How to Snowboard 101: Doing Garlands

Lesson 11/12
A garland is a fairly advanced snowboarding maneuver that can really help you to navigate difficult areas of the slope. It is best to know how to do the falling leaf before attempting the garland, as the two are quite similar. There are partial, or half turns in the garland that make it unnecessary to change edges and it is called the garland because it leaves tracks in the snow that resemble a garland on the Christmas tree. I found that it’s defintitely important to learn this before you learn and attempt to link turns. Just point in the direction you want to go with your full arm outstretched, and to pivot your shoulder too.

Step 1
The first thing you will need to do when trying to learn the garland is to find a pretty wide area in which to practice. You should go to the top of the hill, and should position yourself pretty well across the fall line. The heelside position is the position that you will want to start with, and you should be looking right where you want to go.

Step 2
Once you are ready to begin, you can lessen the angle of your snowboard and point your board in a general direction down the fall line. Shift your weight to pick up momentum, and head down the fall line.
Step 3
Once you have a straight glide going, pick up a bit of speed. Always remember to watch where you are going! Once you have gained a bit of speed, you will start to slow down by increasing the edge angle of your snowboard and by shifting the weight of your body backwards.

Step 4
Now, you will move the forward end of your snowboard gradually across the fall line to the opposite side. As you do this, you should be slowing down, so remember to maintain your balance!

Step 5
Keep going until you come to a complete stop by turning your board uphill. Once you do come to a complete stop, you should have your board turned horizontally across the fall line. From this position, you can simply push off again as you did earlier. Once you do this, you will have successfully completed your first garland! Complete the same steps, but with the other edge of the board for doing a garland with your toeside.

Related posts:

1. How to Snowboard 101: Linking Turns
2. How to Snowboard 101: Toeside Sideslipping
3. How to Snowboard 101: Falling Leaf Technique
4. How to Snowboard 101: Heelside Traversing
5. How to Snowboard 101: Heelside Sideslipping