Q: I am thinking of trying to ride switch, but I'm not sure if I'm ready or if I even need to. Any tips or advice?A: Even if you don't plan to ever set foot in a park, the best time to start snowboarding switch is as soon as possible! Riding switch is another skill, another trick of the trade, that only adds to the challenge and enjoyment of snowboarding.
Once you start connecting S-turns and doing basic carving, you are ready to start riding switch.
Why is it a good idea to start learning to ride switch right away? First, the steps you use to turn your board will still be fresh in your mind; it will be much easier to recall what made your board start turning in your regular stance and reverse it to produce switch riding.
Second, it's important for you to begin riding switch before you get too accustomed to life on your dominant leg; nobody likes going back to the bunny slopes to learn how to ride switch when they are so used to (and good at) tearing up the hill in their regular stance.
There is only one tip to riding switch... though it may seem cliche: practice!
Most people are just too comfortable, or maybe too proud, to purposely try something that makes them look like first time snowboarders. Take it from me, the first few runs of switch riding will be have a lot of caught edges and other embarrassing slams... but you have to tough it out, just like you did when you learned to snowboard, if you want those switch turns to start shaping nicely.
The good news is it won't take as long to learn to ride switch as it did to learn to snowboard. The biggest trick to riding switch is remembering to weight your front (once back) foot for the most control. You'll tend to fight the sensation of moving in the opposite direction for a while, but again practice is the only way to get things right.
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