Snowboard Safety - How to Fall Correctly

You're probably thinking "I don't need to know how to fall. I need to know how NOT to!" Fair enough. However, the fact is, if you're headed out for you first time snowboarding, you better plan on falling and knowing how to do it right can make the difference between a tiring, battering first day, and a trip to the hospital. That's only sort of a joke.

Falling Correctly
If you know anything about judo, you know that learning to fall correctly is one of the most important skills in that sport. It's not nearly so important in snowboarding, but you do have to learn one simple concept: land with your forearms. I'll explain what that means and how to do it, but first let's talk about what can happen if you don't do it.

Why does it matter?
On a snowboard, beginners often catch the toeside edge or the heelside edge and that sends you to the ground pretty fast. The natural tendency when you catch the toeside edge is to put your hands out in front of you. Unfortunately, that can result in a broken wrist. When falling backwards, you can hit your head or land hard on your butt and take a fairly jarring fall.

What should you do instead?
In a front fall, you want to dive, landing in a skid on your forearms. Usually you'll be landing on slippery (though sometimes very hard) snow and some padding on your clothing, so this tends to be a relative mild and safe fall. When you fall backwards, you want to slam your forearms against the snow as you hit. This does two things: it absorbs some impact and it also helps get you back a little so you don't come straight down on your spine.

If you take a lesson, a professional instructor will demonstrate the different methods of falling and other things you need to do to stay safe and will have you practice them. An initial lesson really is worth it even if you have a strong ski background. I know this because 1) I did not follow this advice and got pulverized on my first day and rang my head hard and 2) I now teach people to snowboard and it goes so much more smoothly if you find someone who actually has a logical, step-by-step method.

If you decide nevertheless to go out with your friends and wing it, they'll often want to take up the lift and point you down without much in the way of instruction. Before you let them do that, practice falling forwards and backwards at least five times on the flats and then a few more times while gliding on a gentle hill. Get used to the motions and see if you can't overcome that instinctive response to reach out with your hands. Once you have it down, now you can let your friends try to kill you.

Tom Lambert is a lifelong skier. In fact, his ski instructor mom skied with him in the womb. He is a ski instructor and runs Ultraskier, a website with ski tips and, coming in 2009/2010 season, a directory of ski instructors.

Check out Ultraskier if you want to ski better and have more fun?

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