There are some core, British snowboarders out there who regularly ride dendix slopes. They hit kickers and ride rails. I’ve got a lot of respect for these people – it’s a tough surface. But this post is aimed at the beginner, someone who can’t yet snowboard…

Learning to snowboard

So you’ve decided to try snowboarding? You’re going to need some lessons. If you’ve already booked your first holiday in the mountains, you may be wondering whether it’s better to learn at home before you go, or whether you should wait until you get to the resort – and learn on the real stuff!

There are some good reasons to learn before you go, and, if you live in the UK there are a few different types of artificial slopes to choose from: indoor snowdomes, snowflex dryslopes and dendix dryslopes.

Dendix is notorious for being, well, a little bit nasty. It’s a “brush” surface that is made of tough, wire bristles, that point upwards, arranged in a hexagonal, or “diamond” pattern. Thus, it’s a hard surface to fall on. Not only that, the diagonal arrangement is particularly effective at trapping fingers or hands when you fall…

So why would anyone want to snowboard on this stuff? Well, in my case, the only ski-slopes close to where I live are made of dendix. So when I decided to learn before my first trip to the French Alpes, it was my only real option. And whilst a dryslope like this is about as far away as you can get from the real thing, it can present a cheap and convenient introduction.

Basic instruction

I learned to snowboard on a dendix slope. I took an initial taster lesson, followed by a series of 4, 1 hour lessons. Here’s a breakdown of the things we were taught.

Foundation 1 (taster lesson):

• Equipment introduction – the board, the bindings, how to use them, how to strap in, etc.
• Skating around – using your back foot to push you around whilst the front foot is strapped in. To get you across flat areas, this is called “skating”.
• Straight runs – very gentle straight descent, from just above the flat, run out area.
• Side slipping – an introduction only.

Foundation 2 (4, 1 hour lessons):

• Side slipping – heel and two edge, straight down the slope.
• Traversing across the slope – in a side slip, practiced on both edges.
• Falling leaf – slide slip traverse with a direction change, staying on the same edge. Both edges.
• Straight into turn – starting near the run out area, ride straight down and start to turn on an edge. Both edges.
• Traverse into straight – starting just above the run out area, traverse across the slope and then adjust your weight and body position to start moving straight down the fall line, to stop on the flat. Both edges.
• Use of the button lift.

The first series of four lessons is designed to give you the tools to link turns – we were taught how to move from a traverse to point straight down the fall line, and separately, how to move from travelling straight down into a turn. Linked turns themselves aren’t actually covered until Foundation 3, the next course.

I made the assumption that I should be able to turn by now, and, being quite keen, took the two elements of a complete turn to the big slope. After more than a few tasty falls going it alone, I started to link my turns together, progressing to making turns down the full length of the slope. I was ready for snow.

Silksworth dryslope, Sunderland (where I learned to snowboard).

Dendix – is it for you?

In my experience, it’s attempting to link turns that brings on the most falls, and therefore the most pain. Linking a turn requires you to make the transition from one edge of the snowboard to the other. In the process, your board will be pointing straight down the hill, and you’ll therefor pick up speed. The speed can be scary at first, and the aversion to the speed can bring on errors…

In the group of people that I learned with, just about everyone benefited from the first series of lessons. Side slipping, traversing, doing the two parts of a turn in isolation, near the run out area. They were learning the basics, well. However, just about everyone failed to progress to linking turns. Some didn’t like the speed, and bottled the turn before pointing down the fall line. Others commited to their turns, but were put off by the pain of the falls.

Which leads me to the advice that I would give to those who have the option of learning on a dendix dry slope:

• If you’re a fairly gentle person and/or you’re not sure how well you’re going to pick up snowboarding, I would probably avoid the dendix slope. The introductory lessons could definitely help you, but I wouldn’t say they’re a top idea. Learning on snow will probably be better at developing your confidence.
• If you’re fairly robust and/or keen to give yourself a head-start before arriving in resort, I would definitely consider some lessons on dendix. They’re cheap in comparison, you will get a head-start, and there’s a chance you’ll need fewer lessons away, if any at all. Don’t get disheartened if you don’t manage linked turns. Do make sure you take measures to avoid injury (see below).
• If you’re used to taking knocks and always get stuck in with activities, I don’t see a reason not to learn on dendix. It’s fun and cheap. Protect yourself from the surface, be ready for some falls, and get linking your turns. Don’t cheat by pushing the back foot out – pay attention to the instructor; you should aim to not need lessons on your first trip…

Safety tips for riding on dendix

The ski slope will have their own rules concerning clothing, for example, “gloves must be worn at all times”. Be sure to follow the local rules. Consider the following:

• Mitts. Wearing mittens will make it less likely to trap a finger in the dendix because your fingers become a single unit. I spent some time (after learning) riding my local dry slope. I took some old snowboarding gloves and taped the fingers together with strong tape. It worked well.
• Butt protection. If you’ve bought some bum-pads ready for snowboarding, use them on the dry slope, they’ll help a lot.
• Helmet. Again, if you’ve got a lid, use it. The bristles are hard and a helemt will protect your head!
• Don’t wear the brand new snowboard outerwear you’ve just bought for the holiday. It will get damaged really quickly on dryslope. Wear stuff that’s old and tough, something you don’t mind ruining.

Photo from podgy_perception on flickr.