Life with ArielI’m an intermediate skier and learnt how to ski in high school. Snowboarding was not that popular in my hometown back then, but it’s all I can see in California. It seems a very challenging sport. I thought I would have to have strong core and great sense of balance in order to master it and I have neither. Therefore, I never had the courage to learn it. Last year, my friend introduced me to the Perfect Progression Program at Palisades Tahoe, a high-value program for beginners. I figured it’s time to give snowboarding a try.
Perfect Progression Program
The Perfect Progression Program is designed for first-time skiers or snowboarders who have no experience in snow sports. It cost me about $600 for the 2021/2022 season. The program includes 3 group classes, after which you will be granted a season pass at Palisades Tahoe with complimentary rentals. On each of the three class days, you will also get a lunch voucher. It’s great value if you end up enjoying the sport and practicing often after the classes.
Classes
Each class is about 2 hours long. 4-5 students at the same level will be randomly assigned to an instructor. The instructor will teach you the basics and lead practice rounds. There is no specific curriculum and different instructors teach at different paces. What they teach in a class depends on the progress of the group. But in general, they will teach how to wear the equipment, how to fall without hurting yourself, how to get on toes and heels, how to skate / glide / J turn / C turn / traverse, and how to ride a lift across the three classes – basically everything you need to know to get started.
You complete all 3 classes over one weekend (two classes in a day at maximum) or on three different days. On your class days, you get to keep the equipment for the day after the class to practice more. the morning classes start at 9am. The afternoon classes start at 1pm. However, the actual start time is flexible. There are enough instructors at Palisades Tahoe that as long as 3 or more people at the same level are waiting, they will be assigned an instructor.
Pros
- Location: This program is at Palisades Tahoe, formerly known as Squaw Valley, which has my favorite two resorts in Lake Tahoe: Olympic Valley and Alpine Meadows. Both have wide mountains, long and fun slopes, and well-groomed snow. Olympic Valley hosted the winter olympic in 1960 and gained its reputation. Slopes at Olympic Valley are mostly blue and black. Even the green ones are on the challenging end. Alpine Meadows has bunny slopes and beginner-level green slopes. Therefore, the Perfect Progression Program classes take place at Alpine Meadows.
- Great Value: As noted above, the program includes 3 classes, a seasonal pass, free rentals for the season, and lunch vouchers for the class days. If you come often enough after taking the classes, it’s well worth the money.
- Easygoing Instructors: The instructors are generally really nice and patient. They not only teach the whole group but also give personalize advice and guidance to each individual. As mentioned above, there are enough of them that the class schedules can be pretty flexible. Although it’s recommended to book classes online in advance, I found last minute walk-ins would work too.
Cons
- Crowded: Both the resort and the program are very popular. There are long lines in front of the rentals, lifts, and cafes. Instructors also have a hard time finding room for their groups on the slopes. It’s very easy to collide with other beginners, making the learning even harder.
- Pace of the Class: As mentioned above, what you will learn in each class depends on how good your group is. If your learning pace is different from most people in your group, you will be forced to follow their pace. That was the case for me. I was slower than most people in my group and thus was forced to move fast with them. I constantly felt I didn’t have enough time to practice.
Protection
Protection is not only essential but super important when learning snowboarding because you will fall a lot. Let’s be honest. There’s no protection that can keep you from the pain. It will hurt no matter what you wear. What we can do is to prevent injury. I hurt my tailbone when practicing on the slopes. Thankfully, it’s nothing serious. But still, it took me a month to fully recover.
Firs thing first, a helmet is the top 1 priority. Always wear a helmet. If you don’t have one or don’t want to pack it in your luggage, all ski resorts have cheap helmet rentals. Furthermore, although the turtle pads for the hip and knees look childish and ridiculous, based on my personal experience, they are effective in alleviating the pain from the fall. For tailbone and wrist protection – our hip and hands will likely get hit more, I recommend adding something hardshell like the Azzpadz hip pad and the CTHOPER Impact Wrist Guard.
My Results
I completed the 3 classes and tried 3 more times afterwards. In one word, I failed, in the sense that I didn’t end up enjoying snowboarding. I could stand up and glide down the hill. However, my turns were not smooth and I would for sure fall when I was on toes. In hindsight, I think there are three reasons.
- I didn’t know how to ride lifts. It’s the biggest barrier for me. Even after the instructors taught me how to do it and sat side by side with me on the lift to show me how, I still fell every time I got off, which always caused chaos for people behind me. And it hurt. I tried multiple times on my own after the classes and still couldn’t do it. Being unable to ride the lift, I couldn’t get as much practice as I wanted.
- I don’t enjoy speed in general. Even when driving or skiing, I’m slow and always control my speed with a cap. Speed brings more fear than excitement for me. However, it is key for learning snowboarding because turns won’t work without speed. To be honest, I think this fear of speed is also why my skiing skills didn’t advance after all these years. Skiing and snowboarding are extreme sports after all.
- My learning pace is different from the Perfect Progression Program. The program attempts to cover everything you need to know from the basics to intermediate skills. It’s simply too much to cover in three classes. As a result, the classes went so fast that I didn’t have enough time to learn and practice the basics in order to lay a solid foundation. For example, the very first step of learning snowboarding is to get comfortable with the board. That is, to practice gliding the board with only one foot strapped. I didn’t have enough time to do it during the classes and I’m still not comfortable with it even today.
