Kevin Ryan's The Illustrated Guide to Snowboarding offers one of the most useful guides to snowboarding for people from any level, whether beginners wanting to learn more about the sport and get their techniques sharpened, up to instructors and professionals seeking to further hone their skills on the slope.
Reader reviews and feedback on this book showed that it has a lot of useful drills featured that helped them improve their game immensely after repeated practise. The drills are written in a step by step fashion that seems ambiguous at first, but makes complete sense once you actually try them out. Furthermore, the book's coverage is all-encompassing, including tips for beginning, to intermediate, to advanced skill levels.
The approach taken by the author is both humorous and scientific, employing small drawn illustrations to show drills and techniques. While there are few actual pictures involved, these hand drawn illustrations are funny to look at and yet maintain a good degree of accuracy in portraying the skills and techniques being demonstrated. The author uses a lot of jokes and quips interspersed with facts and the illustrations are likewise a mix of serious, factual ones and cute, cartoony renderings of snowboarding stuff.
Most professional instructors in snowboarding who read this book found new drills and skills they could teach their classes inside the beginner sections, so this book's coverage is quite extensive. Furthermore, the author knows that certain skills can ONLY be conveyed though actual practice and demonstration, so he goes out of his way to state when certain skills are best acquired through a snowboarding instructor.
One of the sections that a lot of readers will probably find useful is the chapter on snowboard care and maintenance. Where most how-to books devote footnotes or at best, a few pages to the care and maintenance of equipment, Kevin Ryan actually goes out of his way to write an in depth full chapter on tips for taking proper care of your snowboard.
There is even a section on the ergonomics of skateboarding, covering the proper way to carry and ride a board to minimize the physical strain on the snowboarder. This also includes explanations on the physics and mechanics of snowboarding. While not exactly necessary for most people, this chapter is useful for people who are more technically inclined, like say, industrial designers who might be out to design a new type of snowboard.
Unlike some instructional books, this book does not seek to replace the need for an instructor, but instead seeks to augment and expand on the knowledge gained from working with a good qualified snowboarding instructor. For those who insist on learning everything from a book and doing it themselves, however, the book's attention to detail and exhaustive explanations of the mechanics of snowboarding are actually enough to let them get by and teach themselves through practice and repetition.
This book is 336 pages long, and it's first edition was published by the renowned book company McGraw-Hill back in 1998. Despite being published 8 years ago, to this day it remains one of the most popular and sought after instructional books for snowboarders. No matter what your skill level, it's guaranteed that you will benefit from reading this book that is already considered a classic "encyclopedia" in the sport by avid snowboarding enthusiasts.
These days booking, a holiday is just a few clicks away on the computer. Gone are the days when organising a short break consisted of going to the travel agents and discussing all of your holiday needs. This was a time consuming event and would require you to pay a fee to the agents. It also meant that you would need to make a lot more phone calls to book the tickets and then wait for the tickets to arrive by post.
Now you can select your holiday by looking up forums and booking online. There is also no need for print tickets, it is as simple as printing a sheet of your itinerary with a barcode on the paper, which on the day of departure will be scanned in and bringing up all of your booking details. These holidays are easy to book and include activity holidays such as skiing holidays, mountain biking holidays, trekking trips and snowboarding holidays.
These kinds of holidays, in the past, would be a problem to book and were much more expensive. Snowboarding holidays became more popular during the eighties and early nineties. It became an international sport during the late 1970s with many modifications and changes made to the board. The thrill of free riding and leaving tracks on snow is incomparable to any other feeling, whether you are beginner or a professional.
Those looking to go snowboarding for the first time will feel nervous and excited with many people being more cautious. However, many of the ski resorts offer lessons in snowboarding and skiing at specific periods. As a beginner, it is worth looking into these lessons online, finding the best prices for private tuition and snowboard hire. Some holiday packages may include a designated amount of tuition, as well as ski and snowboard hire in one price, but they are more expensive than normal rate snowboarding holidays.
If you are worried about travelling to a resort that is filled with plenty of snowboarders and skiers, then find out which resort is the best place to go to and when would be a good time to visit. Some people make the mistake in travelling up during peaks season, resulting in them coming across people who are more experienced taking up the runs. This is both intimidating and can slow down the progress of your skiing or snowboarding lessons.
Snowboarding is about being active and enjoying what you. In order to experience it is always a good idea to find when the off peak seasons are and to travel when it is relatively quiet. Some resorts are better suited to people who have more experience in these types of activity holidays, other resorts are ideal for beginners. Try looking for resorts with runs that are not very steep such trying American trails, or Canadian mountains. The French Alps usually attract many avid skiers so look into trying out the nursery slopes in Val d'Isere.
In order to enjoy the experiences of snowboarding holidays it is a good idea to go at a time when there is a lot of snow, rather than go when the snow is thin. This is so you avoid experiencing the uncomfortable rocky slopes and endure nasty falls. Thick layers of snow will ensure that you experience smooth trails and an easy safe ride.
Another thing to consider before going on your snowboarding or ski holiday is the type of accommodation you choose to reside in. It is a good idea to stay in chalets and nearby all transportation, as this will save you money on the extra expenditure of hiring a taxi. Book for a chalet, which includes the cost of transportation, to and from the resort. If this is done separately then you may end up paying as much as the holiday itself just on transportation.
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