Snowboarding wish list

Recently, as regular readers may have noticed, my blog has been a little on the quiet side the past couple of weeks and I apologise for this.

I’ve just been a mixture of busy and stressed with work and haven’t had much time to think about what to write-up next for my blog.

My boyfriend has been lovely enough to suggest this blog post idea to me one night whilst I was whining to him about not having much up on here for you girls (and guys) to read.

He loves snowboarding and I think the day I ask him, “Will you come with me to buy some snowboarding stuff, please?” he’ll be like an obsessed woman searching for a matching handbag and shoes for her next night out. 😉

As you may have read over on my goals, I was hoping to go on a snowboarding at the start of 2014 but due to lack of funds I won’t be able to go in the big group I intended to go with. Instead my boyfriend suggested me and him go somewhere for just us two, which I thought was a lovely idea.

In October I intend to go and learn how to snowboard in a day, which I’m super excited about!

Until then I’ve been looking at snowboarding gear that I’d like to buy for myself for both practicing in, as well as for holiday.

Even if you aren’t interested in snowboarding, you can take a look at how awesome the pants are that you get to wear out in the snow!

Or even if you’re a newbie snowboarder like myself, you can read this post and get an idea of the sort of equipment and attire you will need for your first time in the snow.

So I hope you enjoy this post, I haven’t made a wish list post for aggges!

This picture was kindly edited for me by my boyfriend. It’s long because he tried to make it look like a person was wearing it, lovely touch if I do say so myself. 🙂

On this picture are some vital things you will need as a snowboarder, whether you are a newbie like myself, or even if you’ve been doing it quite a while like my boyfriend has been. Here I’ll go through what you need for your head (face included), torso, legs, feet and your snowboard. Protective gear will be included in the leg part.

• Head gear.

It’s really important for most sports that involve fast speeds that you wear a helmet. It protects your skull and essentially your brain from getting some serious damage. You don’t want your head to get damaged whilst riding fast down a snowy hill, do you?

It’ll get cold so as well as keeping your head safe from bumps and knocks, you’ll want to keep it warm too and you can’t go wrong with a fluffy beanie. I love beanies and I don’t own enough of them! This beanie by Burton is a gorgeous blue colour with flecks of blue and white throughout it, which makes it look great for in the cold weather. They have it in red too! I can see me buying this for wearing during the cold winter months, not just snowboarding.

Goggles are necessary for when going down hills at fast speeds to keep the cold and the wind out of your eyes, plus I’ll probably need a big pair to accommodate my glasses. I saw these purple ones by Electric and fell in love with the colour. I wanted a pair of Electric sunglasses for years, but after a while I changed my mind and bought Ray Bans instead. These goggles are ideal for in the snow and the purple would look so nice with the blue beanie. However the main reason why you need to wear goggles when snowboarding is to prevent snow blindness. The amount of sun, being at higher altitudes, and it all reflecting everywhere is very bad for your eyes and can cause blindness. The air and such also doesn’t help and think about it, it’s very hard to keep your eyes open going that fast in snowy conditions, isn’t it? 😛

You’re keeping your head warm with your beanie, but what about your face? That’s where a face mask, buff or a balaclava comes into the picture (literally! xD) I liked the look of this one with the white and red as it reminded me of red paint being dripped into water. Very poetic, I know! Either way I found it hard to choose a face mask for myself, as most of them have little mouth holes and it really creeps me out. These will keep your nose, cheeks, lips and well the lower part of your face warm and free from cold burns, which is ideal. As well as it being cold out, it can also be really quite warm up at the top of those snowy mountains and hills and people tend to get sun burnt, which is why a face mask can also be ideal.

• Torso.

You NEED a jacket when it comes to snowboarding, or you’ll probably find yourself shivering and with a bad cold, if not phenomena the next day… Well I image anyway! I couldn’t find many jackets I liked the look of but I saw this one and it just looks really autumny with the orange and the black. You wouldn’t go unnoticed in this, that’s for sure. I’m not 100% sure about how waterproofing and breath-ability works with both the jacket and pants yet so that hasn’t really affected my choice at the moment.

Gloves are an essential when out in the snow, even when walking around in the cold in winter in the UK you need a good pair of wooly gloves, but wooly gloves aren’t enough when snowboarding and you need something thicker. I chose these because they look thick, warm and are nice colours too.

• Lower body.

Before I took up the idea of snowboarding, I had always loved how baggy and comfortable the pants look. I’ve always wanted a pair of flare jeans since I was a teenager and I never got to own a pair, so I may as well own a pair of snow pants. For some reason the colour red just attracts me the most and these are just perfect for me. You need comfortable pants so that you can move about easily, as well as be warm at the same time. I like the bright colours that you can get pants in, means you won’t ever get lost when you fall in the snow. As I mentioned on jackets, I’m not 100% sure about how waterproofing and breath-ability works with both the jacket and pants yet so that hasn’t really affected my choice at the moment.

“When you first start learning to snowboard you’re going to fall on your bum, a lot! So you’ll need some protection (impact shorts) for it, otherwise you’re going to leave the classes with a really sore bum.” Honest to God, this is what my boyfriend said to me when we first started looking for snowboarding gear for me. So yes, newbie or not you need some protection and it seems bum protection is where it’s at. At least with two layers, my bum won’t be cold. 😛

• Feet.

Due to the pressure that snow boots can cause on your feet, you need some good snowboarding socks to ensure that whilst you’re riding you have comfort. Plus they’re probably extra thick so that your feet stay nice and toasty whilst riding around. I decided to pick some purple ones, as they go with the colour of the boots and the goggles.

Of course you need a good pair of snow boots and when I saw these ones I thought how gorgeous they looked. They look colourful, thick, warm and like they would do the job for me when riding and walking around in the snow. From their description they seem ideal as a starter boot and at a decent price too, can’t go wrong. A plus is that the colour purple matches my goggles and socks, whilst the white matches with my helmet and gloves. Woop!

• Equipment.

To ride a snowboard you need bindings to keep you feet attached to, it isn’t like a skateboard where you just jump on in your best Vans trainers and that’s it. I decided to find a blue pair of bindings to go with the board that I like the look of. They’re really quite expensive but I hear the more you pay, the longer they’ll last.

Finally we have the most important thing you will need, your snowboard. Whether you buy one or hire one for the day, you can’t go anywhere without one (well you could try… I guess) so it’s best to try and get a good one if you intend to buy one. I don’t know when I’ll buy one, due to the money but when I do I know I’d like to get a high quality one, for a decent price and of course have a cute image on it as well. My boyfriend told me ages ago that the DC BIDDY was a great one to go for as a newbie to snowboarding so I took a look at this blue dolphin design. You can also get it in a purple eagle design (which I love the colours for) which is the one my boyfriend said would be ideal for me. I could see me buying this snowboard in future as it seems like the perfect first board to get and it’s a great price too for a high labeled board too and I really like DC.

So that’s my snowboarding wish list! I know it’s not usually the kind of thing I post about, but it made a change, didn’t it?

Providing I go for my snowboarding in a day class in October, you’ll see a huge post about it all and I reckon it would be image heavy too.

I’m so excited to start snowboarding in the next month!

Have you ever been snowboarding? If so let me know in the comments!

Until next time, take care all!

P.S. With some of the gear mentioned on this post, I haven’t been able to go into detail as to why you need to wear them for snowboarding in and such because I don’t know the exact details of all this, but in time I will do. However if you have any questions, please feel free to ask, as I’ll have my boyfriend on tap to help me answer these. 😉