Can You Master Snowboarding by Reading Mastering Snowboarding?

Ever watched snowboarders in the Olympics and wanted to pull some of the same tricks they make look so simple? Did you think you could read a book to learn how? If so, Mastering Snowboarding may be the book for you.

I grabbed a promotional copy of the book from LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer’s program. My snowboarding skills have greatly diminished since having kids and spending less time on the slopes. But, The Boy is a budding snowboarder, so maybe we could share the resources in the book.

It’s hard to argue with snowboard lessons from Hannah Teter, a two time Olympic medalist and winner of a multitude of elite snowboarding competitions. Of course being a champion does not mean you can write well, so Teter teamed up with veteran snowboard writer Tawnya Schultz to compile the lessons in the book.

They try to tackle it all: history of snowboarding, equipment, clothing, first-time riding, big mountain riding, and tricks. That’s a lot to pack into one book.

I agree with many of their seven truths of snowboarding:

1. You are going to fall. Everyone falls.
2. You are going to feel uncoordinated. Everyone feels uncoordinated when learning something new.
3. Feeling embarrassed is optional and will not improve your performance.
4. Visualizing helps. So does trusting your body.
5. You may love or hate snowboarding right away. Either way, you’ll get better with practice.
6. If you are optimistic and focus on having fun, you will enjoy the ride.
7. You are going to be sore by the end of the day

I started out snowboarding in 1995 and left the mountain very sore, but wanting more. My first mistake was trying to learn without a lesson. I had just missed the morning lesson time and had two hours to kill until the next lesson. My second mistake was trying to get up the bunny slope before that lesson on a tow rope, a difficult uphill transport for a snowboard.

Reading this book would have helped avoid those mistakes. It my have even given me a better starting point. Attempting to cover the breadth of snowboarding subjects is inherently going to mean that most topics are not covered in depth. The only subject covered in depth are tricks which take up 60 of 189 pages in the book.