Hannah Teter's Tips for Buying Snowboard Gear

 Hannah Teter is the Miley Cyrus of snowboarding. She's blonde, good looking, exuberant and fun to watch. She's the biggest star in her sport. No other woman snowboarder gets as high out of the pipe or manages so many hits on a run. In her first Olympics, the 2006 Torino Games, she won the gold medal in halfpipe.

She's also the first athlete in any sport to have a Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor named after her. "Hannah Teter's Maple Blondie" comes out this month. It's a maple syrup-flavored ice cream filled with with brownie pieces, swirled with maple-flavored caramel.

But for all her fame, Hannah, now 22, still remembers what it was like trying to learn to ride, and figuring out which board would bring out her best riding. She started snowboarding when she was eight, pushing herself to keep up with her four brothers. Here are Hannah's exclusive tips for buying gear and being a better rider.

"We all started out with Burton boards, the Custom for the boys and a Feelgood model for me. You won't grow out of those. I still ride both those boards, and they're good for beginners too," Hannah says.

When buying snowboard gear, Hannah says, "Go for medium stiffness in both boots and boards. Some stiffness is good for being a little forgiving but still pushing yourself. Look for boots that are comfortable to walk around in and make your feet feel nice. Good boots will feel comfortable and bouncy if they're made right, not too stiff or too mushy."

As for becoming a better snowboarder, here are some tips, direct from one of the best riders in the world:

1. Have fun.
2. Look where you want to go.
3. Bend your knees - gorilla stance, baby!
4. Keep edge control, meaning practice not letting your edges slip out.
5. Before trying jumps, practice ollying over the back sides of the jumps, where the landing starts, first. (An 'ollie' is using the back end of the snowboard as a kind of spring to bounce your board into the air.)