Snowboarding on Artificial?

Effluo

Hey everyone,

There's a bit of a tour going to an Artificial skiing place in the next few weeks from college and i was just wonderin, what's snowboarding on it like?

Can someone give me the pluses, minuses and the plain differences.

Cheers!

Fattes

Which artificial place there are 2 now?

Dendix, Ski club of Ireland... Less grip than normal snow but the exact same movments and technique required. 2 drag lifts and 190 meters of slope with a few small rollers and a 25 degree pitch at the top.

Ski Center... Rolling ski mat with no sensation of movmet. No idea what it is like from a snowboard techniqe view but from a ski point of view you have to use bad technique to learn on it (Lifting the ski)

Both are better than no where to practice though

Effluo

Which of these is the one in Kilternan?

Fattes

First one is Kilternan. Just keep all you skin covered and your ass well padded and you will be ok.

Snowboard guys up ther are a really good bunch of guys who are good at what they do and a great laugh.

Effluo

DRAG LIFTS!!!!

Noooooooooooooooo....

Cheers for the info btw

much obliged

Fattes

Drag lifts work wonders for you balance!!! HA HA.... The lads up there will show you how to deal with them and they will never be an issue again.

ourfi

The artifical stuff is ok to learn moves on. Its slower and could turn your butt blue with bruises so use plenty of padding. Its much easier on snow and less scaryy when wipping out. I was more cautious after using it cause it hurt a lot more when you have the snow angel look instead of the snow boarding one...:)

granty1987

Dendix, for all its diamond shaped flaws i actually kinda like it. Basically i think that if you can do something on it then you can DEFINITELY do it on snow. And since there is'nt anything else available in ireland except that OK GO! sponsored magic carpet in Sandyford im still trying new tricks and knowing that i can do them on the cheesewedge kickers in kiltiernan = me being confidant in real parks on snow!

gotta love its finger breaking goodness!

Effluo

granty1987 wrote: »

gotta love its finger breaking goodness!

Was actually thinking about this

wing52

God almighty I never thought I could bend my thumbs

back as far as I did on that stuff.

Having said that, I've only ever got hurt when I went too slow!

Make sure they have the sprinklers on before you set out.

opinion guy

Yup thumb sprain here. See when you fall your thumb sticks into the gaps in the floor. Next your entire body weight plus whatever momentum you've built up comes to a halt via your thumb. Not pleasant.

IMHO I wouldn't bother with it. half the fun of learning ski/snowboard is that first week where you are clueless with everyone else and spend it falling over into nice soft snow and then having a soothing hot chocolate mit rum /gluhwein to warm up again. i don't even think the artifical is that good for technique......but thats just me....others will disagree

Mmmm_Lemony

opinion guy wrote: »

Yup thumb sprain here. See when you fall your thumb sticks into the gaps in the floor. Next your entire body weight plus whatever momentum you've built up comes to a halt via your thumb. Not pleasant.

IMHO I wouldn't bother with it. half the fun of learning ski/snowboard is that first week where you are clueless with everyone else and spend it falling over into nice soft snow and then having a soothing hot chocolate mit rum /gluhwein to warm up again. i don't even think the artifical is that good for technique......but thats just me....others will disagree

I would be one to disagree. I've been skiing for a few years, and last year decided to try snowboarding. I was advised to get lessons in Kilteernan and it was the best thing i ever did!!!

I was lucky enough to get a class with 2 people! Me and some other guy and 1 instructor. This wont always be the case but obviously the smaller the class the more focus on you.

The instructor was excellent, was immediately able to see where I was going wrong and going right. Think his name was tim, but could be wrong. English guy, Dead sound bloke.

The point is I didn't spend the entire week of the short holiday on my arse, and by the last few days I was actually trying some off piste stuff which i never even dared do while skiing. It made the trip 10 times better. I'm probably going again before I head off this coming season and would recommend it to snowboarders and skiiers alike.

Its not snow, but its a great training tool. Definitely go before you hit the snow!!!

P.S. Go for the padding... and bring a good thick pair of gloves and you'll be fine!

opinion guy

Fair enough Lemony I take your point. I guess its one of those things if you do get injured you just won't go back. And the kind of injury I got gloves made no difference cause i was wearing a good pair;)
But as I said - each to his own!

Snowie

Fattes wrote: »

Drag lifts work wonders for you balance!!! HA HA.... The lads up there will show you how to deal with them and they will never be an issue again.

are they button lifts i love getting draged up on my ass on them and then doing a super fly manuver which is a bit like wake boarding to get back up on to them :pac::cool:

paulharte

granty1987 wrote: »

gotta love its finger breaking goodness!

Answer: rock the flipper... (or mittens)!!!



Basically my opinion is: its not real snow, but its better than whatever the hell else you can do in ireland to emulate snowboarding/skiing!!

It is a bit harder to go snowboarding up there after learning on snow (campared to trying to bring your snow skiing skills there), but if you are a good rider on snow, you can adapt your skills. It will show up any weaknesses in your technique in the form of falls!! It takes patience!

A lot of people dont like it because they aren't as good up there as they are on real stuff (because real snow is a lot more forgiving!)

robinph

If nothing else extra practice at using drag lifts for boarders would be a good thing before hitting the snow.

I did see some unfortunate boarders getting stuck in the wrong part of the mountain after a wrong turn on the piste and then unable to get back up to the base due to a T-bar being the only lift back up whilst I was in NZ this year. They were persitant though and we would often see the same guys there for hours trying to get up the lift unsuccessfully, we then got to guess at which pylon they wall fall off at as we waited in the queue to get on ourselves.