moonstone mike

I did exactly that and at times I did feel like getting my skis back! The basic things to learn (in order) are:

Heel edge: Go down the slope facing the bottom (i.e. board sideways across the slope) and control your speed by pointing your toes up and down.

Toe edge: The opposite of heel edge

Falling leaf: Using Heel or toe edge to go down the slope from side to side like a leaf falling from a tree

These 3 things will take a full day on the slopes to master perfectly and are important to get right before carrying on IMHO!

Next is turns where you start on your heel/toe edge and put weight onto your front foot to get the board pointing down the slope then lean forwards/backwards to turn the board back facing across the slope to stop. These took a while for me to get right properly, make sure you can do all 4 turns with no balance problems (i.e. left foot forward turning to both heel and toe edge then right foot forward doing the same)

After that is the bit I found hardest, linked turns. Basically doing the above but instead of stopping after each turn leanign the other way to make an S shape down the slope. Then with practice you can tighten the S until you go in a fairly straight line pointing down the slope leaning from edge to edge to control your speed.

Thats as far as I have got after one week on the snow, I am just putting in lots of mileage doing the linked turns and using them on steeper slopes. my instructor siad it is best to do them for a long time before trying carve turns, which are turns using the very edge of the board as an ice skate to get lots of speed! In truth you don't see many people doing the carve turns though.

When you have got to where I am you can begin to enjoy the boarding and you have all the skills you need to get off piste and learn jumps etc, by the last two days of my first week I was doing this and it is awesome, comparable to the fun I can have on skiis (although I can still do more on skiis but have much more experience)

So in summary () I'm glad I learnt boarding after the linked turns clicked (they really did just click like that!) I was much happier and can't wait for my next boarding holiday now

My instructor said that Skiing is easier to pick up initially but harder to master, whereas snowboarding is easier to master once you have picked up the basics which take a bit of time.

As for which is the best though I am still undecided, skiing is a lot of fun as is boarding! But it is always good to learn new things!