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Young Riders

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Photo courtesy of Kate Rudd

Beech Mountain photo

Photo courtesy of Josh Rudd

Go to any winter resort and you’ll notice snowboarders are as abundant as skiers these days. 

Perhaps it’s a correlation with the age of the sport—it began in the 1960s—or the fact that snowboarding embodies a hip and trendy vibe. Whatever the reason, most of today’s snowboarders are under age 40. 

Snowboarding was first included in the Olympics in 1998, which helped spur an explosion of interest.

Snowboarders under age 17 make up 34.3 percent of modern slope riders, according to winter sports authorities. To support this trend, slopes have developed classes, programs and events for child and youth boarders. 

Kids enjoy learning at Smoky Mountain resorts 

“Snowboarding is great for young kids,” said Talia Freeman, marketing director at Beech Mountain Resort in Banner Elk, North Carolina. “It promotes core strength, social skills and builds overall confidence.”

Beech Mountain partners with snowboard manufacturer Burton to offer day programs for riders ages six to 13. Founded in 1998, Burton’s global Learn to Ride program is offered at three High Country resorts in North Carolina—Beech Mountain, Sugar Mountain and Appalachian Ski Mountain. Learn to Ride provides hands-on learning, gear specifically designed for beginner riders, highly skilled instructors and low student-instructor ratio. 

Similarly, Freeman said the Burton Riglit School Program is offered in area school systems. Unlike Learn to Ride, which takes place on the mountain, the Riglit instructors integrate snowboard training into the school’s physical education program. This indoor program focuses on education and an introduction to the fundamentals of the sport. 

“Snowboarding is an excellent way for young people to stay active and fit during a time of year when the bulk of the population is sedentary,” Freeman said. “It’s also a great way to boost the mood during cold, dreary months.” 

Freeman says kids who have fun on the slopes continue to snowboard and ski into adulthood.

Cataloochee Ski Resort in Maggie Valley, North Carolina, offers its own training programs and classes for kids and teens. Beginning in early January and continuing through the end of the season, Cataloochee offers Homeschool Days, an initiative that encourages homeschool students to learn winter sports. They receive special rates on lift tickets, lessons and rentals when presenting their homeschool credentials at the ticket center. 

Cataloochee also hosts a five-week after-school program. Sessions begin at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday beginning in early January. Helmets are included but rentals are separate. Students can use their own gear if they have it.

Students choose between skiing and snowboarding on any of the five nights. While skiing is taught to students in first through grade 12, snowboarding is only offered to those in fourth though grade 12. Once the students pick a discipline they must stick with that throughout the training season. 

Cataloochee Ski General Manager Chris Bates said snowboarding takes a bit more coordination, balance and strength than skiing, and to get on and off the lift, a child has to remove one foot from the board. 

While Bates has seen a number of three- and four-year-olds who can board very well, the more typical age to start is around eight. 

“I would really encourage all kids to take up a winter sport,” Bates said. “Unlike some other sports, skiing and snowboarding can offer fun for a lifetime.” 

Family fun for everyone 

Modern ski slopes and resorts aim to please everyone in the family. Family members may have varying levels of ability and enjoyment regarding winter sports, but the resort wants everyone to have a great time. 

“At Beech, we have something for everyone,” Freeman said. For instance, everyone in a family of four can be accommodated. Along with the Learn to Ride program, Beech Mountain offers Snow Camp for children between the ages of three and six, and nursery care for babies and toddlers. Beech also offers adult classes and assistance for parents who need to learn or improve their skills. 

Beech offers evening events like Trivia Night and Family Feud.

Snowshoe Mountain Resort in West Virginia offers a slew of family activities to balance out time on the mountain with warmer fun and leisure. A family can stay outdoors with sleigh rides, tubing and snowmobile parks, or venture indoors for a number of other options. The Big Top is a 15,000-square-foot indoor play area that includes Eurobungy, a climbing wall, inflatable slides and bounce houses, movies, arts and crafts, live entertainment and other family friendly activities. The Resort also offers Kids Night Out, a fun-filled evening for children that includes childcare so parents can have time away from the kids. 

Josh and Kate Rudd are parents to four boys ages nine, seven, four and one. The North Carolina family takes full advantage of their proximity to winter resorts. Both parents snowboard and have taught the three older boys to ride a board.

“My husband is the more advanced snowboarder,” Kate said. “He starts teaching the boys when they reach age two. We’ve found teaching them very young is helpful. Their center of gravity is so low that if they fall, it doesn’t hurt or turn them off from the sport.”

The oldest, Kohl, is as comfortable on a mountain as most accomplished adults. He loves working on jumps, and he and his dad enjoy riding the more difficult slopes together. Seven-year old Parker is not far behind, and Kate works with four-year old Avery while holding baby Owen in a carrier.

It takes effort and time for parents to teach their children to snowboard, but to this family, it’s totally worth it. They plan on snowboarding being a lifelong hobby enjoyed together. 

The Rudds have season passes to Cataloochee Ski Resort, which is a short drive from their home. They have also snowboarded at Snowshoe, Beech, and at resorts in Utah and Colorado. 

“Not only do we have fun snowboarding together,” Kate said, but “we believe it increases the boys’ self-esteem, teaches them responsibility, offers lessons in persistence and overcoming failure, and also fosters confidence.”

Where to start 

Many parents like the thought of their child growing up on a snowboard, but like many things, it seems easier said than done. Knowing how to navigate the ins and outs of a mountain may take a few trips, but “it’s our goal to help people learn, have fun and foster a love of the sport, especially in our youngest riders,” Freeman said.

Hit the Slopes

Not Just For the Youngsters

You don’t have to be an adolescent to climb aboard a snowboard.

Grays on Trays is a group intended to celebrate getting grownups on boards.

“Why a site geared to adults? We enjoy snowboarding, but find that most existing publications dealing with riding aren’t written for adults; they’re written for kids. Read a few of them and you’ll understand,” the organizer’s website says.

Erika Dillman, author of Outdoors Online: An Internet Guide to Everything Wild & Green, has said: “Grays on Trays is one of the best introductions to snowboarding on the web – regardless of your age.”

Learning how to ride a snowboard is hard enough, the website explains. “If you’re a mature adult looking for information about snowboarding, you shouldn’t have to put up with a website that looks and feels like high school.”

The website intends to provide “an introduction to snowboarding that you’d feel comfortable presenting to your boss or the grandmother down the street (or if you are the grandmother down the street).”

According to the site, “we’re trying to make snowboarding safe for boring, conventional people with lives beyond snowboarding.

Instead of mocking the achievements of grown-ups— ‘Grandpas don’t snowboard’—we celebrate them.”

Learn more at graysontrays.com.

—Jonathan Austin

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