Preparing for first Snowboarding Holiday

[Yorkshiremum80]

Hi in February we are going snowboarding in Norway, we are completely new to this. We have beginner lessons booked at the resort for the mornings but would it be of any benefit to go to the local snozone and have a couple of lessons beforehand?

Yes I would have as many lessons in the UK as you can before you go personally.

i learnt to ski on a dry slope in Ipswich and then skied as a child in the alps easily

Even though we get lessons when we are there? We get 4 hours a day of beginners lessons at the resort.
I am happy to pay for lessons here as well but didn't want to waste our money if we wouldn't see much benefit.

Well you can’t really have too many lessons. The ones in the resort won’t mean you finish learning and are officially a good boarder or skier. It’s sort of an ever improving thing.

i can’t see it being a waste of money, it’s not like you’ll learn it all here and then get there and be pros and never need a lesson. The lessons will just grow with you, so if you went out there and could do some basics they will just build upon that.
As you are learning as grown ups, it sometimes takes a bit longer than learning as a kid because kids don’t have the fear factor pulling them back (it’s unnatural at first to lean down a hill to a newbie)

Even if you only go once or twice in the Uk it will be helpful. Getting boots and board on will be a great start. And then when you get out to Norway it will be wonderful!

I’d definitely get some lessons in a snow dome before you go if you can. You will spend most of your first week on your backside otherwise. Snowboarding is hard for the first few days! Much harder than skiing to get going initially.

My advice is to make sure you are physically fit as that makes a massive difference when learning to snowboard.

Yes have 1-2 lessons here just to try out the kit and fall over. It will then give you more fun in resort actually seeing the slopes / resort rather than stuck on a beginner slope all week. I found learning the basics of boarding much easier than skiing initially but as I’ve got older gone back to skiing as felt safer and my kids learnt to ski. They of course are all now better than me 🤣 as they have no fear unlike my 50yrs+ brain & body. Hope you have a great trip.

Thanks for the advise. I am fit regularly run and strength train. It will be a good excuse to get back into it after the excess of Christmas

I'd always go for lessons here first. Otherwise you have a learning to snowboard holiday. 4 days on beginner slopes and day 5 you do races - day 6 you get to explore resort. Or learn basics here - have a couple of lessons refining in resort and then you have 5 days to explore.

When DD learned snowboarding she did 4 lessons on a dry slope which got her to 'falling leaf' (zig zag down slope) - couple of private lessons and she could keep up with us skiers all over mountain. They say snowboarding is harder to learn - easier to master. Steeper slopes are helpful to boarders so it opens up most of piste to you much earlier than beginner skiers stuck snowploughing down blues.