Introduction
People often get injured at the beginning of snowboarding training, even if they learn under the leadership of a snowboard instructor. This is partially a result of the method of teaching used. Any movement of a snowboarder down a reasonably flat run is the most risky movement during the initial stages of training. This movement very often ends with the lower edge of the board digging into the snow resulting in the snowboarder colliding hard with the ground. This is so because the slope is not steep, hence the distance between the lower edge of the board and the snow surface is small. Consequentially even a small mistake by a snowboarder can lead to such a fall. Because mistakes are typical for beginners such falls are commonplace.
The new approach tries to avoid the dangerous situation. With this approach the most important base for the whole snowboarding training is to master the correct keeping of snowboard on the upper edge. For exercises leading to this goal, steeper slopes are much better than moderate to flat slopes because they allow to clearly defining the stance on the correct edge even when the snowboarder’s movement is extremely imprecise. While a snowboarder has not managed the precise snowboard edging he or she should not use flat slopes. If there is such slope on the way the snowboarder should prefer to overcome the slope on foot. This essential is in the contradiction with the early stages of the current method of teaching.