You can also wear padded shorts to protect your hips and tailbone.
I recommend going to a specialty sports store, like Val Surf, when buying your first board!

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Warnings

If anything seems amiss anywhere on the mountain, alert the proper authorities as soon as you can reach them.

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Always bring a friend or partner when you snowboard. If you can't do so, let someone responsible know your schedule, at least, so that they'll know if something has happened to you.

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Don't fall onto your hands if you can possibly help it, as you're likely to hurt your wrists. The more surface area your body hits the ground with, the more the impact will be distributed, and the less damage you'll take. Use your whole arms at the very least; if you can let your body roll on impact, do so. ^{[18]
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A Beginner's Guide to Snowboarding with Tips from an Instructor

Beginner Tips to Start Snowboarding

Steps

How to Determine Your Stance

How to Strap Into Your Snowboard

Proper Snowboarding Posture

How to Skate

How to Glide

How to Stop

How to Turn

Moving Downhill

How to Get On and Off a Ski Lift

What to Wear Snowboarding

Choosing a Snowboard

Techniques, Exercises, and Gear

Community Q&A

Reader Videos

Video

Tips

Tips from our Readers

Warnings

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References

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