Don't Let the Lack of Snow Stop Your Boarding Practice

The summer months are the hardest for snowboarders to keep up their skills for the slopes. But there are a number of alternatives to help you practice and hone your boarding abilities once the snow has melted.

We don't all have the luxury of jetting off to New Zealand and Chile to indulge in the alternate snow season, some of us are stuck in the UK and stranded on dry land. So, here are four alternatives which promise to give you skills and thrills of snowboarding, without a trip to the rockies.

Beginner Trick Skateboard

Snowboard Simulator

Don't Let the Lack of Snow Stop Your Boarding Practice

Snowboard simulators are a piece of apparatus designed to allow the user to simulate the action of a snowboard, often used during dry land training.

Often found in amusement arcades or available for hire from many outdoor entertainment retailers, snowboard simulators are a fun way to get on a board and enjoy the feeling of riding the slopes without covering any ground.

The simulator tests your balance and coordination skills and challenges you to ride downhill and off piste as it tests your agility. Riders stand on the electronic snowboard and are challenged to move in unison with the board, requiring good coordination and first class core stability.

This is not the easiest piece of equipment to master and it certainly doesn't come cheap. If you were to buy a snowboard simulator it would set you back several thousand pounds and to hire the equipment you are looking at a rate ranging from £300 to £600 for just a few hours.

Freeline Skates

Freeline Skates utilise the same movements as snowboarding and can be used on normal slopes, not just ones of the dry or artificial snow variety.

The skates are dual independent skates that combine elements of skateboarding, surfing and snowboarding.

Freeline Skates offer a new experience for snowboarders, which requires them to utilise existing skills and transfer them to a new manner of riding. These provide a challenging and innovative way to carve big turns and invent new tricks, all on dry land.

Freeline Skates are ridden in a similar manner to a snowboard with riders shifting their weight from heel to toe to change direction allowing them to carve smooth 'S' turns while riding downhill.

The skates are independent, but unlike skates and blades they are not strapped to the rider's feet, this offers an added bonus to riders by allowing them to achieve high levels of traction on the flats and uphill providing a wide range of locations that are suitable for the skates.

Freeline Skates cost £85 a pair and spare wheels are priced at £25.

Mountain Boards

Mountain Boards are often described as offroad skateboards. They carve like snowboards and can be ridden on grass, dirt and tarmac.

While mountain boards can be pushed up a hill they are intended for downhill use mostly. Mountain Boards are viewed as an alternative to snowboarding, the dry land alternative to surfing and wakeboarding, and the off road alternative to skateboarding.

From carving to freestyle to boardercross, this exciting piece of equipment really does offer a dry land riding experience. It replaces snow with dirt and builds on the premise of skateboarding with its four wheels and snowboarding with its foot bindings and riding stance.

All terrain boards (ATB) costs more than a skateboard but are far less expensive than a high quality bike. Most mountain boards are £200 or less. After-market parts are on the cheap-side too. Mountain boards are fairly simple with few maintenance needs - http://www.atbshop.co.uk.

Xscape

With some of the country's biggest real snow slopes, boarders may want to take a trip to one of the three UK based Xscape centres. Xscape Milton Keynes, Braehead and Castleford offer the ideal place to brush up your boarding skills out of season.

It may seem a little far fetched, but these slopes come complete with real, fresh snow. It's the nearest thing you'll get to the white stuff indoors, short of shipping back a mountain on your next boarding holiday.

The centres offer lessons, a beginners' area and dedicated Freestyle nights for you to hit some rails, jibb the slide box and get some air off the jumps and pipes.

Freestyle sessions are every Thursday and Friday from 7pm to11pm. A two hour Freestlye session will set you back £25 if you're an adult and £20 for children, add £10 for an extra two hours.

Off peak rates apply on weekdays from 9am - 5pm, excluding school and bank holidays. Peak rates apply at all other times. Prices start at just £13 per hour off peak and £21 on peak.

Don't Let the Lack of Snow Stop Your Boarding Practice