Winter Wonders: Snowboarding

Everyone's riding the wave

By Pete Colaizzo
Poughkeepsie Journal

Dude. No way you can hit that 360. Dude. You're too afraid. Dude. You'll never do it. Dude. We dare you.

The double-flip, 360-degree jump beckoned. It's a move Jerrick had not attempted in years. Would he do it? Would he confront his fear of injury? Would he succumb to the peer pressure of his younger pupils?

You bet.

The 20-year-old Wappingers Falls resident went airborne, flipped his body head over heels while the bindings kept him attached to his Burton snowboard, and landed safely back on the snow.

''I was always afraid to try it,'' he said. ''I just decided to try it and I just did it. But I couldn't do it the rest of the day after that.''

Still, that one successful jump made a lasting impression on Jerrick's students -- and on Jerrick himself. It was maybe 15 seconds out of an entire day spent snowboarding and teaching the intricacies of the sport. But that little snippet of time when time stood still remains with Jerrick.

''The first time I was able to hit a 360 jump and land it ... I was ecstatic,'' he said. ''It's the rush, the adrenaline rush, the excitement to be able to do these things.''

Welcome to the high-flying world of snowboarding, where the participants are usually young, thrill-seeking Gen-Xers on a mission to defy gravity. How much of a draw is snowboarding to its loyal followers? Most will think nothing of darting across the country in search of a heavenly halfpipe.

Such is the world of John ''Brown'' Carneglia of Tannersville (Greene County). Carneglia admits his life revolves around snowboarding. During a typical season -- which he stretches into the summer by going out West -- Carneglia estimates he will ride his snowboard about 180 times.

Carneglia snowboards for the pure thrill of the action. In his 15-plus years in the sport, he has never entered a competition.

''I really like the adrenaline, I guess,'' Carneglia said. ''I like the speed. I like to be on the snow.''

Karl Rabe/Poughkeepsie Journal Michael Poli of Tannersville (Greene County) jumps with a snowboard at Hunter Mountain.

When the snow melts and the snowboard parks close in the Catskills and the East, Carneglia packs his boards and goes to Utah, Colorado and California. By doing this, he can extend his riding season into the summer months.

Carneglia's not alone. City of Poughkeepsie resident Pat Kelly just returned Monday from a weekend of snowboarding at Breckenridge and Vail in Colorado. A 2002 Marist College graduate, Kelly reunited with college friends for a weekend of riding.

Doug Brush of Poughkeepsie returned recently from a snowboarding excursion in the Canadian Rockies. And next week, he's off to British Columbia for more snowboard excitement.

''It's a lifelong passion,'' said Brush, 27. ''I was a skier for 14 years, but once I tried snowboarding, I never really looked back.''

Kelly bought his first snowboard at age 10, but his parents wouldn't let him ride because they deemed it too dangerous. By the time he was 12, most of his friends were snowboarding and his parents finally relented and allowed him to do it.

Ten years later, Kelly is still flipping, sliding -- and, yes, sometimes falling -- his way down mountains.

''It's not as easy as skiing right from the very start,'' he said. ''With skiing, you have two things (skis) under your feet. With snowboarding, you have to find your center of balance.''

Kelly explained that with snowboarding, though, you get ''so good so fast,'' where with skiing, the same amount of progress takes years.

Georgia LoPresti, a certified snowboard instructor at Belleayre Mountain in Highmount (Ulster County), agrees. ''The learning curve with snowboarding is it's much harder to learn initially,'' the 22-year-old Kingston resident said. ''But it's much quicker to progress with it than with skiing.''

As with other winter snow sports, the best way to begin in snowboarding is to rent equipment before buying. Unlike snowshoes or even skis, there is a dizzying array of snowboard types from which to choose. Before knowing what to buy, a newcomer to the sport needs to know what type of riding they will attempt.

Snowboarding can be divided into three general categories.

-- Free riding involves cruising down a mountain on a snowboard. This type of snowboarding closely resembles skiing.

-- Freestyle snowboarding is trick-oriented. It involves jumps, obstacles, halfpipes and rails. This type of bone jarring fun is what usually draws the young crowd to the sport.

-- Back-country riding is considered the most extreme version of snowboarding. It involves greater risk than either of the other two types of boarding.

Getting started in the sport is as easy as going to a retail store that rents snowboards. Mike Henry, the manager of Hunter Mountain Outfitters, said the popularity of the sport transcends age. ''Everybody's doing it now,'' Henry said.

Doing it right, though, may take some guidance.

''I would say take lessons,'' Jerrick said. ''I never took lessons and it's one thing I regret. A lot of people go and try to wing it, but you'll never know the basics.''

Snowboarding comes with its inherent risks. With the thrills come the spills. Carneglia casually rattles off his snowboarding scars.

''Let's see ... both my ankles have been broken or sprained, I'd had ACL tears, dislocated shoulders,'' he said.

Kelly suffered two herniated disks in his back after a flip off a cliff.

But it is this inherent danger that seems to attract new young adults to the sport. ''Anybody starting out now,'' Kelly said, ''most likely wants to snowboard as opposed to skiing. We watch the X-Games or the Olympics and we see all these snowboarders.''

Snowboarding, though, has become prevalent at ski resorts. While it's the young adults that grab all the headlines and photo shoots, a quick glance at a snowboard park reveals there's some gray hair out there as well.

''There's a good mix coming into the sport right now,'' Brush said.

Added Henry: ''I've been seeing a lot of 30 and older people riding. I know a guy right around 60. He took off and I couldn't catch him. There's more people crossing over from skiing, I think.''

Belleayre's LoPresti said that although snowboarding has that young, Gen-X appeal, folks of all ages are flocking to the sport. She said the skiing-to-snowboarding ratio at Belleayre is about 50-50.

And, it's all ages wanting to learn. ''I actually teach more adults now,'' she said. ''Everyone wants to keep up with their own kids.''