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Getting to the slopes with your snowboard for some free carve assaults down the powder or hard pack is easier than it's ever been. In the 40 years since edge-less surfboard style designs were first used on snow, snowboarding equipment design has lurched through the many phases focused on materials, edging, shaping and weight. At virtually any sports store you now can pick from a range of 'sticks' including free ride or all mountain varieties, free style for tricks, or alpine racing boards.

You slide your board towards the ticket counter at your local mountain ski resort, pay, and then simply slide over to the chairlift. But, life for snowboarders was not always so easy. Initially reluctant due to alleged "insurance risks" associated with snowboarding, ski resorts simply said "no" to boarding. Of course, ski resort management had an eye on their "bread and butter" current market of skiers and families, who initially wanted nothing to do with "snow surfers".

Thankfully, no major or even minor ski resort limits or bans boarders these days, no matter if you board in Vermont or Colorado. The utter coolness of snowboarding, its appeal to the more rakish and independent minded amongst us, the sport's rise to Olympic game status, and its active promotion by hip sports broadcasters like ESPN has firmly established the sport as a cultural phenomenon.

Selecting your 'stick' requires you to tell the truth about your weight and your height and shoe size in terms of getting the right-sized snowboard to fit you physically. Next, the rental guy wants you to tell him if you want a "regular" (rightie) or a "goofy" (leftie) board. Generally, right-handed folks feel more comfortable with the "regular" boards, calling for left foot forward and right foot back.

Go for the free ride or all mountain board, especially if you're a novice or beginner. These boards are designed to travel in a single direction, with both front and back ends curved up, nose end being somewhat higher.

So, how to snowboard and what should you expect? Whether you have an instructor or you go it alone, you'll be a "drifter" sliding back and forth across the slopes. Expect 1 -3 days of sitting down, sliding forwards and backwards, learning how to stop and turn, and picking yourself up from a variety of low-speed crashes and bails outs. You'll proceed from one foot on your board with one foot free, acting as a brake, to both feet locked into your bindings, "heel side" into the mountain for carving and initial traversing. You'll learn to "lean forward. never back" or fall. Once down, you'll learn simple but necessary maneuvers on how to "get up".

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