Customer Reviews

Snowboarding Skills: The Back-To-Basics Essentials for All Levels

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After a few days in the slopes, I purchased this book along with "The Illustrated Guide to Snowboarding" (mostly due to the positive reviews here). After reading both books from cover to cover, it is my conclusion that "Snowboarding Skills" is, without a doubt, a better book.

It seems that most snowboarding books either describe techniques through indirect principles or abstract concepts such as "... turn your upper body into the new direction" (Illus. Guide). Few books went into the *absolutely* essential details of how and why a board turns. Hands down, the pivoting exercise in the "Snowboarding Skills" book is far more helpful to my snowboarding that the entire 312 pages of the Illustrated Guide. Now that I know how to turn a snowboard, the pictures of actual snowboarders with annotated "force vectors" tell me exactly *how* to implement a move -- the art is in the detail.

This is not to say that the "Illustrated Guide to Snowboarding" is a bad book. It just covers a bit more than "Snowboarding Skills" and goes into a little less technical detail. I use it as more of a secondary reference. For beginner to intermediate, this book is an absolute must.

I first read this book after my first 5 days on a snowboard, and like many other reviews of snowboarding books have stated there is no substitute for being on the mountain and/or getting a few lessons. Having said that everyone has different ways of explaining concepts, and this book helped to reinforce some of the basics for me like keeping weight forward. After having read this book I had a few principles in the back of my head the next time I went boarding . another good feature is the authors use of other snowboarders to explain key concepts discussed in the book. Also the photos used where excellent better than the diagrams and pics in some other books i have seen.

In summary for a beginner snowboard there is sure to be something useful in this book.

I received this book as a Christmas present one year. I found it helpful to look through and reinforce some of the things I'd been learning on the slopes. My boyfriend (who taught himself how to snowboard) used this book to teach me. It was great because before we had this book it was difficult for him to help me out because he just went out and snowboarded without any formal instruction. This book gave him the steps to use to teach ME. I'd recommend this for people who are just learning, especially people who have a more experienced snowboarder they can ride with. You can have a little personal instruction for free (or maybe the price of a beer!).

This book is great if you really want to learn how to snowboard. In my opinion nothing can take the place of one-on-one or group lessons... but this book is a great compliment to help reinforce what you learn (or figure out) on the slopes.

The illustrations are also really really helpful, so you can figure out what should be where and what it all looks like. And wear a helmet!!

Cindy Kleh's book, while not packed with information for all riders, does an excellent job of conveying the keys to successful snowboarding. I'm a relative novice to the sport, and found this an invaluable tool in helping me survive those first days on the mountain. Snowboarding is decidedly unintuitive; Ms. Kleh expertly tells what one should be doing using clear prose and detail. For the intermediate rider looking to improve his/her repertoire of tricks, there are other titles more suitable to that range of rider. For the beginner this is the best organized book of the bunch that I've read. I should note that it's also wonderfully photographed.

I was really impressed with this book! It was informative, but not to the point of being excessive. The illustrations helped plant the concepts in your brain and the relaxed, conversational writing style made the book accessible. It has really helped my boarding too!

This was terrible. I just started snowboarding this year, and this book felt completely juvenile to me (and I'm not even that good). Seriously, if you've even stepped foot on a mountain or seen somebody else snowboarding, don't bother. This book doesn't teach a thing.

This is one of the better books out there on how to snowboard. How I know is because I read pretty much all of them. I haven't found a great book yet, but this comes close. Contrast this with how-to-ski books and you would find a lot more fine books on skiing. Perhaps snowboarding is quite simple in concept but it is the "doing" that is hard or perhaps there still has not been a good author to write any of these books? Time will tell for the latter.

The skills are broken down in progression and full-color photos are really clear and nice to look. There is a section on carving and of course, terrain park skills. The beginning of the book starts off with clothing and equipment which is quite standard among such books but I never did like because I would think everyone would just skip to the part on how to actually snowboard. Putting such info in the back or appendix would make more sense. But reading on equipment and knowing what to buy will make the trip to the shop much more smoother and act as a cross-check to see if the salesperson knows his stuff.

In short, after reading this book and so many others. There are really a few things one need to remember when snowboarding. Stay on the edge. Never have a flat snowboard on the snow especially at really slow speeds. By not doing this, that is when the worst thing about snowboarding happens, the dreaded slam. Avoid at all costs. Wear wrist guards and pads to protect your tail bone. A helmet wouldn't hurt either. Once you remember and have all these, you are ready to have fun.

This is a fine book. It is easy to read, with good tips and very well organized. Pictures help to follow the text and depict concepts clearly.

Excellent pictures and graphic. Good explanation with tips and dos and don'ts.
However, I feel like it is not enough in depth. A little shallow. After reading it, tried on the snow (great fun and works) and I want more but the book didn't give me any.
I think Chapter 6 should be longer and explain more.

Overall it is a good book but just not enough depth in many areas.