In 2020 I took snowboard lessons with a group of beginners for a week, in the french Alps. I already knew how to ski and was seeking new sensations, I was not disappointed.

I learnt to ski as a kid, I am not the best skier but I’m good enough to go anywhere in a ski resort. However with time, practice and ease, I began skiing faster and faster, looking for more intense sensations. It became a bit dangerous, for me and for others. I felt I needed to break this need for speed, slow things down and find something new. The thought of trying snowboard had been in my mind for 2 or 3 years, I had an occasion to learn it, I took it.

The article Snowboarding for Geeks and its Hacker News discussion from 2018 helped me prepare a lot in terms of gear, expectations and future struggles. I know how to ride a skateboard and I thought it would help me. It did for a bit, but having your feet attached to the board without any way to move them feels really different. And knowing how to ski didn’t seem to help. Generally what is said is true: it’s hard and strange at first for everyone, but after a few days it is definitely a lot of fun (I would say it started feeling good on the third day). I could ride slower and enjoy it much more, at the end of a slope the experience felt fuller in sensations and more rewarding.

Snowboard is the cool sport par excellence. You adopt a relaxed posture with shoulders in the back, hips in the front, bent knees and straight back (the posture took some time for me to get right). You have to be in the moment, your whole body makes one with the board. It’s true: you don’t just use a board to surf snow, you feel like one body riding down the slope. This sensation is unique and amazing.

From my experience and what I heard, I would warmly recommend taking lessons to begin. I will go snowboarding again, going back on the board will probably be hard on the first day, but I know it will be worth it.