chaser

Let me first say thanks to Snowolf and others who helped me get started this year. Your advice on equipment and technique has been great. I've only been out three times now. I'm able to do big wide curves across the face of the mountain pretty well. The thing is, on busy days I feel like I'm constatnly in someones way as I zig zag across the entire face of the mountain. At times, I'd like to be able to kind of pick a line and just head down the mountain in somewhat of a straight line without speeding out of control. I see guys able to do this and it almost looks as if they are kicking out their back leg and digging in their edge alternating from hs to ts to control their speed. They go in pretty much a strait line, but at a reasonable speed. Does that make sense? Maybe my expecatations are too much seeing I've only been out a few times? Any pointers or ideas are appreciated though. Thanks.

Eric @ WA

Hey congrats on being able to do your wide curves. Don't worry, we've all been there as beginners and needed what seemed like the entire face of the mountain to be able to board. People should realize this as they've all been there as well. Honestly it doesn't bother me when I see a new boarder taking up the mountain as I just anticipate his/her direction of travel and make sure we don't cut each other off. Unfortunately there are those that believe they own the mountain and don't heed way for a beginner. At any rate, the straight line you're talking about are those boarders who are more advanced than you are at this point in time. It takes a bit to be able to board straight down the mountain while controlling your angle of heelside/toeside edge...and all this while controlling speed. My suggestion is to progress at a comfortable rate. If you try and advance yourself too fast, you'll miss the opportunity to learn proper riding techniques (and possibly develop bad habits). What I recommend is just practice narrowing the radius of your curves as you feel comfortable. Do this to a point of where you're able to effectively and efficiently board straight(er). You can imagine a line down the mountain and criss-cross it. In time start narrowing the intersection points up to the point where you're nearly going straight.

Every beginner wants to be up there with the good riders and a lot of mistakes I see are people who are trying to ride beyond their abilities to get there. If you exercise patience and really try to learn the basics and progress at a comfortable rate, you'll notice several things: 1) you'll be a more rounded boarder as you progress; 2) you'll balance our your skills for each type of riding technique (i.e. body mechanics, board/mountain feel, heelside turns, toeside turns etc), 3) you'll have a more enjoyable experience and 4) you'll reduce the chance of big injuries or accidents.

I'm sure others will chime in with additional advice. However keep at it and don't be self conscious about taking up the mountain. Most will acknowledge the fact as they have been there before. For the ones that don't...well shouldn't be on those runs or better yet...move up to the black diamonds where they're the newbies and can experience the apprehension you are.

Best of luck and enjoy the ride!

__________________
Eric @ Wicked Adrenaline, Inc
Wicked Adrenaline, Inc
http://www.wickedadrenaline.com

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/wickedstreetteam

...DEFINING THE ADRENALINE LIFESTYLE

chaser

Thanks for the words of encouragement and advice. I realize that like every sport, it's going to take time to progress and I just need to keep at it. I need to get more comfortable with speed and transitioning from one edge to the other in the corners. I seem to have the ts to hs turn down much better than my hs to ts. Wonder if that's typical? In the meantime, I'll continue to have fun while I'm learning, as that's what really matters at the end of the day!

Eric @ WA

You're more than welcome.

I remember way back when I was a beginner I had an easier time from ts to hs transitions too. Naturally it's easier to just lean back and squat which nearly puts you on your hs edge right away.

__________________
Eric @ Wicked Adrenaline, Inc
Wicked Adrenaline, Inc
http://www.wickedadrenaline.com

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/wickedstreetteam

...DEFINING THE ADRENALINE LIFESTYLE

Erod

when i was learning (at crowded resorts) it was tough to take big wide carves without getting in someones way, just like you're saying. what i learned to do was take a narrower path down the mountain, but when i'm carving bring my board more perpendicular to the mountain to shave speed at every edge change. you'll accelerate faster than you may be used to, but it worked for me and i eventually got more and more comfortable with speed and nowadays i bomb the runs i used to fear

Snowolf

Eric has said it pretty well; just be patient and ride. Be alert and ready to take evassive action if it looks like a collision is about to happen. Most riders and skiers are able to share the road just fine, but there are always those few ass hats out there you need to watch out for.

To get to where you want to be, start practicing a new technique to you in your riding on very easy terrain and at slower speed. On a run that you can point the board straight down the fall line, let your self get going, then start trying to tilt your board from edge to edge using both toes and both heels when doing so. Keep your ankles, knees and hips flexed and use the lower body to tit the board onto it`s toe edge to start a gentle toeside drift. Then, flatten the board back out, going ringt to tilting it up on it`s heelside edge. Use your upper body as a counterweight to control balance. The heelside is generally the one that takes a bit of pactice as people tend to lean their entire body back too far and fall. When doing this (and when learning to carve heelside) sit down, rather than lean. This wieghts the heel edge by placing your hips and lower body over the edge, yet keeps your upper body solidly over the top of your board. If you feel yourself falling backwards, bend at the waist and shift your upper body toward your toeside to compensate.

Try doing this rocking back and forth from heel to toe on flat ground while stationary to perfect the movements and begin to develope some muscle memory prior to doing it while moving. Once you can consistently do this on gentle terrain, start working on push the tail out in in front of you at the apex of the heelside drift and behind you at the apex of the toeside drift. All you are doing here, is forcing a small skid just before you go back to the other edge to bleed off speed. It looks a little like fish tailing.

Imagine yourself riding down a 2 lane highway with a centerline. Ride down the centerline and then tilt toeside to drift toward the edge of the imaginary road about 8 feet off the center line. As you get to that "edge of the road", push the tail of the board out behind you with the back foot momentarily then realse it to allow the board to straighten out. As soon as it is straight, transition to tilting it onto it`s heel edge with both feet and drift back over the "centerline" to the other "edge of the road" and as your reach it, push the tail out in front of you to skid it, then retract, allowing the board to straighten out and then tilt back to toeside.

Take it slow and keep practicing. What will happen is once you get it to happen for you, the light bulb will come on and you will have the feeling down and it becomes very easy to perfect and increase your speed and narrow the width of your corridor. This technique will make cat tracks a breeze to ride finally.

__________________

ks5z

i was right where you are at the beginning of this year (after going maybe 5 times sporadically over way too many years), and I've finally been going a lot more this year and feel like I'm progressing fairly well. As others have suggested, just take your time, and try to start you're turns sooner and try to bleed less speed off before you enter them, but always within what you can control/are ready for, and you'll steadily get better, at least it's worked for me. Also, I've found that after getting used to taking some steeper runs, those nice long greens are good for practicing maintaining more speed through the run and straightening the path out as well now that you're comfortable with the slope and can really work on you're turns and form. As you get faster, don't forget to bend those knees, makes a huge difference especially when going very flat based (always with a slight edge) when you can in you're runs.

Everything snowolf said is dead on, I feel like I've just gone through or learned exactly what he's telling you...

I'd much rather ride behind or try to pass someone who's linking wide turns slowly than somebody going fast than practically coming to a stop doing the falling leaf/garland pattern down a steeper hill because they can't link a turn to save their life, as you're way more predictable and you're way more in control as well.