iceisus

Hi all,

I am looking for some tips on doing a better job carving on steeps. I am a long time skier and new to boarding. I started the usual way at the beginning of last season. Lesson, simple hills, falling leaf, connecting turns, and doing this switch, etc. I now feel I can do the basics on most of the mountain. The problem is when on steeps, and I need to control speed, I carve a turn and the back of the board "skids" on the edges. I would describe it as "chatter". I do have a new board this year that is a little stiffer - Atomic Rapture

Any suggestions?

Snowolf

Usually this occurrs when the rider is trying to tighten the radius of the turn beyond what the edge can hold. Its like the ass end of a car skidding from turning too tight at too high of a speed. In a true carved turn, the tail will follow in the same groove cut by the tip. It is hard to carve on ice or hardpack and you have to finesse your technique a lot.

As you are carving your way through a turn and you feel the tail end of the board start to loose traction and skid, the only way to save it is to reduce the edge angle and shallow out your turn radius. You can then try to retighten it after you regain control.

__________________

kri$han

^ totally agree.

During a true carved turn, you'll actually pick up speed, rather than scrub it off, and personally I'd need a lot of room, and some thick pow before I can carve an entire trail down a slope. I find that while carving I get up to speed very quickly, and at that point it gets hard to dodge people, and if ice gets in your path, or unexpected moguls, u're effed.

__________________
Official 'Eh' Team representative

Kris
Toronto Prelude Club

Snowolf

An additional thought on this.....

When it is very steep and picking up speed is a problem and something that can become dangerous, a technique I use to get down the chute or steep is stay basically in a traverse and at the end of the traverse, I carve up the hill to make the board almost stall out. I then do a very quick pivot turn that is like popping a 180 by up unweighting the board and spinning 180 to land on the new edge which I then angle down the slope at a rate that allows me to regulate my speed. So what I am doing is zig zagging my way down with a lot of turns (not falling leaf, that is staying on the same edge).

__________________

lisevolution

/\/\/\/\/\ I do the same thing when I'm in a situation that's a little bit too gnarly for me at that moment. Ride an edge as sideways as possible and then jump or power the tail around to the other side in a similar angle until you're comfortable enough to just get at it the normal way.

I very rarely get to actually carve here on the east coast due to it mostly being hardpack and icy conditions but when the chance is there it's so much nicer than having to slide turn everything!

mpdsnowman

If u can carve on the east coast u can carve anywhere in the world.

__________________


M P D S N O W M A N

xevi89

Not quite sure what you mean here, could you try explaining a little better? It sounds interesting.

mpdsnowman

In other words. Lets say he goes across a steep hill on his back edge. He rides that edge totally across the hill and when he is all the way across he will slow the board by slightly turning up just before he swings his ass around to his front edge to head back the other way.

The difference is the falling leaf is on one edge

__________________


M P D S N O W M A N

Loricybin

what a trippy idea.
i can visualize that, i'm going to try it next time.

xevi89

Ah I think I get it. Yea, I think that should really slow you down.