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Riding pow-front vs. back leg

10K views 43 replies 17 participants last post by  boarderinblack 
#1 ·
All my life I've been taught to use my front leg to turn, even in the deep stuff. So why do pro riders always seem to use their back leg to turn in pow? Am I doing something wrong? Hopefully someone can clear this up for me.
 
#2 ·
There are back leg riders, old school skateboarders like me who use more back leg. I can slash with the greats.

In deep pow, i actually need to use less rear leg, personally.

With a tapered and rockered board, I can basically relax and point it, under 3 feet of normal pow. any more than that, yeah, my back leg burns hard. ( get it, "burns hard")
 
#6 ·
For me it depends on the consistency and depth of the powder. If it's really deep, I ride in the back seat and sort of ride it like a surfboard, making initiations from putting pressure on my back foot. In less then a foot of powd or windblown, I ride it much more like you would a groomer, initiating turns with my front and generally leaning forward in an aggressive style. If you try to lean forward in deep powder, you start sinking and lose speed unless you find yourself on a very steep incline. Speed is almost everything in deep pow, you want to generally keep your speed as high as possible.
 
#10 ·
A designed big pow stick will allow you to be more centered and be on the nose more. My old option northshore...cambered shovel nose pintail (old school pow board), I was in the backseat and it was more difficult to get on the nose to try to get up some speed without subbing. Verse my charlie slasher, i ride pretty much centered (it planes much easier) and can get on the nose abit more for turn initiation and to accelerate with out the tendency to sub and having to pay close attention to fore/aft position.
 
#12 ·
So why do pro riders always seem to use their back leg to turn in pow? Am I doing something wrong? Hopefully someone can clear this up for me.
Pro are often riding pretty steep stuff, so its not so much about maintaining speed to turn, but maintaining control, having a steezy flow and getting the footy...on steeps the last thing you want to do is stand on your nose with the resulting sub and tomahawk.
 
#20 ·
While the logic of this seems sound, in the PNW I have found that there is such a thing as "too much powder" or perhaps a better way to put it is "more than ideal". Our powder is much heavier and wetter than your Wasatch powder and is a lot more difficult to ride in and you become more limited as to terrain. I have literally been too stuck to move on a 45 degree pitch up here when it is super sticky and skinning in it when it gets like this just flat sucks. Up here, a foot to 15 inches is actually ideal; anything over that in one dose gets to be a pain in the ass. Newbies cant handle it all up here when it gets like this. I have been in your type of dry continental snow chest deep and can still maintain speed on relatively gentle slopes. If someone can ride off piste in the PNW, they can ride anywhere.
I always thought if someone could ride the ice on the EC they could ride anywhere? lol
 
#21 ·
Up here, a foot to 15 inches is actually ideal; anything over that in one dose gets to be a pain in the ass. Newbies cant handle it all up here when it gets like this. I have been in your type of dry continental snow chest deep and can still maintain speed on relatively gentle slopes. If someone can ride off piste in the PNW, they can ride anywhere.
im going to say that anything over a foot to 15" anywhere newbies cant handle. one fall and getting buried and a rider unfamiliar with deep off piste pow could lose their shit and freak out trying to escape, not to mention being unsure how to get going again or find their way out. the only down side to having a shit ton of pow (2ft range) is that you are limited to what you can ride due to how steep of a slope you have to be on to make it down.
 
#22 ·
Don't wish to HiJack the thread, but I feel the need to ask a "NooB" question,..

Originally posted by Snowolf;
use the rear foot to actually control edge pressure and tilt for a more surfboard like feel and to prevent the powder tomahawk.

I think I might just have a picture in my head of exactly what the "Powder Tomahawk" probably is, but just so I can be certain,..

WTF exactly Is a Powder Tomahawk?? I'm imagining the nose of the board Augering down Hard @ speed into the deep stuff and that, that serves as the starting point for this particular process?
 
#23 ·
Think of it like this... Ever seen someone or gone over the bars yourself on a bicycle? The bicycle stops but your momentum doesn't. The Tomahawk involves going fast, having your nose nosedive into powder which stops your momentum, making you basically do a front flip onto your ass. Sometimes these can be saved and you will actually land back on your board and ride it out. Other times you will fly through the air like a ragdoll :laugh:
 
#25 ·
Powder riding on steeps keeps being pain in my ass too. I’m not an experienced rider, may be 40 days in total. I have 158 hybrid camrock board and i weigh 138 lb only.

My problem is about turns on steep slopes taking so long time because shifting my center of gravity to the back limits my back leg’s ability in turns. Delay in my turns causes excessive speed and sometimes losing my control on steeps. I would be glad, if someone may explain how to make agressive turns on steep slopes while riding on powder.

I still try to figure out the role of front leg in turn initiation on powder. Should i use my front leg first to iniate to turn by using the torsional force like in groomed runs or keep steady while backfoot initiating turn by using edges like in kitesurfing or wakeboarding?

Is popping essential for quick turns? If yes, how should i do it to make aggresive and quick turns?

I would be glad, if you have a look into my riding style and feel free to make comment or advice about my technique(I’m the one in black snowsuit). I still have some serious doubts about my technique. Thank you for your help...

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#36 ·
It’s really hard to explain the pleasure offered by riding a snowboard off-piste in soft fresh powder snow. Floating feeling brings full of freedom and happiness.

I’m not an extreme snowboarder but dont deny riding steep slopes and deep powder making me feel better.

I try not to tilt my board too much from one edge to the other in turns before speeding up. In steep slopes, this technique does not help me much. I definitely need to make quick and short turns.

I think jump turns are essential to save time and take control of the board. I keep practising to jump with my board, pivot in the air and land on the opposite edge. I still need to have time and knowledge to figure out hopping part imo because my landdings are not generally straight across the fall line when i hop to turn and most of them result in tomahawk. I would like to hear your opinions about jump turns...
 
#42 ·
A swallow tail changes the whole dynamic of the board, it does more than just help the nose float and one of the things I found is it allows you to turn much easier on steeper slopes in deep powder. It makes a slope ridable that you wouldnt be able to ride on a normal board, if thats being soft so be it, to me being soft is not trying new things to see if you like them or not.
A swallow tail one of those things you just cant get your head around until you ride one in deep pow.
 
#43 ·
I guess I see people riding true twins in some insane shit so I figure, who needs a dedicated pow board really? I know it's different strokes for different folks so don't get me wrong. I think it's a different way of riding that is def just as legit.

Thread is about front leg vs back, so sorry bout the hijack. My comment on that? Whatever is appropriate and works. If you got submarine tip action going on you best be leaning back :laugh:
 
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