Snow Skills

Riding a chairlift is an important part of the sport of snowboarding, and usually something that’s comfortable for experienced riders. Unloading the chairlift can be a challenge, however, for beginning snowboarders.

Here’s a couple tips for making chairlift unloading easier for snowboarders:

• Focus on keeping the front leg bent more than the rear leg. If the front leg is bent, your body will move toward the front foot and allow you to move in balance off the chair. If your front leg is stiff, you’ll be falling backward before you’ve even left the chair.
• As the chair approaches the unload ramp, align the snowboard straight ahead, directly along the chairlift cable so that the nose and tail will be moving through the same point in the snow. Any other alignment will send you somewhere other than forward to the bottom of the ramp.
• Just before you stand up, set your free foot on the waist of the board and braced up against the rear binding. Now, you’ve got a firm, wider stance to work with as you stand up. Any other position of your rear foot will result in a less sure stance.
• As you get up out of the chair, move both hands strongly over the nose of the board. This movement will promote moving your weight forward and also put your hands in a position to adjust your balance if necessary. If your hands are behind or beside you, they’re not in a position to help you.