The Complete Guide For Snowboarding At Night

While the concept of snowboarding at night might have previously been a completely foreign idea to most people, recent years have seen an ever-increasing number of resorts begin to offer this service to their clientele, bringing in extra business while offering a unique guest experience.

Snowboarding at night, while recommended for more experienced snowboarders, offers numerous benefits and exciting opportunities that are somewhat different from snowboarding during the day. Cheaper ski tickets, shorter queues, and spectacular stargazing are some of the potential benefits.

Whether snowboarding at night appeals to you because of the lower price or the opportunity to make use of extended hours on the slopes, it's important that you understand what is involved with nighttime snowboarding and how it differs from the daytime version of the activity.

Why Nighttime Snowboarding?

The opportunity to go snowboarding at night is a relatively recent offering in ski resorts, but since its inception, the concept has become widespread across Europe and the United States.

By installing sufficient lighting along ski slopes – often only on certain slopes designated specifically for nighttime snowboarding and skiing – ski resorts are able to extend the number of hours during which patrons can enjoy the slopes, allowing them to ski and snowboard from the period after sunset until as late as midnight (at some resorts).

Besides allowing additional hours for those who may not have the time to snowboard during the day or may want to enjoy other daytime activities at the resort, nighttime snowboarding offers an entirely unique experience that differs significantly from skiing during the day.

Generally, resorts do not open up all of the runs at night, restricting the number of potential routes to take.

However, there are far fewer people who opt to go snowboarding at night, meaning that despite the reduced number of runs, there is usually an enormous amount of space on the runs as well as far shorter queues.

Advantages Of Snowboarding At Night

One of the biggest advantages of snowboarding at night is a cheaper ticket price, with resorts offering between 30% and 70% discounts off their usual daytime skiing rates. Because fewer people are keen on the idea of snowboarding at night, the slopes are usually far emptier than during the daytime. As a result, nighttime snowboarders have the opportunity to enjoy shorter queues as well as the freedom to make full use of the slopes without being restricted by an overabundance of fellow skiers.

Due to the icy conditions that occur at night as a result of the snow melting and refreezing, there is the potential to snowboard at a faster speed.

This is made even better by the fact that the mountains are mostly empty of other skiers and snowboarders, so you are able to snowboard faster without having to worry too much about slowing down for other patrons on the slopes. The increased space decreases your chances of collision.

Disadvantages Of Snowboarding At Night

One of the biggest disadvantages of snowboarding at night is the extremely cold temperatures that tend to continue dropping until sunrise. The snow is often tracked out at night, creating a further disadvantage for potential snowboarders.

Low visibility levels are another factor to consider when snowboarding at night, as the only light to guide you is usually the electric lights that follow the trail’s path. As a result, it can become difficult to see bumps and troughs at night, creating a potential risk for injury.

Nighttime Snowboarding Techniques

Because the temperature at night is colder than during the day, and the snow has often frozen again after starting to melt slightly, the slopes are naturally prone to becoming icier. Because of this, there is less friction, and so it can be more difficult to control your speed on the slopes or to stop when needed.

As a result, you will need to slide through the turns while ensuring a larger turn radius. Adopting a lower stance will allow for more stability when moving over the ice or hardpacked snow.

Clothing For Snowboarding At Night

When it comes to clothing for nighttime snowboarding, layers are extremely important. You should have a minimum of three layers, with the first being a thermal base layer, the second being a thicker fleece-type middle layer, and lastly, a well-insulated ski jacket.

A neck warmer, as well as a balaclava or mask, are some other items that will help you to remain warm while snowboarding at night. In order to keep your hands warm, don't clench your hands too hard, and ensure that you wear gloves of extremely high quality. Hand warmers help here too.

Ensure your feet remain warm by not restricting blood flow. This can be achieved by not over-tightening your boots (which restricts blood flow) and wearing thin socks.

While goggles remain important when snowboarding at night to ensure protection from wind and snow, it's important to ensure that they are as clear as possible and that they have a filter to block out the glare of the floodlights on the snow at night.

Other Precautions

If you ensure that you stay warm and remain only on well-lit slopes, snowboarding at night will not necessarily be any more dangerous than snowboarding during the day.  However, it’s best not to attempt snowboarding at night unless you have a fair amount of experience snowboarding during the day.

It’s important that you keep a sufficient distance from other snowboarders on the slopes in order to prevent collision and that you always snowboard with another person to ensure that there is somebody to assist you if something does go awry.

Because temperatures are colder at night, eat a hot meal beforehand and pack a hot drink into a thermal flask. Best to go out with completely warmed up.

Summary

If you are somebody with a keen sense of adventure and a fair amount of experience in snowboarding, attempting a nighttime snowboarding expedition is definitely something to add to your bucket list.

Not only will you enjoy a much lower price for your nighttime lift ticket, but you will have the benefit of free reign of the slopes due to the lower numbers of snowboarding and skiing patrons.

By snowboarding at night, you can also move faster down the slopes thanks to the icy conditions, and you will have the added benefit of numerous extra hours of snowboarding pleasure under the stars.