January, 2017 (Kilternan, Ireland)

Before we attempt to snowboard Zermatt, as this is a cream-of-the-crop skiing mountain, we practiced at Ski Club of Ireland for a few times. And because this is Grant’s first time snowboarding, he enrolled in four classes. These went over everything from falling, to stopping, being on your heel edge vs. your toe edge, and changing directions; everything you need to know as a beginner snowboarder.

Now some people reading this may think, ‘Wait a minute! There are no ski slopes in Ireland!’. If this was your first reaction, then you would be right. What Ireland has is a ski slope that people can practice on that contains no snow. It’s made of a brush bristle technology that simulates being on snow – imagine for a moment that you went to all the Costcos in your state, bought all the boar-bristle brushes you could find, including the ones in the warehouse. You then lay them out side-by-side on the slope of a hill and take your ski’s (or snowboard) and slide down. This is what it feels like! I wouldn’t have believed it myself, until we went out and tried it in person.

And while we were there for the winter, the weather was cold enough to give us the fantasy of being out on alpine slopes. It got so cold on our first night (we did night skiing as that’s when the classes were available) that frost gathered on the ski run and we actually had ice collect on our snowboards, giving us the best experience of being in snow that we could hope for.

Here’s a video to give you an idea, we hope you enjoy it:

As a person who has snowboarded on real mountain slopes, I felt Ski Club of Ireland was a great place to practice but didn’t come near the fun of actual snow. But it’s better than no ski slope at all. And if you are trying to improve yourself, or learn how to actually use a button lift before your vacation to the alps, then this is a good place to do it… the brush bristles on the medium and advanced slopes are laid out in a metal-grid pattern and it hurts to fall. I did get a few large bruises and quickly learned that falling is NOT an option for me. Because snowboarders, unlike skiers, can’t help but fall, I found that I was more cautious than I would have been on a slope covered with snow.

Grant had a different instructor for each class and he liked all of them. He found the classes to be very helpful. Unlike the other slopes, the beginner slope where the classes are held was well-padded underneath, more like astro-turf with no metal, so falling was allowed.

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