jng Posted January 15, 2019 Report Share Posted January 15, 2019 My 10 year old started snowboarding last year, and after years as a mediocre skier, was hitting legit double blacks by end of one season. Now he has decided independently to try hardbooting. I would love to hear some stories from other parents about the transition to hardbooting for their kids. How old? What have you done to promote their growth on hardboots? FYI, up in the PNW, racing gates is just for skiers. If you had luck convincing ski race programs to take on a snowboarder, I would love to hear about it. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmorita Posted January 15, 2019 Report Share Posted January 15, 2019 Hi JNG, I don't have any personal tales, but I do have a 10 year old who asked if he could give carving a go. I saw at Camelback in PA that they have a serious racing program filled with little kids on carving boards. Their coach might bed a good resource as I know that his son and two daughters race and ride on hard boots. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jng Posted January 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2019 @pmorita - Are you going to put your kid on hard boots? Crickets here. I think I found a tiny niche among a niche sport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aracan Posted January 17, 2019 Report Share Posted January 17, 2019 My kid started skiing (because she insisted) at about age 2 (like me ). At age 5 or so she added snowboarding in softboots. At 9 she tried hardboots and liked them better. No problems at all. Of course, she continued on the same board - a standard cambered freeride board for kids. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inkaholic Posted January 18, 2019 Report Share Posted January 18, 2019 There are vids around here whether in the Yo LCI thread or the video section of KarverKai (KK). KK started riding on a Virus Rookie 99 around 8yrs old. He did this on softies due to being so small for his age. There is a vid of his first run on HBs here from maybe 2013 (10yrs old). He was riding Salomon ski boots which I modified to make softer. I tried to make every day about FUN with some learning thrown in. One really big benefit I believe, that KK had that most other kids may not have, is to be surrounded by other carvers. KK was able to tap into the experiences of all the LCI members, especially when he got sick of hearing "dad" tell him how to ride better. After he finally started growing, KK got a Virus 137 GS. He rode and progressed with that board till he got big enough to test an SG 157 SL from HillB. He loved that SG. He is currently riding my old Hot Blast 158 SL and slaying the hill on it. At this point he is not a fan of SBs but that may change in the future. Keep it fun and hopefully have others around to be the "Village" to help with the HB growth. Good luck and keep us posted. Ink 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jng Posted January 18, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2019 6 hours ago, inkaholic said: Keep it fun and hopefully have others around to be the "Village" to help with the HB growth There have been seasons when I have seen no other hardbooters locally, so my son will effectively double the population of the village. I was a part-time instructor in the past so there's a temptation to go into training mode, but it's always good advice to focus on fun first. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HillB Posted January 19, 2019 Report Share Posted January 19, 2019 On 1/15/2019 at 1:00 PM, pmorita said: Hi JNG, I don't have any personal tales, but I do have a 10 year old who asked if he could give carving a go. I saw at Camelback in PA that they have a serious racing program filled with little kids on carving boards. Their coach might bed a good resource as I know that his son and two daughters race and ride on hard boots. Marian Dziak is his name. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patmoore Posted January 21, 2019 Report Share Posted January 21, 2019 My six year old grandson won his age group at the NASTAR Nationals the last two years on both skis and board. I picked up a never-ridden Rossi board for him but he'll still need to grow a bit. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacopodotti Posted January 21, 2019 Report Share Posted January 21, 2019 My daughter was for some days on softboots but for some reasons I had in my house the boots of Roland Fischnaller and she asked me if she can try them, of course on the carpet, she was 9! She said, it's easyer with this ones! So I have found almost everything for her and now she is learning on hardboots. If somebody could be interested I'm selling a SG 125 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jng Posted January 22, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2019 Took my son out for his first runs on hardboots yesterday. He struggled through a few runs before switching to softboots, then said, "Hardbooting makes me ride softboots better." I said something similar when I first started hardbooting. Creepy. He's going to try again, so I'll call it a success! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MountainSlope Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 Here are some of our family pics... All of them can ski! Ages 8, 6 and 3. Our oldest tried softboots a few years back and hardboots the first time last year. Luckily (because we didn't have extra skis) our daughter was totally excited to try the snowboard the first time last weekend 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TVR Posted January 27, 2019 Report Share Posted January 27, 2019 My son has been riding hardboots since he was 7. Finding his fist boots and an alpine small enough was a challenge, but now, 5 years later he loves running the gates. My biggest challenge now is getting him coaching from hardbooters as most coaches love the softies and getting him gate time for training 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jng Posted March 7, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2019 After assembling a setup from far and wide, here's my grom on day 5 on hardboots. Wish I started him on a board earlier. https://youtu.be/UI0nTrwLNlY 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noschoolrider Posted March 7, 2019 Report Share Posted March 7, 2019 On 1/15/2019 at 10:48 AM, jng said: FYI, up in the PNW, racing gates is just for skiers. If you had luck convincing ski race programs to take on a snowboarder, I would love to hear about it. Thanks! When I lived in the Seattle area I had a lot of fun racing (as a snowboarder) in the CityLeague Team program, however the minimum age is 16 - http://www.cityleague.com/ski/ihow.shtml The USASA races in the Central Oregon Series (at Mt. Bachelor) seem to be the only ongoing/surviving snowboard SL and GS events in the PNW - https://www.centraloregonusasa.com For snowboard race coaching in the PNW there's http://www.snowperformance.com and I coach at Mt. Bachelor. Don Richter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jng Posted March 8, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2019 @noschoolrider Thanks for the tips! I race CityLeague now. My son will join their Friday night kids program next year. They're the only ski program that will take kids. The other more traditional ski programs have said no. We are planning on hitting Bachelor for USASA in Dec. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patmoore Posted March 10, 2019 Report Share Posted March 10, 2019 On 1/24/2019 at 4:37 PM, Puhutes said: Here are some of our family pics... All of them can ski! Ages 8, 6 and 3. Our oldest tried softboots a few years back and hardboots the first time last year. Luckily (because we didn't have extra skis) our daughter was totally excited to try the snowboard the first time last weekend Where did you get bindings that small? I'm looking for some for one of my grandsons. On 3/6/2019 at 10:22 PM, jng said: After assembling a setup from far and wide, here's my grom on day 5 on hardboots. Wish I started him on a board earlier. https://youtu.be/UI0nTrwLNlY He's off to a great start! I'd like to transition my 7 year old grandson to hard boots. Can you recommend a source for bindings that small? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MountainSlope Posted March 10, 2019 Report Share Posted March 10, 2019 12 hours ago, patmoore said: He's off to a great start! I'd like to transition my 7 year old grandson to hard boots. Can you recommend a source for bindings that small? Hey, thanks for the question. Our kids use their skiboots still for hardboot setup. If the ski or snowboard hardboot are big enough... The F2 Carver RS https://www.f2.com/snow/bindings.php?L=&da=1928&dk=47&db=11&name=CARVE RS Or, if you can find one... a Burton without a metal base (carrier See pic) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hknz Posted March 11, 2019 Report Share Posted March 11, 2019 Riding on this post, does mountain slope plan to made a kid's/small female 951 version in ~20-21cm? (probably with cheaper plastic?) There are many Asian girls in 155 height/ 21-22 feet. There is no hardboots gonna fit them properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corran Posted December 4, 2020 Report Share Posted December 4, 2020 (edited) I made my sone some plate bindings, and got him some ski boots. The issue is the board - he's either on an oversized SG125, or a swallowtail. Edited December 4, 2020 by Corran 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted December 4, 2020 Report Share Posted December 4, 2020 That's awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corran Posted December 5, 2020 Report Share Posted December 5, 2020 I guess if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.... Now my son will have a board by his 7th birthday in January lol... Length 1150mm Running length 975mm Nose width 210mm Waist 162mm Tail 196mm Nose length 176mm Tail length 71mm 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i-carve.com Posted December 6, 2020 Report Share Posted December 6, 2020 It's never too early or too late to start with snowboarding. That's why we offer snowboards for all ages. For junior shredders we offer numerous options so you definitely won't have to do it yourself. VIRUS Rookie (from 99cm on) for first alpine snowboard experience and for more ambitious kids VIRUS SL Race (sizes 101, 111, 121, 131, 141, 151 cm) VIRUS BX Junior(sizes 135, 145 cm) MOUNTAIN SLOPE Alpine Kids 102cm in combo with new F2 Carbon Race bindings SG Full Speed (sizes 130, 140 cm) F2 Speedster SL Equipe Junior (sizes 131, 139, 145 cm) OXESS RS (sizes 137, 145 cm) No photo More info available at store@i-carve.com . 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eboot Posted December 6, 2020 Report Share Posted December 6, 2020 My 12 year old daughter will be hardbooting for the first time this year - all her gear has finally arrived. Thanx to @pmorita for supporting kids and loaning a board at no cost with the intent of continuing this!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.