1. Make sure your boots are comfortable!

Your boots should be your best friend in your snowboarding experience. Your toes should not touch the front of the boot and your heel shouldn’t be able to move too much off of the back of the boot. Pain is one thing that you don’t want for your boarding experience, so make sure you find the right boots for you.

2. Invest in good equipment

Good, breathable thermals that will pull moisture from your body will help you stay as warm as possible while shredding up the mountain. Remember to try and stay away from cotton, it just soaks up the sweat and causes your body temperature to decrease. Invest in a quality parka that can regulate your temperature, with a hood that can fit over your helmet. If you’re a beginner you are bound to fall on your butt—a lot—so buying a pair of padded pants isn’t a bad idea to decrease the impact of falling. Clothing like hockey shorts have protection on the hips, and have a plastic shield over the tailbone. Lastly, make sure you have waterproof gloves, to keep your fingers nice and toasty.

 3. Follow the way of the snow

Always aim for powder, and avoid the ice. Powder can be magical when it comes to boarding: when you try to turn you’ll understand why. When in powder, or loose snow, you’ll be able to carve (turn) weightlessly.

4. Look where you want to go

When you are going down the mountain you look towards where you want to go. Your shoulders will follow your head, your hips follow your shoulders, and your board will follow the direction of your hips. Wherever you look, you will go. This applies to looking down if you are constantly looking at the floor that is where you’ll end up.

5. Keep your weight over your board

Imagine a pole is going through the center of your body. When riding, imagine this pole is going vertically through your legs. It shouldn’t be sticking out behind you or over the front of your toes.  If you imagine trying to keep your back straight and over the center of your snowboard, this will help position your weight equally over your heel and toe edge.

6. Flat base is the hardest thing to do when snowboarding

When you’re taking to the mountain you will be predominately on your toe or heel edge. To keep speed though you’ll most likely need to go flat base, or the position where your board is pointing down the mountain with one foot in front of the other.  This will cause your board to increase speed, and this may seem scary, but trust me speed is your friend. When your speed increases it means you’re going to be more stabilized.

7. Take sunscreen and lip SPF

You may laugh at the idea of getting a sunburn when you’re surrounded by snow, but it is very common. 80% of UV reflects off of the snows surface. This means you’re exposed to the sun almost two times more than usual. Keeping a small bottle of sunscreen and/or lip balm it means you can make sure you are constantly protected.