chaje10

Hi All,
I am a newbie in snowboarding. I have a question with the technique on toeside and heelside turning. I am of sure of position 3 to position 5 for toeside and heelside turning. My main question is should my hip and butt be backward for either toeside and heelside turning. I think my body should be straighten with the middle of the board and turning should be done below my body. Thanks.

Toeside
1) Left toe pressure
2) Right toe pressure
3) both knees bent slight forward - ?
4) butt backward - ? (sit down position)
5) hip backward - ? should hip (below stomach area be push forward?)

Heelside
1) Left heel pressure
2) Right heel pressure
3) Both knees straighten and lean slightly back - ?
4) butt forward - ?
5) hip forward - ?

crow79

Position 4 should be swapped between the two. You should have your knees bent regardless - you never really want a completely straight leg when turning, you'll hurt yourself if they lock up and you go cartwheeling over your board. Bent knees = shock absorbers on a car.

When you are carving heelside, you should be thinking about sitting in a chair and using your feet to push yourself on to the two rear legs of the chair. Almost like balancing on a bar stool, and pushing the arches of your feet on to the horizontal front bar of the stool to keep yourself balanced and from falling backwards. When I was new, I always found heelside carves to be more difficult. I would get my board too lateral and put too much pressure on my rear leg. I would keep skipping out and falling on my ass.

One day I just waited at the bottom of a run and watched GOOD snowboarders (not crap ones - there's LOTS of those) as they carved down the hill.

As for Toeside, butt forward is "sort of" the way you want to think about it... toeside carves are generally more forgiving, and everyone centres their weight a little differently depending on their style. There's a reason most people traverse on their toe side! The key I find is CENTREING your weight straight down, and then adujsting your lean either forward or back depending on conditions, and how much power you want slinging you through your turn.

These are advices for groomers and digging edge in for maximum acceleration. Deep Powder turns are significantly different..

crow79

One other thing I forgot.. Try using your lead hand to point where you want to go as you are exiting your turn. It puts your body into almost the perfect position every time, and all you really have to do is distribute your weight properly in order to dig that edge in.

chaje10

Thanks crow79.
Very much appreciate your help. I will remember to keep my butt backward (sit down position) when I am doing heelside. As for toe side, I will keep my butt forward. How about the hip? Hip should be backward for heelside and hip will be forward for toeside. (position 5). So butt and hip would have the same movement. Thanks again.

chaje10

So the correct technique should be below. I guess the hip and butt should be at the same position. Please verify. Thanks.

Correct Snowboard Technique
Toeside
1) Left toe pressure
2) Right toe pressure
3) both knees bent slight forward
4) butt forward
5) hip forward - (below stomach area be push forward?)
6) use lead hand to point direction (left hand)

Heelside
1) Left heel pressure
2) Right heel pressure
3) both knees bent slight forward
4) butt backward (sit down position)
5) hip backward
6) use lead hand to point direction (left hand)

grafta

These videos here > http://www.snowboardingforum.com/tip...ons-video.html really do explain all this stuff very well. Watch them!

I think you are talking about 'hump' and 'dump' technique. Sit back 'dump' when on heel edge, and 'hump' your hips forward when on toe side. But as I said, watch vids if you can. They explain much better than i ever could.