NYCboarder

im a beginner snowboarder 1st year about 5 days. i can get down the greens without falling i can carve, and i can even make it down the blues falling once or twice... but i have 2 problems.
first off i ride regular 15 degree front 0 degree back..
problems:
1) when i ride the greens i can carve fine and cruise down, but on the blues when i try to carve i notice i bring my heel side around and basicly come to a crawl. is this because i am not confident or ready for the steep slopes or am i just judging the amount of pressure i should put into my carve?

2) when i ride the front end of my board always tends to point left. it is never really straight unless i make a conscious effort to make it straight... is this due to body mechanics or is this normal?

Thanks for your help

Snowolf

At this stage of boarding, you are not actually carving, You are making skidded turns; carving is a more advanced turn method and reuires speed and practice. As for your turning and skidding to a "crawl" on blues, this is mainly due to not being confident yet with speed and pitch. So that is pretty normal. If it is an overturning issue and happens on mild pitches as well, you may need to review your riding technique.

There are 3 and only 3 fundamental movements that cause your board to turn:

Pivot: by rotating your head, shoulders and upper body, this causes rotational force upon the lower body and pivots your board around its center flat based.

Tilt: by lifting the board up on it`s edge either heel or toe, you allow the sidecut to turn the board (this is the key to actual carving BTW)

Twist: by twisting the board with your feet, you will cause the edge near the nose of the board to engage and initiate a turn. If you press down with the toe of the front foot, it`s the toe edge that engages.

As you become proficient at riding, youw will employ all three fundamental movements to initiate, hold and complete a turn. If you rely on one or overdue any of them your turn will not be smooth.

First, as you prepare to turn, employ a small amount of pivot by looking where you want to end up and rotating your shoulder in the direction of the turn just to the point that your front shoulder is over the edge of the board on the side you are turning to.

Next, with your front foot, pressure the edge of the board your trying to turn to and hold that pressure to get the turn going.

Finaly, once the turn is established, follow through with the rear foot to tilt the board onto it`s edge to allow the sidecut to hold and complete your turn. When you have the board tlited and the tail follows in the exact same path as the nose,leaving a thin line in the snow, you are actually carving at this point.


As for the veering left thing....need to know if your a goofy or regular or just specify if you veer toesdie or heelside...a lot of the time this is due to rotation of your upper body. In some situations counter rotation is used to actually keep the board going straight when riding at very low edge angles in the flats.

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NYCboarder

ok thanx... i know how to turn.. its a problem with carving quick toe and heel.. i feel i put to much pressure which brings my board around to much.. i am a regualr foot rider.. the front end points slightly left.. but i do no go left unless i put weight on my left (lead foot) heel

Snowolf

Next time you ride, check to see if your are counter rotated so that you have your upper body facing the directoin you are going. This will tend to cause this slightly left angle when riding. As for the other, you may be leaning your entire upper body into the turn too much, Try using your ankles more to tilt and twist the board, keeping your upper body over your board at all times. This will allow you to steer your board with a little more finesse. It is really hard to diagnose precisely without watching you ride and doing some movement analisys.

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NYCboarder

ok cool.. ill give that a shot next week and let you know how it goes.. thanks for your help