deftective

I'm a beginner. I'm just learning to link my toe- and heel-side turns. I can reliably J-turn heelside. I can usually J-turn on toeside, though I sometimes have trouble keeping my weight on my downhill foot, and end up sliding down the mountain, or pivoting and sliding onto my face at high speed.

Here's my question: I see a lot of more comfortable riders doing quick transitions between toe- and heel-edge, while pointing the board almost straight downhill. How do they do this?

One of my problems is that on heel edge, I don't stay pointing downhill; instead I turn uphill, smoothly, right away. How do you stay on an edge and still point the board downhill? The only way I can keep my board pointing downhill is by straightening my front leg, but then I worry my weight's too far uphill.

Also, is it true that you're supposed to lead with shoulder, not with hips? If that's the case, how do people eventually transition to carving down steeps with their shoulders square downhill?

PaoloSmythe

commitment born from confidence acquired thru practice

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mister_tu

There is a good write up at the top of the forum on how to do turns.

Or...you can kill Paolo and absorb his skill.

PaoloSmythe

you needn't kill me, just eat my brain! but i hear it tastes a bit bitter.....

peaks and troughs!

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Just coz you don't understand it
Doesn't mean it makes no sense!

Snowolf

Rumor has it rubbing his belly will impart wisdom upon you....



To answer your questions though, This is a technique that comes after more experience. Right now you are traversing the run a lot to make complete turns. Part of this is speed management and that is is a good thing at your stage. As you become more experienced, you will become more comfortable and confident at making quicker turns.

What is happening when a rider is riding like this is they are using tilt to make their turns. Basically there are three movements that cause your board to turn; pivot, twist and tilt. To make those big symetrical turns, you employ all three at the same time. You rotate your upper body and place your shoulder over the edge you are turning to and this helps pivot the board. You twist the board by by pushing donw on either heel or toe of the front foot and you use tilt by flexing ankles, kness and hip to bring the board up on edge to use the sidecut to turn.

By riding with the board pointed straight down the run, you can simply rock your upper body back and forth over the heel and toe edge of the board using both feet and knees to tilt the board on edge. The sidecut then turns the board. Befor the board gets say about 15 degrees off course, the rider will rock back onto the opposite edge and tilt the board so it turns back. To bleed off even more speed, the ride will often skid the tail to the outside of the turn at each cycle by pushing or pulling with the rear leg.

A great excercise to really get a feel for these thre movements is to pick very gentle terrain and do each movement. Rotate your upper body while gliding and note how the board reacts. Next, simply twist the board by pushing down with the toes and heels of the front foot while maintaining a flat rear foot. Next simply shift your upper body over your toe edge and let the board drift, then shift it over your heel edge. From this you will be able to better employ body movements into your riding.

Right now, you are turning your board by using pivot, twist then tilt and holding too long. That is why you steer across the hill. To stay pointed down the hill, eliminate pivot and twist. Keep shoulder aligned with the board and gently shift your entire weight from edge to edge allowing your ankles to flex so the board tilts. Do this very gently so you do not over steer.

When people say to lead with the shoulder, keep in mind it is within reason. You should not be rotating your shoulders past the edge of your board. It is just a very subtle movement. Use the hips to follw through which pivots the board. For true carving you use very little pivot and you initiate the turn with twist and then employ tilt to ride on a high edge angle.

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Mr. Right

Not to mention that when you bite the dust a couple times really hard you won't allow it to happen very often anymore.

junglecat1971

In the long run, you need many types of turns/edge to edge transitions in your repertoire. Sometimes you may want to do smooth wide turns. You may want to do narrow stretched out turns in which you hold one edge for a long time (this results in nice speed). Or you may want to do quick edge to edge transitions like you described seeing. All of these types of turns are good to practice because sometimes the terrain will demand it; it'll come in handy to have a natural feel of what type of turn to use where.

mister_tu

I agree with Junglecat, try and familiarize yourself with actually making the turns. Link some wide turns so you can actually think about what you're doing. Once you start linking them comfortably on wider turns, than you should start thinking about quick transitions.