Chairlifts and flat ground: the hardest part of day one

Why this is the hard part

A skier arrives at a lift on two independent feet and leaves the same way. A snowboarder cannot: with both feet strapped to one board you cannot walk, cannot push, and cannot easily stand still on a slope. So every lift ride begins and ends with one foot out of its binding, in a stance you have never used before, in front of a queue of people.

This is the genuine reason day one of snowboarding feels harder than day one of skiing, and it has nothing to do with riding down a slope. It is worth practicing deliberately for twenty minutes on flat ground rather than discovering it at the top of a chairlift, and almost nobody does.

Skating: the first skill

Skating is moving on flat ground with the front foot strapped in and the back foot pushing, exactly like a skateboard. It is how you get to the lift, through the queue, and across every flat section on the mountain.

1. Strap in the front foot only. Leave the back binding straps open and out of the way.
2. Stand with the board pointing where you want to go, weight over the front foot.
3. Put the free foot down beside the board, between the bindings rather than behind the tail, and push.
4. Glide with the free foot resting on the board between the bindings, then push again.

The common error is pushing from behind the tail, which turns the board sideways and pulls your front knee across. Push from beside the middle. The other common error is looking at your feet: look where you are going, exactly as you would on a bicycle.

One-footing: gliding downhill with one foot in

One-footing is skating’s downhill cousin: a gentle slope, front foot strapped, back foot resting on the board, letting gravity do it. It is what you do for the ten meters off the top of a chairlift, and it is why a stomp pad exists.

Practice it on the gentlest slope you can find. Weight mostly on the front foot, back foot flat on the board between the bindings, eyes up. To slow down, twist the board slightly across the hill with the front foot. To stop, sit down - which is not a failure, it is the technique.

The stomp pad

A stomp pad is a small textured patch stuck to the board between the bindings, where your back foot goes when it is out. Its entire job is grip: a snowboard top sheet is slippery, and a wet boot sole on a slippery surface at the top of a lift ramp is how people fall over in front of an audience.

It costs very little, it takes two minutes to fit, and it is one of the few accessories on this site that is genuinely worth buying before a first day. Rental boards usually have one already; check before you leave the shop, and ask if not.

The chairlift, in five steps

1. In the queue. Skate forward. Unstrap the back foot before you reach the loading line, not while people are waiting behind you.
2. Loading. Stand on the load mark with the board pointing forward and slightly angled so the nose does not catch. Look back over your leading shoulder, take the chair with the hand on that side, and sit.
3. On the chair. Rest the board on the footrest if there is one, or let it hang. A board hanging from one boot is heavy on the knee over a long ride; lifting it onto the footrest is worth doing.
4. Approaching the top. Lift the bar, point the board straight forward, put the back foot on the stomp pad, and slide to the front of the seat.
5. Unloading. Stand up as the chair pushes you forward. Keep the board straight down the ramp, weight over the front foot, and glide away from the unload area before you sit down to strap in.

The one rule that matters at the top: get clear before you sit down. Everybody falls off a lift a few times in their first days and nobody minds, but sitting down directly in the unload zone is how the lift gets stopped. Glide ten meters to the side first, even if it is an ugly ten meters.

Which lifts are harder

If a resort is mostly T-bars, that is worth knowing before booking a first snowboard trip. It is not a reason to avoid the place, but a beginner will spend a real portion of day one learning a lift rather than learning to ride.

Flat sections, which every resort has

The other thing nobody warns you about: a snowboard stops on flat ground and a skier glides across. Cat tracks, traverses and the run-out at the bottom of a piste are all places a snowboarder can come to a complete halt and then have to unstrap.

• Carry speed into it. The single best answer. Look ahead, spot the flat, and stop scrubbing speed before you reach it.
• Stay flat-based and stand tall. Any edge angle is a brake on flat ground.
• If you stop, unstrap and skate. Faster than hopping, and much less tiring than trying to pump the board along.
• Check the trail map for cat tracks. On some mountains one route down is dramatically flatter than another, and the map tells you.

Leashes and runaway boards

A leash connects the board to your front leg so it cannot slide down the mountain while you are strapping in. Because snowboard bindings do not release, a loose board on a slope is a genuinely dangerous object, and it is why many resorts require a leash and why most bindings ship with one.

Use it if you have it. If you do not, the practical habit that does the same job is to always strap in with the board across the fall line and the base uphill, so that if it does get away it lands on its base rather than gathering speed on its edge.

One equipment note

You will be putting your hands in the snow constantly during all of this: strapping in, pushing up, catching yourself on the lift ramp. Gloves get wet on day one faster than any other item of a snowboarder’s kit, which is why the glove sizing page recommends two pairs, and why a gauntlet cuff over the sleeve is worth more here than it is on skis.

Everything else that makes day one survivable is on the protection page. Get through the lifts and the flats, and the riding is the easy part.