Beginners have to start somewhere!
In the past, I’ve talked about many things that are helpful to beginner snowboarders, but I’ve never put it together to make it easy for you guys to follow or to check off your list. Below, I’ve done just that 
The Most Important Steps For A Beginner Snowboarder
1) Lessons
I’ve said it many times before, but lessons are by far one of the most important things when you’re starting out. The most common reason for people not enjoying snowboarding is that their first time on snow wasn’t fun. The beginner period of snowboarding involves lots of falling and faceplanting. Taking lessons will ensure that you actually see some progress from all that faceplanting.
The quicker you get through learning the basics, the quicker you’ll get past the frustrating faceplanting period. Without a doubt, nothing will help a beginner more than lessons from a good instructor. If possible, a full 1 day, 1 on 1 lesson is ideal for starting out and hammering those basics in quickly.
2) Equipment
Rental snowboards are fine at first, but as you move past the constantly falling stage, you’ll be wanting to look at buying your own set of gear. Rental shops tend to have a ‘one size fits all’ type of snowboard, which is fine for learning, but you’ll eventually want something designed for the exact type of snowboarding you want to do.
If nothing else, buy your own set of boots. Rental boots suck. Period. You can get away with using a rental snowboard, but get your own pair of boots when you can. Trust me when I say that boots that fit your feet will make your snowboarding 1000 times more enjoyable. If you need help picking gear, I recommend downloading our free snowboard gear guide, if you haven’t already.
3) Time
If possible, you want to try snowboarding for more than just 1-2 days at a time during your beginner period. It takes repetition and time to get those basics into you. Your body is learning a whole new skill and it needs time to properly record the movements and imprint them into your brain.
Try to get a full week on the slopes if you can. This gives you the time to learn a new skill and use it enough that it’ll be easier for your body to remember it the next time you snowboard. Snowboarding for short periods can still work to get past that beginner stage, but it takes a lot more focus and you’ll want a really good instructor who can hammer in the basics in a short time.
4) Friends to learn with
You’ll want friends who are exciting about learning to snowboard, just like you. There’s something about the feeling of learning together and seeing each other progress that makes learning far more enjoyable, especially in those beginning stages when you’re constantly falling.
Having a friend by your side who’s going through the same challenges and difficulties can make the whole experience a lot more fun and lighten the mood when you get frustrated.
5) Determination
Remember all those school trips in high school? Everyone always ended up divided into two groups:
- Those that pushed past the falling and faceplanting to learn how to ski/snowboard
- Those that gave up after one fall and stayed inside the lodge all day
You’re going to fall. A lot. It’s probably going to hurt. Your butt will be sore. However, if you can push past that, you’ll start picking up the basics and find that snowboarding is one of the most fun things you can do 
Happy shredding!
- Jed
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