Getting in to park...

Learn to ride switch with confidence before going in the park.  Also, you can practice technique outside of the park.  for example riding flat on your board instead of an edge.

Originally posted by Klv2ride I've been telling myself that as soon as I think I'm confident enough on the groomers I will head over to the park. I got to that point this season where I wanted to go try it out but don't have a friend that rides the park to go with me and teach me so never did. The goal for next season is just to suck it up and teach myself. Hoping you guys could help me out with some tips, and just some experiences from your first few park runs! Thanks!!

please dont cut people off i probly landed on 5-6 kids and had to just fall over twenty times because of people transfering from small side left and riding down bigger ramp on right

Originally posted by Klv2ride Originally posted by andrethegiant please dont cut people off i probly landed on 5-6 kids and had to just fall over twenty times because of people transfering from small side left and riding down bigger ramp on right These type of posts really aggravate me. I didn't ask for a lesson in common courtesy. I'm really just interested in posts that will help me progress and learn to tear up the park!! Hope this doesn't offend anyone!!

rzero screw off thats a helpful posts the ending probly wasnt because i started thinking about it haha but klv i was meaning to say just show respect for the park staff and those kind of guys and they will give you some pointers

Haha, clever joke; my friend, Rzero. To be honest, I have been searching for ages!

Originally posted by andrethegiant Haha, clever joke; my friend, Rzero. To be honest, I have been searching for ages!

what are you searching for?

Originally posted by andrethegiant Haha, clever joke; my friend, Rzero. To be honest, I have been searching for ages!

Originally posted by Sintexo Originally posted by andrethegiant Haha, clever joke; my friend, Rzero. To be honest, I have been searching for ages! I like the use of punctuation in this sentence.  A semicolon, really? And here is the popcorn gif.

a semicolon.....OH NO HE DI'INNNT!

Since i dont have an experienced park rider to cone with me and give me the pointers and notice the mistakes i make I'm looking for ideas on where to start, the easiest things to hit so I can learn on those features, anything I could practice on the hill that would help me in the park, what helped you when you first learned, common mistakes that cause big spills, etc. Whatever you've got that you think I should know really!

Originally posted by Klv2ride Since i dont have an experienced park rider to cone with me and give me the pointers and notice the mistakes i make I'm looking for ideas on where to start, the easiest things to hit so I can learn on those features, anything I could practice on the hill that would help me in the park, what helped you when you first learned, common mistakes that cause big spills, etc. Whatever you've got that you think I should know really!

you might have a tendency to lean back cause your not sure what to do.  Stay balanced, like with your weight above your board.  And ride flat features first before you go for down boxes or rails.  I've had my number of injured tailbones and the healing process is at least a wk or two.

i just began to get into the community here and it really pisses me off how much spam is on here! off topic post are extremely annoying and clutter the hell out of a forum, please stop this!

Anyways when you start getting into park riding there are some things you need to know!
first of all safety! helmet, wrist guards, and knee pads are your best friends!
also the rules of the park will save you from possible death and utter disgrace, respect gets respect!  andrethegiant's  post was good advice.
If there are people waiting in line wait your turn, but don't be intimidated by other riders, and take your turn when it comes around! to avoid being cut off in line, call next drop, then call dropping when you drop in.  Never ever stop in the landing of a feature, on jibs it just annoys people who want to use that feature, but on jumps with blind landings it can result in death!!! ive almost smashed kids who were in the landing of a jump just because i had no clue they were there!
also some people are to scared to hit the jibs so they just "jump" off the lip, this ruins the shape of the lip, so it throws you off when you actually hit the feature.

Now to the fun stuff:
start small! the best feature to start on is a low wide box, first thing you want to learn is a 50-50, this is where you point your board straight at the feature and ride straight over it.
The best tip i could give for learning park jibs is that you dont use any edge on the feature! keep your board flat against it, if you go onto an edge your gonna fall!
Now to keep you from going on an edge you have to ride up to the feature straight and flat based, alot of beginners tend to slow down right before the feature and this puts them on an egde, not good, dont turn when your aproaching the feauture.  now if you think you might go to fast by pointing it straight, then move closer to the feature before you "drop in".  But something everybody learns is its actually easier to balance when your going faster, just like riding a bicycle, its physics. 
You'll probably want to pick out one feature and hike it, this is the easiest way to progress because you can get way more practice in then if you rode the lift, and hiking one feature is not bad at all.
ok once you got the 50-50 move onto the boardslide, drop in just like you would for a 50-50 then when your on the box twist your body to one side so your facing downhill and your boards sideways on the box, the most important thing to remember when first trying these is lean forward to keep your board flat based on the box! because the natural snowboarder instinct is to lean backwards on the heal edge to stop, and when your boardsliding your in the stopping position so you need to lean forward to keep you from falling on your butt!!!

Ok now jumping, start by learning how to ollie, this is so you can keep your balance in the air, and so you can keep flat based when you take off.  learning how to ollie is mostly just practice, start on a level surface, get flat based, lean backwards and put your weight on the tail of your board, this will act like a spring and help you hop into the air, you gotta do the movement quick though or you wont get any spring off your tail, anyways now for jumping, go to the jump you want to try and watch other people hit it, especially pay attention to how fast they go, you want to go fast enough to clear the "knuckle" of the jump (the flat part) if you land flat, you will most definitely hurt your knees!!! now when you drop in you can make some speed check turns but when you get to the jump make sure your going straight on a flat base, and when your in the air resist the urge to turn sideways into a stopping position, this is what most beginners do its just instinct, to counteract this try to grab your board on the toe side between the bindings this helps keep you balanced and going straight, when you land, lean forward and ride way, don't stop immediately or you'll probably fall over. another thing that helps you keep on top of your board is to make a shallow toe side turn after you land. (always land flat based then turn)

anyways im writing a book so i'll get off of here,

<as you can tell I'm not a spammer or i would have broke this post up into 20 just to get points.  GET A LIFE SPAMMERS

check out some of the how to videos on this site.  That's a good start.  From there, youtube is also a good resource.  Confidence and knowing how to fall are the best points of advice I can give. 

Great responses....I appreciate the advice offered here to the OP.  This is something I definitely want to improve upon as well.

watch alot of youtube lol, how to videos. it will give you a good starting point. all the sierra snowboard how to vids are pretty good. and you have to go out there and just go for you. know that you are gonna fall. it will probably hurt. wear a helmet and just go for it!

everyone is post wait till ur confidient with this wait till u can ride switch well. dude F that this passed season was my first season and after 4 or 5 times going and figuring stuff out i was over at the park trying stuff. yes u never start like a pro but i was board slidding rails by the end of the season so aka 3 months of actual snowboarding

heres my advice get comfortable on the groomers yes with stopping and speed checking then go nuts. start with easy boxes and move from there. i started with a rainbow box and flat top to build confidence then went to a c box then to rails

i just need to go into it with confidence because if u dont thats when u get hurt. like when i hit an up rail that i was sketchy on.. yup dislocated rib. happy jibbin wear a helmet

Just go in there and give it a shot.  That's how I learned.  You're gonna fall down a bunch, but that's how you get better.  You can't get into too much trouble on mellow boxes and small jumps.

Originally posted by shwazy i think it is decent idea to buy a video from Snowboard Addiction as an introduction to park riding.  Probably would be worth the price.

Agreed.  It's not as useful as a park-certified instructor, but it would be a great starting point for the price.  And you can use TruSnow as a discount code to get 10% off.  After using those as a starting point, maybe check in with an instructor after a few months so they can see if you've developed any bad habits.

Originally posted by Marumm Originally posted by shwazy i think it is decent idea to buy a video from Snowboard Addiction as an introduction to park riding.  Probably would be worth the price. Agreed.  It's not as useful as a park-certified instructor, but it would be a great starting point for the price.  And you can use TruSnow as a discount code to get 10% off.  After using those as a starting point, maybe check in with an instructor after a few months so they can see if you've developed any bad habits.

absolutely...getting instruction from someone who knows what they are talking about is hard to put a price on...i do recommend that if you are going to pay for lessons do some research, ask around, and find out who knows there stuff.  All teachers are not made equal!

Start off small, learn to ride switch is a huge benefit and will help you progress heaps quicker

went to the indoor slope near me last weekend.

1 step forward, ten steps back.

I was CRUISING. I was KILLING it on all the boxes and rails (by killing it i mean i wasnt falling on my face), and then made the foolish mistake of eating some colonel.

Hit the first box, its just a straight beginners box, so no problem, im getting good at this.
Then thought, should i speed check this next one? Nah! i can do this! Its one of those boxes with a flat part then a downward kink, and out of nowhere the idea came in my head "i reckon i can jump that flat bit and land on the downward bit!!"

BLAM!!

It must have ripped my poor sphincter wide open. I was privy to a snowcold enema.

Anyway, I picked myself up, and thought "hang on, that was a one off based on pure stupidity, what the hell made me think i could land that? Ill be more sensible next time"

So i got on the lift and immediately went to hit them again. Only i must have been shaken a bit because just as i went to hit the straight box, the dude in front of me fell just after landing which completely threw me. I lost my line and ended up off balance. The result was a fall onto my back. Being a guy though, i got up, shook it off and said "get your pride back". So stupidly went to hit the kink only to fall face first, get a mild concussion and knacked my knee :)

The moral of the story is this: If you do take a hit, you probably want to rest a bit. That burst of energy you just got is adrenaline, not excitement. And you got it because your body is very annoyed at you.

The other moral for me (who clearly has no balance) is get some proper padding. Better that than wasting a day of your three day vacation blind drunk till twelve in the afternoon because your knee is too painfu.... actually, id rather have the all nighter in truth :)

^ agreed i wear a helmet at all times now and will soon wear wrist guards because i messed my wrist last time

few people have already said it, but watch out for people around you. last time i was in the park a shtooking skier decided to cut off her jumps and veer onto my line and i ate sh*t pretty hard trying to avoid her.

start off on wide boxes and like a lot of ppl on here say have your board flat. if you try to turn while on a box or rail you WILL fall. instead if you find your board rotating to one side or another you can swing out or in your back foot to make the board straight again. also dont go too slow. its kind of like riding a bike you cant go so slow or you wont be able to balance. i personally think rails are better than boxes because when you slide off the side of the rail there isnt this 2ft wide box for you to hit your knees on. and when you slide off the side of a rail or box dont fight it, just make sure your board stays flat and just ride away. hope this helps