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The Olympics took place in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Snowboarding was one of the most exciting events in all the
programs. Why don't you begin snowboarding right now? You
have four years until the Olympics in Athens, Greece. You
many be able to be sent as a member of the snowboarding team
at the next Olympics if you become really good at it. Let's
go to the mountains to snowboard.
Don't worry about your equipment - snowboard with binding,
snowshoes, cap or helmet, goggles, and gloves - because you
can rent them at any resort for about 30 dollars a day.
Before you decide to go snowboarding, there is the most
important thing to do: check the weather report. Although
your hometown might be fine, at the mountain area it could be
snowing or raining.
We are going to be excited by the view of the mountains
covered with snow. Snoqualmie is the nearest and the best
"snowboard resort" here. Every person at the various levels
can enjoy themselves there because there are many slopes to
descend and it has an attractive snow park where many bumps
are constructed.
After parking your car as near to the main lodge as
possible, check your stuff and buy a ticket that costs 38
dollars to have a wonderful day. What you should do first is
not to take pictures with your friend but to stretch your
body to prevent serious accidents - broken bones, for
example. It usually takes you approximately ten minutes to
stretch and also to warm up.
Which type of snowboarding do you prefer to learn? Alpine
or freestyle for the beginners, though I don't have an
especially good reason, just that it's cool and more popular
than alpine.
The purpose of alpine is to descend the slope as fast as
possible. The purpose of freestyle, on the other hand, is to
make tricks on the bumps, e.g., to grab some points of your
board, to turn around 360 degrees or to flip, and such tricks
are done in the half pipe, which is shaped like half of a
pipe. This is really hard for beginners. Some professionals
can make jumps as high as 10 feet and do some tricks.
Moreover, there are two basic stances to snowboarding- the
regular stance, in which the left foot is in front, and the
"goofy" stance in which the right foot is in front. It
depends on whether you are right- or left-handed.
It is not so easy for the people who snowboard for the
first time to stand up. So I would like to recommend to
beginners to take a class. There you will quickly learn to
stand up on your board and to make the basic turns. The
better you can descend and turn, the more you will want to do
it.
Even if you became an excellent snowboarder, use your
common sense * hold back your speed in crowded conditions and
think about your ability, i.e., "Does this slope match my
level of competence?" It's high time to stop watching TV in
your nice heated room, and go outside with your snowboard to
explore the mountains covered with snow.
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