jdr

Anybody have any tips for hard braking at high speed? I was going down a blue/black mountain fairly straight and I had to brake hard... so I turned by board almost perpendicular to the run and drove my edge into the snow, but I must have continued for another 50 yards or something... and as I was finally slowing down, I ended up crashing when I hit a small bump that launched me and my still perpendicular board up into the air... it's hard to land when your board is sideways...

I guess it concerns me because i feel like I have to mitigate my speed just to ensure I can stop in a reasonable distance.. I'm thinking that instead of trying to stop before hitting something, maybe just trying to go around it??? I saw someone who did what looked like a 360 spin that seemed to slow him down faster??

Any tips would be appreciated, thanks...

carne_asada

Most of the time when bomb down the last part of the mountain, I'm able to stop at a fairly short distance by digging the edge of my back heel (reg foot) perpenticularly into the mountain. The higher the board angle the faster I'll come to a stop.

Mr. Right

All I can say is to continue to practice. If you are going fast enough its just a fact of life you aren't going to stop that easily or quickly which is why you need to also practice your evasive moves for the beginner/intermediate skier that still somewhat takes up an entire run alone. Put 20 skiers like that on one run and you have yourself a sobriety/obstacle course. I get out of sticky situations more often by doing the brake check/speed around manuever than just stopping. Until you are quite sure of yourself in that aspect, I'd avoid going to fast on crowded main runs etc. just because collisions are never pretty.

As far as bumps while sliding sideways, you will need to see them coming and make sure you don't end up leaning back in the air and finishing your brake check on your ass.

mister_tu

As carne said, try to raise the heel-side of the board higher. Normally, this will result in landing on your arse but eventually you will get a feel for the board and understand how it reacts to certain speeds.

Snowolf

Your technique is fine in that you are doing the maneuver properly. When you get the board across the fall line and at a high edge angle, extend your legs to "push" the board away from you you. At full, extension, you can then fully flex and do it again like "pumping" the brakes.
Speed and pitch is always going to be a factor and the more of each you have, the longer your stopping distance will be. As you get better at riding, you will devolope a feel for judging stopping distance. Be a little conservative and allow yourself a little extra room. Also, sometimes, it will be better to steer away from a hazard rather than trying to stop. Again, experience in situations will improve your ability to judge and take evasive action.

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lisevolution

also sometimes you can do a sort of double stop... where you stop first on the heel side and then swing it around again to the toe side to finalize the stop. The first one scrubs off a bunch of speed and the second will stop you... picture ski racers finishing at the bottom of the run to get an idea of what i'm talking about

carne_asada

+1 That also comes in handy if you are trying to get through the flourescent mesh gates that are usually offset. For me, I really don't feel like making one complete stop then trying to muster enough speed to zig zag through those darm gates so a double stop is the way to go!

headinahole

Just thought I'd throw this in... I was having a real hard time stopping too... what I found out is if I was hauling ass it was easier if I turned toe-side (into the mountain) and slowed down a little bit that way... then kicked it back straight...then heel-side to finish slowing down.... Like stated above you'll avoid falling down a lot more if you just speed check and swerve around.... instead of locking up the brakes and going back on your head...

Edit: Just thought I'd state that I ride goofy...

Mike

carne_asada

Even if you are bombing down the mountain boardcross status, jumping on either edge doesn't really take much to slow you down so either way works.

I ride reg footed and even just by grinding on the heel seems to scrape off a lot of speed.

Keep your center of gravity lower and your knees bent but relaxed and that should help absorb up any bumps to prevent you from landing on your ass.

headinahole

I agree... it will slow you down about the same either way... it was just easier for me to control the speed toe-side the first couple days...


Mike