what type of snow riding did you do first? what made you change?

just curious to see what people did on snow first and why did you start that way… ie parents got you into it as a kid, your mates were all doing it, it’s looks way rad etc etc.

(i might chuck a similar post in girls only later….for the ladies, why did you get into boarding… did you ski, surf or skate beforehand.)

for me, it was skiing with my folks at around age 7 or 8, then a school trip to the snow when i was 12 then a cross country tour up to kosiusko one spring when i was 15.

i saw some die hard boarders riding at blue lake in october or something during the xc trip and saw it in live action for the first time,
plus i had cool boarders on my original playstation when i was 14…loved watching the intro video of riders like jim rippey and terje (not sure what films they raided the footage from)
i didnt get to snowboard for the first time until 1998…. jumped at the op to go with a bunch of mates and have not missed a season since then.
(co-incidently most of the guys i went with have fallen by the wayside and no longer ride…i pray and hope that never happens to me)

When I first went to the snow I didn’t really know what snowboarding was. I grew up surfing on the beach, so snow was a new concept. I thought you ski at the snow and that was it. Did two days of skiing, but I saw these guys on boards flying down the hill. I became completely obsessed with snowboarding before I even tried it. I was hooked from the moment I saw it - looked like so much fun! Changed to snowboarding, never turned back.

I`m older than all of you probably..When I started OUT to the hills, there were no such thing as snowboards other than tobaggans..

therefore I must sadly cast my vote in the skiing category..

In my own defense I must claim that I broke my collarbone in 74 while riding a 4 foot tobaggan like a snowboard…I had the right idea going forward

tobaggan? that’s what you wear on your head, like a beanie…
OK
OK

Dave in 74 you were standing on the tobaggan? you were right there in the beginning, a few good friends and a wood shop, we’d have D99 Snowboards!

My start was with a church group.
the whole youth crew went on a ski trip each year. The first year I went I knew I would snowboard, and not ski. I did go one year and just hang in the lodge as I couldnt afford to ski or board.

I always skateboarded throughout grade school
I diddnt get to my first snowboard trip until after high school.
my girlfriend at the time (now wife) andI went on a church camp ski trip, and decided we were going to snowboard. We convinced a few others who had skied to snowboard with us, and we had a blast! 2 days on snow.

I went 4 other times that season before it ended, renting equipment each time.
My wife went 2 other times.

We got married the summer that followed.
As the next season approached, I was getting nervous about what I cared about more, college or snowboarding. (honestly I think it cost me an extra year in college for a lack of focus on the right things).
I saw a kid in my Chemistry class that had an fleece vest which said he was an employee of a local resort. I asked all the questions: how long does it take you to drive to the hill, what’s it like to work there, can I ride for free, how could I get a job… He tol dme Ski-school was the way to go - and I’m very glad he did.
Working in retail or the cafeteria of lifts just wouldnt have been the same. I got to be in my equipment all day I was there, and when ther was no lesson to teach, I could ride - which I never wanted to teach, just ride anyway.

So, I though it odd that they could let me teach when I couldnt even ride yet myself and he said “they will finish teaching you to ride, and then teach you to ride. It’s OK, it happens all the time” Kinda sad, I know, but true.
The next season I was supervisor, and I got AASI level I certified, the following season I was staff trainer and obtained my AASI level II cert. It has been 11 years since then.

^^I had my first skateboard in 66….Only one in town..Brought back from Virginia by my parents..
It had a FRONT brake pedal on it..Step down and it stopped the front wheels(made of steel)...Unfortunately I lived on a steep hill..Think abOUT it…
I`ve never seen front brakes on one to this day…

mainly because it`s a STUPID FCKN IDEA…

nice dave, bloody pebbles were my nemisis on my first skateboard.  I skiied a little as a kid and then went with my bro and my mates for week in france. me and my bro skied my mates being cooler rode, last afternoon we switched over, my bro gave me a black eye by running into me on that first run but shit it was so fun i didn’t really care.

I ski raced growing up, at one point smashing into a GS gate head on and hurtin myself pretty bad. At the same time I was watching snowboarders do little butter tricks near the lift, and since I coulnd’t do those on my lame ass GS skiis, i switched to riding. no joke.

skied until about 14 when one day i was half way down a slope and got taken out by a runaway snowboard…..ended up only breaking the binding on the ski, but from then i have snowboarded….not sure why that made me change but it did haha

Ahhh back in the day when i was a wee young skiier, courtesy of my dad… he took me up to the local hill that was, when i was 13.. my first real exp in snow.

So then i grew to love skiing, as i got a little older i begun to take a big interest in snowboarding, i jumped on my first board at 17 in hotham.. never looked back..

by the sounds of it, its the same for most ppl on here, started skiing, ending up shredding

Aidy - 22 June 2009 10:18 PM

nice dave, bloody pebbles were my nemisis on my first skateboard.  I skiied a little as a kid and then went with my bro and my mates for week in france. me and my bro skied my mates being cooler rode, last afternoon we switched over, my bro gave me a black eye by running into me on that first run but shit it was so fun i didn’t really care.

This follows your comment, but maybe shoudl be placed in the good quotes topic…

“as you roll remember the strength of the pebble”
It is from a Thrasher Magazine calender from many years ago, I had it in the late 80’s.

I started skiing when I was just 2 years old, there were no snowboards back then so skiing is what everyone did. I am still skiing now but I have realized over the past maybe 3 years that I can do both if I really wanted to. I have been skiing for 18 years now almost 19 and I love it. I have been an instructor for 5 years and made friends with a ton of snowboard instructors and one day we decided to do a switch it up day. All the snowboard instructors tried skiing and vise versa. Once I strapped on the board I picked it up pretty quickly and was going down black runs within 2 hours, mind you I wasn’t completely linking my turns but I was still able to make it down the hill. This past season we had a pretty crappy snowfall so I decided to get back on a snowboard since I was getting bored of doing the same thing on skis on my days off. I loved it!! I don’t want to trade skiing for snowboarding at all but my goal is to be able to choose between my skis or my board on any given day, be it ice or powder or nice groomers. I want to be good at both!!

At 15 mum took me on her work group trip to thredbo, that was in 1987, I skied but bailed on the lesson to do my own thing. I had been skateboarding for a few years back then.
I didn’t go to the snow again till I was in my 20’s, a group of friends went in spring and by then I was surfing everyday and snowboarding was popular so I gave it a go. I picked it up so quick I was teaching my mate to do it as I learned. We did those spring trips every year until 1998. It was then I realized it wouldn’t cost much more than a weekend trip to get a job and stay for a season. The first 2 years I worked as a ski tech in a hire shop and could use all the equipment, I skied a bit and boarded a lot, I ended up buying some snowboard gear after working out what was what.
I’ve skied every year for a day or 2 and know want to buy some ski gear for when I slide with my GF and daughter.

I think I’m the only one so far that diddnt start skiing.

I did’nt start skiing either. Although I have been waterskiing for a LONG time though.

I pretty much woke up one day and was like, “Hey I should start snowboarding”. I had been a few times, my simple boxes/rails and small jumps sorted so I just decided to buy a board and get into it. Since then Ive always been into my park/jibbing and Ive also started to Skateboard during the summer.

some sports natually lead into others i’ve found.  on the other hand snow to skate doesn’t seem to work out so well, at least for a slightly oldening (is this a word?) and shall we say not light of touch man.  on the surface it seems really obvious, replacing your winter board for the skatey in the summer…..well i’ve already mentioned pebbles, the whole landing on the board and not having it accelerate rapidly straight backward or forwards, premo,......its too hard i’m going home to fold my tweed jacket.

Aidy - 28 June 2009 09:30 AM

some sports natually lead into others i’ve found.  on the other hand snow to skate doesn’t seem to work out so well, at least for a slightly oldening (is this a word?) and shall we say not light of touch man.  on the surface it seems really obvious, replacing your winter board for the skatey in the summer…..well i’ve already mentioned pebbles, the whole landing on the board and not having it accelerate rapidly straight backward or forwards, premo,......its too hard i’m going home to fold my tweed jacket.

True in some if not most light. But I did find that when I first started skating after being snowboarding for about 2 and a half years I didn’t have to worry about the whole balance issue and the learning to ride switch all over again, although the base to most tricks do differ significantly. To me skating during the summer helps maintain that balance etc and somewhat keeps my fitness up until I hit the powder in winter.

Just my 2c.