boarderaholic

The Chairlift
Posted by: Snowolf

One of the more frustrating things for the new rider is the chairlift. The first few days on the hill, this thing can become a person`s personal demon. Many instructors do not spend any time providing their students with good information and tips that will make negotiating this beast a piece of cake. As riders we all see it; that poor "newbie" starfishing on the unloading ramp or the human debris pile as all of the occupants of a given chair end up in a tangle of limbs and snowboards. Much of this can be avoided with some simple tips, thus avoiding embarrassment for the "victim" and frustration for the other riders waiting to unload.

Loading the Chairlift

As you skate through the maze and await your turn to load, remember to keep your shoulders parallel and over your board. Lead with your shoulder; don`t turn your upper body to face forward as this will ultimately cause your lower body and board to rotate. As soon as the person in front of you is in the loading position, be ready to immediately skate out right behind their chair as it passes in front of you. Don`t delay here, or you will set yourself up for trouble by being chased by your chair. When you are in the loading position, remember to remain standing sideways, that is with your board pointing the direction the chair is going to take you. When the front edge of the seat nudges you in the leg, sit down on the butt cheek attached to your back (free) foot, grasping the back of the chair with your back hand, lifting your back foot up out of the snow. Once seated, keep your board straight and keep the tip lifted. The reason you do not want to sit back right away and let your board rotate across the direction of travel is because it can catch in the snow and pull you off of the chair. Usually the very next thing that occurs is the chair hits you in the back of the head. As soon as you leave the ground and have the clearance, go ahead and sit back comfortably and enjoy the ride.

Unloading the Chairlift

Just like an aircraft on final approach, you need to lower the landing gear and prepare for landing. As you start coming toward the unloading area, say at the last tower, you need to position your body to ride off of the chair. Do this by raising the safety bar if you had it down and grabbing the back of the chair with your back hand. Slide yourself around so you are now sitting half on-half off of the chair. You are simply moving your body to the same position it was in to load the chair. Your front foot should be hanging down relaxed and tip of your board should be pointing the direction of travel (no sideways boards here, keeping your board straight and true is crucial to getting off of the chair smoothly). One tip that seldom gets passed on is, as you are about to land, put your back foot on your stomp pad, or on your board next to the rear binding. The idea here is to simply stand up and ride away without having to stand up one footed and find your board with the free foot as you`re gliding off of the ramp. Just like that aircraft coming in to land, you need to flare by raising the nose of your board so that it makes contact with the snow under your bindings. At this point, all you need to do is stand up. Use the chair for balance as you are getting up. I recommend putting the flat of your rear hand on the seat cushion and pushing off of it gently. Again, there is nothing special about this; you are now in position to perform a basic, simple glide away from the chairlift. One of the biggest problems for the new rider is they lean back when getting off of the lift and their board goes out from under them, dumping them on their butts.This is alleviated by aggressively leaning forward (toward the nose of your board). Leaning back is a recipe for disaster...DO NOT LEAN BACK! . When getting off of the lift, if you think you are leaning too far forward, you are probably just about right. Don`t let the steepness or iciness of the ramp freak you out. They all have good runouts usually. The steeper the ramp, the quicker your board will take off and the farther you should lean forward; stay ahead of the board and be ready to anticipate how it is going to react! Also, keep your knees bent so you can shift your weight as needed for balance. Try not to worry about turning or doing anything fancy when gliding away from the lift other than avoiding other riders or fixed objects of course.

Multiple riders on a chair

A lot of new riders get freaked out on a high speed quad loaded with 4 other happy riders or skiers. Don`t let this scare you. If possible, ride on the outside of the chair. This allows you a clear escape route away from your chairmates. If you are very new to riding, it is almost always true that your chairmates will ride away much faster than you do, so be patient and let them get out of your way, taking the rear position. Ideally, the two outside riders will steer a bit away from the center path, keeping it clear for the center riders. Think of it like a four lane street coming to T intersection. Two right turn lanes and two left turn lanes. Don`t try to turn right from a left turn lane!

When you fall

I say when not if because we all sometimes fall for a variety of reasons...alcohol being a big factor! The number one thing on your mind when you fall getting off of the lift, should be getting off of the "runway" as you have landing traffic right behind you. This is not the time to adjust your bindings, or brush snow off, get the hell out of the way ASAP! Having said that, be very careful about raising your head up as there may be a chair right above you. Stay low and crawl or slide left or right, whichever is closest to leave that runway clear. Then get up an act like it`s no big deal because as long as you get out of the way, it is`nt.

Additional thoughts

(1) Get in the habit of collapsing your rear binding highback while waiting in the lift line; often there is not much clearance under the chair and highbacks get broken when caught under the chair.

(2) If you are loading on either end, sit as close to the end as possible and give the middle people room to load.

(3) If you have the option, regular riders should favor sitting to the right and goofy riders to the left so boards are pointing in opposite directions under the chair during the ride up.

(4) Always Make sure no loose clothing has become looped around or stuck in the chair.

(5) When exiting the chair, try to ride angled away from each other so as to provide maneuvering room.

boarderaholic

Learning to turn

Posted by: Snowolf

The heelside turn
Now for the turning thing.....On your toe edge, slow yourself down almost to a complete stall before starting the turn. With just your front foot, begin relaxing that toe pressure so the nose of the board begins to slide downhill toward the fall line. Shift your weight a tad toward your front foot and bend your knees a bit more than when traversing. Also, shift your front shoulder over the heel edge of the board. As the board rotates down the hill, begin to relax the toe pressure you were holding on the rear foot. The idea here is to have the board riding totally flat for a moment at the point it is gliding straight down the hill. Gradually increase the heel pressure on the front foot to get the heel edge to bite into the snow and start the turn. Once the turn is established and you are about halfway into the turn, follow through with the rear foot to bring the board up on it`s heel edge to carve the remainder of your turn. This is a timing thing and most people in the beginning tend to rock onto the heel edge too soon when the board is pointed down the fall line. Give yourself a count of 2 then come in with the rear foot.

To avoid overturning up the hill, a few degrees before you are across the fall line, ease up on that heel pressure on the front foot and the board will travel in a straight line across the hill.

Remember....DONT LEAN BACK! when pointed straight down the hill and accelerating. This "speed anxiety" will totally screw you because if you have no weight on the front of your board, it is never going to turn for you. Additionally, you can squat down a little in the turn to counteract the centrifugal forces that want to pull you to the outside of the turn. Also, it is important to look where you want to go. Sounds kinda funny, but really, your body will generally go where you are looking so turn your head and look over your lead should as you begin the heelside turn.

The toeside turn
Anyway, my advice is to go back to basics for a few runs. Get up toeside and learn to sideslip toeside then do the falling leaf thing and then some J turns to a stop then do Garlands. Stay on your toe edge the entire time when doing this. You might have to do this in sessions as people who are just beginning to do toeside work will get tired very quickly from their calf muscles burning. You don`t use these muscles like this in everyday life or other sports like you do in snowboarding. Conditioning makes this easier and you will be able to ride longer toeside with practice. Just remember that when you are on that toe edge, not to relax and let you`re heels drop and catch the edge causing a slam. When you start getting tired, take a break!

Now for the turning thing.....On your heel edge, slow yourself down almost to a complete stall before starting the turn. With just your front foot, begin relaxing that heel pressure so the nose of the board begins to slide downhill toward the fall line. Shift your weight a tad toward your front foot and bend your knees a bit more than when traversing. Also, shift your front shoulder over the toe edge of the board. As the board rotates down the hill, begin to relax the heel pressure you were holding on the rear foot. The idea here is to have the board riding totally flat for a moment at the point it is gliding straight down the hill. Gradually increase the toe pressure on the front foot to get the toe edge to bite into the snow and start the turn. Once the turn is established and you are about halfway into the turn, follow through with the rear foot to bring the board up on it`s toe edge to carve the remainder of your turn. This is a timing thing and most people in the beginning tend to rock onto the toe edge too soon when the board is pointed down the fall line. Give yourself a count of 2 then come in with the rear foot.

To avoid overturning up the hill, a few degrees before you are across the fall line, ease up on that toe pressure on the front foot and the board will travel in a straight line across the hill.

Remember....DONT LEAN BACK! when pointed straight down the hill and accelerating. This "speed anxiety" will totally screw you because if you have no weight on the front of your board, it is never going to turn for you.

boarderaholic

Spinning 1`s and 3`s

Posted by: Snowolf

Spinning 180
First off, how strong is your switch riding? It really helps a lot if you are somewhat comfortable riding switch. If you are not, I highly recommend spending some time getting comfortable with it. Additionally, you should be able to do 180 flat spins (some people refer to this as helicopter) easily. This is where you spin around without your board actually leaving the snow, just turning the board up through the fall line to switch ride. Ideally, you should be comfortable doing this move in both directions. You can begin dialing this in if you like by doing at home on the carpet to get your spin down while you have some good solid footing to work with before you add the slippery snow and movement to the mix.
Terrain:
Pick gentle green terrain that is smooth and well groomed.

Movement and performance concepts to think about:
You will be rotating your body to pivot the board around it`s center.
You will flex, then extend your legs to push yourself off the ground, then flex your legs to draw the board up towards your body for the rotation, then extending your legs to prepare for landing, keeping your knees bent a little to absorb the shock as you land.
you will want to maintain a low edge angle for this maneuver and keep equal weight on both feet.

Performing FS 180 while riding gentle, green terrain:
Find a flat spot to begin practice without directional movement. To jump up off the ground, start low with your legs flexed, briskly extend your legs to "pop" off the ground. As you come back down, keep your legs extended slightly (not locked) bending the knees to soften the landing. Do this a few times until you are comfortable and stable.
Now you are ready to throw some rotation into this jumping. Again, start low with your legs flexed, looking at the tail of your board. To do a frontside 180 powerfully extend your legs and as the body starts to move up, begin looking toward and past the nose of your board. The important thing to remember is the "head leads, and the body follows" your body will tend to go where your head is looking. Time the rotation with the extension and jump so that your shoulders have rotated past the nose of your board when the board leaves the ground. Much of the rotational power will come from the hips as your lower body follows the upper body around. Your front foot will travel "heelward' and your rear foot will travel "toeward". As you rotate around to the 180 point, stop your rotation by focusing on one spot at the 180 point (looking up the hill). Avoid the temptation to turn your head back toward the nose of the board (downhill) before you land, as this can cause you to prematurely halt your rotation and cause you to land with your board a bit sideways.

Remember to keep a low edge angle and slightly bend your legs to soften the landing. Doing this backside is the same except your rotation is opposite. You will start out by looking at the nose of your board, then as your body starts to move up, look at and past the tail of your board, rotating your hips so that your front foot moves "toeward" and the rear foot moves "heelward"
When you have mastered this rotation thing, you are ready to try this on the slope while moving...keep your speed low at first and try to find some soft areas. Some people find that it helps them if they start out switch, then do the 180 to land normal as they tend to be more stable on landing. Also, I find it is easier to do this as a gentle traverse across the fall line to avoid gaining too much speed while doing the maneuver. As you land, flex to absorb the landing and also get your center of gravity lower for stability. Keep your edge angle low so you don`t dig in and take an unexpected and sudden turn. Keep just a bit of pressure on your uphill edge.


Spinning 360
When doing 360`s it is common to try to wind up too aggressively and there is a risk of pulling muscles, especially in the lower back. A well executed 360 should not be a huge strain in your trunk muscles.
It is much easier, physically, to do a 360 with more speed and height but it is psychologically more difficult due to fear. Increase speed gradually as you gain confidence. Again, pick gentle green, well groomed terrain and pick a soft pow day if possible to minimize chance of injury.

Movement and performance concepts to think about:
As before, you will be rotating your body to pivot your board around it`s center. Additionally, you will work on "scissoring" your legs to further rotate the board.
You will be flexing and extending your legs as in the 180, but will try to do it more rapidly to gain more power and a higher jump. Remember to flex joints fat landing to soften impact. Attempt to maintain an erect posture and utilize a low edge angle with equal weight on both feet. You will try to take off and land flat when in the fall line.

Spinning FS 360:
Again, I suggest doing a little prep work on a flat spot before adding movement to the mix. When you do decide to do this in motion, watch your speed and select well groomed, even terrain. Leading with the head, practice 180`s using full body rotation. Generate rotational power from the upper body and relax the legs during the spin. Now try jumping straight up and scissoring your legs to produce a 180. Try to do this with just your legs, keeping the upper body quiet. At first you may only get 90 degrees of rotation, but keep at it until you make a full 180 by scissoring your legs. Practice completing your 180 by the apex of your jump. Practice jumping your board as high off the ground as possible when spinning. The 360 is basically two 180`s. Make the first 180 by rotating the entire body. Make the second 180 by scissoring your legs.
You will likely find that in the first few attempts you will make it about 270. You can complete the final 90 degrees as a flat board spin upon landing (remember to use a low edge angle). Keep practicing and eventually you will start landing them correctly. In learning these, you can "cheat" a little and spin a 270. To do this, you carve the first 90 degrees before takeoff. This is`nt a true 3, but it is a helpful way to get used to the feeling of the 3 and spotting your landing before committing to the full 3.
One nice thing about 3`s is that you can start and complete them riding the same direction, unlike a 180 where you will be switch either taking off or landing. As you gain some confidence, you will find that 3`s are easier with more speed and more air time. Gradually increase speed and height as you feel comfortable.

The main thing about doing these is practice. Expect to fall a lot as you work on this. Pick soft days when pushing yourself and remember that you learn more going slow than you do when bombing along at high speed. Also, practicing on a stable surface like a carpeted floor is also a great way to get used to the maneuver prior to doing it on the fly out on the slope.

To do these spins backside, the concept is almost identical, but the feeling is different. Personally, I feel I can generate a lot more rotational force doing them BS. It is my opinion that the main reason for this is because a BS spin naturally causes you to "close" your upper body up tight whereas in a FS spin, you tend to open up your upper body. Some people feel more comfortable landing a BS 3 because you can spot your landing sooner than in a FS 3. Either way, the movement concepts are the same. Just be aware of the natural tendency to "open up" in A FS spin.

boarderaholic

Learning to hit jumps
1) Progression is the key....start small and work up as you master the features. I start my students out on the small stuff that can be found alongside the groomers. When you want to start doing 180`s and 360`s go back to the small stuff to dial them in. The bigger stuff you are doing straight airs off of might be too big for trying to throw spins on until you get them down.

2) Alignment and balance....Biggest problem I had and many students have is when in the air, there is a natural tendency to rotate your upper body to face the direction you are going. This will screw you every time because this rotation will cause you lower body to rotate too and your board will land cross ways and you with either face plant or land on the heel edge and fall on your ass. It is very important to keep your shoulders parallel with your board and you body centered over the top of the board. The easiest grab to do when snowboarding is the Indy. The rear hand grabs the toe edge of the board between the bindings. This grab will force you to keep your upper body aligned properly. Even if you don`t quite make the grab, going through the motions of it will stabilize you in the air. To avoid unwanted back rotation leaving the lip, shift your body weigh just a bit toward the nose of the board. In the air, you will need to slightly shift your weight back toward the aft of center so you`re slightly tail low to land on the rear section of your board. One way to think of this is imagine an airplane landing. You want to land on the main gear not on the nose gear, so just like that airplane, you have a slight nose high flare for landing.

3) Takeoff and landing....On most man made features in a terrain park you will be riding straight down the fall line, so you will want to takeoff and land with a fairly flat board. Perhaps just a smidgen of edge to prevent an edge catch like you do when riding in the flats, but no radical carves here! Now, if you are hitting natural features like moguls where you are traversing across the fall line you will want to ride on the uphill edge so that you travel in a straight line. As you land, you will want to have that same amount of edge angle to prevent an unwanted, radical turn or edge catch. So, how much edge angle do you use in this scenario? The correct answer "whatever takes to keep going in a straight line" A word about speed management; do any speed checking long before the takeoff ramp. Do this to prevent carving up the flat lip and also, you want a stabilized approach for a good takeoff. Speed checking on the ramp with throw your balance off and increase you mental workload. Again, think of that airplane on approach for landing; no messing with power and flaps and gear on final! After you land, don`t immediately do speed check either. Doing this makes the landing zone icy and carved up. Grit your teeth and cope with the speed for just a bit longer before you speed check. If the landing zone is icy and you speed check right there, chances are high that your board will slide out from under you and you will ass plant.

4) Safety.... Know the terrain before you hit it. Take a ride through the park and look at everything to get a feel for the layout and condition of the features. Look at how the ramp is constructed; is it very steep so that you will gain a lot of height and backward rotation, or is it a fairly flat, low angle ramp that will give you more distance than height? These are very important considerations when determining speed for desired results. How big is the tabletop and what distance will you need to travel to make it past the knuckle to reach the landing zone? Look at the length and pitch of the landing zone to make sure you don`t overshoot it or end up way higher than you are comfortable with if it is a very steep pitch. Also look at what condition the landing zone is in. Look for weird things that will throw you off and determine the snow condition; is it icy or soft? Also pick your battles. When it is super hard pack and icy, hit things more conservatively than a pow or spring slush day.

Falling
Falling is a part of snowboarding, especially in the learning period. Often, people suffer a fall on their first day or two on a board and some never get back on one. A lot of injuries could be avoided if more people learned how to fall. As instructors, we teach beginners to skate, sideslip, traverse and link their turns, but how often do we teach the student how to take a fall. Do we ever demonstrate it? Falling is probably the number one concern a new rider has. As an accomplished faller myself, I can pass along some ideas to make taking a fall a little less scary (not to mention less painful) for the new rider.

In general:
Don`t fight it....go with the fall and try to control direction and speed gradually by working with your momentum not against it. Think of it like a river, swim with the current.Try to stay relaxed; if you are tensed up, you are much more likely to suffer an injury. Wrist injuries are the single most common snowboarding injury because people instinctively try to cushion a fall by putting their hands out in front of them or in the case of the dreaded "butt-slam" behind them. When riding, try to keep your hands closed into a loose fist. That way if you fall and put your hands out, you are less likely to catch your fingers and snap your wrist back. In a fall, stay tucked; don't flail your arms around. Doing that can cause a lot of problems from breaks, dislocations and even catching on objects. Additionally, I have seen more than one flailing arm get run over by a ski or snowboard. So keep those arms tucked in. Additionally, tuck your whole body a little so you roll rather than slam.

Falling forward:
Slightly turn your upper body to land in a rolling position to reduce the slam and keep your chin tucked toward your chest a little to avoid snapping your head backwards and to keep it up out of the snow when you are down and sliding. If your sliding down hill head first, use your board as a brake. If you are sliding feet first, keep that board up so it does`nt catch and injure your knees or worse, flip you! Use your arms to create drag to slow your slide, or get yourself spun around head first to drag the board. On the steeps, a flip can get you seriously hurt or worse.

Falling backward:
Tail bone injuries are a common result in the "butt slam" If you start to loose it or catch an edge, twist your body to land on one butt cheek...it will still hurt like hell, but, you will protect your tail bone to some degree. Be careful not to overdo it though and slam on the side of your hip which has very little padding over the bone. Another common thing in the dreaded "butt slam" is the back of your head impacting the snow. Again, tucking your chin in toward your chest helps to prevent this some.

A word about the steeps:
As you gain skill and confidence, you will find yourself riding steeper, longer runs that may exceed 45 degrees and have cliffs, boulders, trees and other hazards. Use sound judgment when riding this terrain. A long chute with a 45 degree or more angle becomes a death trap if it is icy and you fall. You simply will not be able to stop until you hit either an obstacle or the bottom. In either case you will be out of control and moving very fast. Know your terrain and snow conditions before dropping! If you are into backcountry travel, having an ice ax and knowing how to use it to self arrest can save you life. Generally you will use it for the climb up, but if an icy descent is required, you can ride with the axe in position for self arrest.

There is always the safety gear option. Several companies manufacture and distribute crash pads. Most snowboard magazines carry advertisements and you can find them on the web. Helmets of course are always a good idea if you want to protect your head. Some good padding for the backside, a helmet and some wrist guards makes learning to ride rails, learning jumps and riding on ice a little easier on your body.

boarderaholic

Spinning 360
When doing 360`s it is common to try to wind up too aggressively and there is a risk of pulling muscles, especially in the lower back. A well executed 360 should not be a huge strain in your trunk muscles.
It is much easier, physically, to do a 360 with more speed and height but it is psychologically more difficult due to fear. Increase speed gradually as you gain confidence. Again, pick gentle green, well groomed terrain and pick a soft pow day if possible to minimize chance of injury.

Movement and performance concepts to think about:
As before, you will be rotating your body to pivot your board around it`s center. Additionally, you will work on "scissoring" your legs to further rotate the board.
You will be flexing and extending your legs as in the 180, but will try to do it more rapidly to gain more power and a higher jump. Remember to flex joints fat landing to soften impact. Attempt to maintain an erect posture and utilize a low edge angle with equal weight on both feet. You will try to take off and land flat when in the fall line.

Spinning FS 360:
Again, I suggest doing a little prep work on a flat spot before adding movement to the mix. When you do decide to do this in motion, watch your speed and select well groomed, even terrain. Leading with the head, practice 180`s using full body rotation. Generate rotational power from the upper body and relax the legs during the spin. Now try jumping straight up and scissoring your legs to produce a 180. Try to do this with just your legs, keeping the upper body quiet. At first you may only get 90 degrees of rotation, but keep at it until you make a full 180 by scissoring your legs. Practice completing your 180 by the apex of your jump. Practice jumping your board as high off the ground as possible when spinning. The 360 is basically two 180`s. Make the first 180 by rotating the entire body. Make the second 180 by scissoring your legs.
You will likely find that in the first few attempts you will make it about 270. You can complete the final 90 degrees as a flat board spin upon landing (remember to use a low edge angle). Keep practicing and eventually you will start landing them correctly. In learning these, you can "cheat" a little and spin a 270. To do this, you carve the first 90 degrees before takeoff. This is`nt a true 3, but it is a helpful way to get used to the feeling of the 3 and spotting your landing before committing to the full 3.
One nice thing about 3`s is that you can start and complete them riding the same direction, unlike a 180 where you will be switch either taking off or landing. As you gain some confidence, you will find that 3`s are easier with more speed and more air time. Gradually increase speed and height as you feel comfortable.

The main thing about doing these is practice. Expect to fall a lot as you work on this. Pick soft days when pushing yourself and remember that you learn more going slow than you do when bombing along at high speed. Also, practicing on a stable surface like a carpeted floor is also a great way to get used to the maneuver prior to doing it on the fly out on the slope.

To do these spins backside, the concept is almost identical, but the feeling is different. Personally, I feel I can generate a lot more rotational force doing them BS. It is my opinion that the main reason for this is because a BS spin naturally causes you to "close" your upper body up tight whereas in a FS spin, you tend to open up your upper body. Some people feel more comfortable landing a BS 3 because you can spot your landing sooner than in a FS 3. Either way, the movement concepts are the same. Just be aware of the natural tendency to "open up" in A FS spin.

Everything written from this post and up is written by Snowolf.

boarderaholic

Stance Tips:
Posted by Jay_Guindon
Here's what I can tell you about stances, the amount of angle determines how pressure is distributed through your board. The width detrmines your balance and how fast you can spin. Width is pretty simple, wider gives more balance but creates a higher swing weight, narrower makes it easier to spin due to lower swing weight but lowers balance. Finding a good middle round is key unless you only ride rails, then you can just widen your stance way out. With too much binding angle you are causing a misalignment in your lower body. High angles are great for boardslides because it distributes pressure to the outside of your feet causing fewer hang ups, however heelside spins will be difficult due to the weight being distibuted solely to the heels which makes it hard to pop off the heels. Less angle however aligns your hip, knees, and shoulders for precise edge control and more pop as it distributes your weight over the balls of your feet even when on the heel edge. I currently ride 9, -9 which aligns my hips, knees and feet evenly on both sides of my body making switch riding easy, edging more stable and controlled, and pop easier. With these angles however my rail skills have to me precise as the edges are now more succeptible to catching. For this i usually put a two degree base bevel on my board and focus on landing as flat based as possible. Hope that helps.

Spinning Properly

Posted by Jay_Guindon
There's been a lot of discussion on here about spinning and I think the reason for that is that everyone is trying whatever without actually knowing the proper mechanics. There is no right and wrong in snowboarding but there is always an easier and better way to do it. A lot of people seem to have this problem where they do a portion of the spin on the jump or come off the lip really crooked, I used to be one of them, and this is cheating the spin and makes it way harder to hit the sweet spot of the landing. I will post the solution at the bottom of the spin steps. Here is how to spin all four ways.

To spin frontside from goofy:

- Approach the jump flat based from the right hand side.
- As you approach the lip make a toe side turn
- Just as you’re about to hit the lip roll onto your heel edge.
- As soon as you’re on your heel edge you should be at the lip and ready to spin.
- Turn your upper body to the right with enough force to carry you through the rotation.
- Suck your legs up and grab you board.
- As the rotation nears completion, let go of the grab and open up your body to slow the spin and prepare to land.
- Suck up the landing and focus on a point straight down the landing to ride away straight.
To spin backside from goofy:
- Approach the jump flat based from the left hand side.
- As you approach the lip make a heelside turn
- Just as you’re about to hit the lip roll onto your toe edge.
- As soon as you’re on your toe edge you should be at the lip and ready to spin.
- Turn your upper body to the left with enough force to carry you through the rotation.
- Suck your legs up and grab you board.
- As the rotation nears completion, let go of the grab and open up your body to slow the spin and prepare to land.
- Suck up the landing and focus on a point straight down the landing to ride away straight.


To spin backside from regular:
- Approach the jump flat based from the right hand side.
- As you approach the lip make a heelside turn
- Just as you’re about to hit the lip roll onto your toe edge.
- As soon as you’re on your toe edge you should be at the lip and ready to spin.
- Turn your upper body to the right with enough force to carry you through the rotation.
- Suck your legs up and grab you board.
- As the rotation nears completion, let go of the grab and open up your body to slow the spin and prepare to land.
- Suck up the landing and focus on a point straight down the landing to ride away straight.

To spin frontside from regular:
- Approach the jump flat based from the left hand side.
- As you approach the lip make a toeside turn
- Just as you’re about to hit the lip roll onto your heel edge.
- As soon as you’re on your heel edge you should be at the lip and ready to spin.
- Turn your upper body to the left with enough force to carry you through the rotation.
- Suck your legs up and grab you board.
- As the rotation nears completion, let go of the grab and open up your body to slow the spin and prepare to land.
- Suck up the landing and focus on a point straight down the landing to ride away straight.

If you make your set up turns properly you will come off the lip nice and straight. If you are coming off of the lip crooked or are doing a portion of your spin on the jump, it is because you are setting to your spinning edge too soon. Make sure that you are timing your turns so that you are turning on the opposite edge that you will spin from as you get close to the lip so that as soon as you roll to the edge you will spin off of you are at the lip and can begin your spin. A bigger spin uses the same mechanics done with more power or more amplitude.

boarderaholic

About Waxing Your Board

Posted by KyleWeevers
Prepare for a long ass post people, I'll give you all the knowledge I have gotten over the past 7 years that I've been a tech in regards to wax:

I will start by saying no matter what base type you have a wax job will always be beneficial, having a smooth clean surface to glide on will help you keep speed on the flats, and will also help in maneuvering through pow. Extruded bases do not have to be waxed quite as often as sintered bases and this is because extruded bases are more porous. The bad thing about that is they can get deeper scratches and gouges than a sintered base.

Sintered bases should be waxed often. How often would be determined by the snow you ride. If its man made gun blown snow, wax it every time. Man made snow crystals are very sharp, and larger than snow from the heavens, and because of this it will rip the wax right off your base by the end of the day. If its light fluffy powder you can go as long as 4 - 5 riding days without a new wax coat.

Types and Temperature of waxes:

There are many different types of waxes out there, but the most common is flouro based waxes. They are fairly long lasting, and can take a rough rider. The other type as Snowolf mentioned is graphite. Graphite comes in one colour; black. It will be noticeable on a white base and people will think you need a wax job. .That is until you flash by 'em laughing your ass off. Graphite wax is harder and creates better glide with the snow than flouro wax does. Thus it is a faster wax. It doesn't have the same staying power, but it will make you ride faster.

The whole purpose of wax:

The whole purpose of wax is not to reduce friction, but to increase. It is a huge misconception that wax will help decrease friction. To fully explain this we must examine a few other things that are related to the base of our beloved snowboards.

Base pattern: Have you ever looked at a dried out base and noticed that there is a sort of pattern to it? It looks like a bunch of dotted lines staggered one after another running lengthwise down the board. This pattern is the start of what creates the all important glide of a snowboard, by making these patterns you are creating channels for which water runs down and moves your snowboard. Many shops offer a stone grind as part of their full tune packages and what the stone does is embeds the pattern into your base.

Now when you wax your board you fill in the grooves of the base patten to create a level surface and scrape away all the excess. This helps the flow of water that is created from the friction of gliding your board on the snow. The base pattern then directs the water down the channels and gets you rockin' faster.

This is why when you get scratches and gouges that run widthwise on your board they will slow you down more than a scratch or gouge that runs lengthwise. Also when you get scratches and deeper gouges you allow water to pool inside them and create more drag for yourself as you ride.

So in the end we use wax to increase the friction between the board and the snow to the point where water is created, and then the snowboard glides on the water, the quicker you go from snow to water, the quicker you get down the mountain. And we use the water channels created through base patterns and waxing to help direct the water through the running length of the board so that it escapes quickly.

Temperatures of wax:

Its as easy as match the colour to the temp. But for a longer explanation I'll explain the differences between warm and cold waxes. Cold waxes are much harder and as such need more heat and friction to soften them. Generally when it is colder outside snow crystals are more jagged and hard which means more friction on the board which means a colder wax will last longer. Inversely a warm wax is soft and does not need much heat to warm up and create the required glide. If you were to use warm wax on a cold day it would be pointless because the jagged ice crystals would burn off the wax in short order, and if you were to use a cold wax on a warm day, you would have to ride for 1/2 the day and not stop after that to finally get the wax to where you get a glide out of it.

That being said, whether its a cold or warm day I generally will put cold wax around the edges of my board because they will heat up faster than any other part of the board, the edges see more friction than any other part of the board so I use a cold wax for a good over all coat to make sure I get the entire use of my board rather than just the middle of it.

Snowolf

One footed glides
Posted by Snowolf

Gliding on your board with only your front foot strapped in is your first step to actually snowboarding. This gives you the feeling of sliding sideways on a moving board. It is also an ideal introduction to the proper way to turn your board. On the flats, you need to give yourself a brisk push with your free foot. Be carefull not get too stretched out here as you will loose your balance and fall. As you free foot is abeam your rear binding, pick it up and set it down on your stop pad or lock it up agaisnt the side of your rear binding if you have no pad. Ride the few feet your board travels and repat the maneuver.

Riding Stance:

A proper stance is key to successfull riding. The main concepts to bear in mind are to stay in a semi loose athletic stance with your knees slightly bent and your upper body erect, centered over your board. You want your shoulders over and parallel to your board, arms hanging relaxed about a foot out from your sides and fists slightly balled to prevent wrist injury should a fall occur. Turn your head to look forward where you want to go but do not turn your upper body to "face" forward. This turning of the upper body puts force on the lower body and will cause your board to skid to heelside. Keeping your kness, ankles and hips flexed will allow you to absorb bumps and dips like a shock absorber as well as allow you to instantly adust to terrain inconsistancies to maintain balance. A key point to consider when riding is that we control our board from the belt line down and we control our balance from the belt line up. Ideally, you want to alsway ride with a quiet upper body. As you improve, this will become easier and you will not be riding with your arms flailing about. later on, when balance is easier, a great way to practice good riding form and work your core muscle group for balance is to ride with your hands clasped behind your back.

On most snow, with the exception of powder or very sticky, wet snow, you will want to keep your body mass centered between your bindings and even slightly forward. In most cases, a 60/40 ration is just about right. keep about 60% of your weight over your fron binding. Leaning back will cause the board to slip out from under you and leaning back will make turning extremely difficult. This is one of the hardest things for a new rider to do because we naturally want to stand verticle in relation to the horizon line. On a hill, our board is tilted down hill and if we were to stand verticle, we are actually leaning back. Think of yourself as an upside down T with the board being the "top" of the T. If your board is going down a 20 degree hill, you need to be standing 20 degrees downhill from verticle. It`s a tough thing to do, but it is criticle that you force yourself to do this in order to become a snowboarder. With practice, the initial "wrongness" of this feeling will go away.

Your first glides:

Start out on a very gentle hill with a good long flat run out or even a slight uphill grade. This will allow you to ride freely without picking up too much speed and you will not have to worry about stopping. On a hill, you will typically not need to push off. Usually, as soon as you lift your free foot, the board will start sliding. Be ready for this and stay ahead of your board by starting out with your free foot abeam the front foot so as the board begins to slide, you have time to pick up your free foot and set it down in the right spot withour getting all stretched out and lossing your balance.

Once you start gliding, remeber to keep proper riding stance and as your speed increases, you will notice that your board becomes more responsive. At speed, small shifts in weight or flex on the board become increasingly effective. At first this will feel squirrely, but you will get used to it rapidly. Avoid "speed anxiety" and try not to lean back as your speed increases. If you find that you have a lot of trouble with this, Imagine you have a foot long string tied to the nose of your board and you have to hang onto it. This will force you to be in a slightly exagerated forward stance with your upper body leaning toward the nose of your board to train you to stand correctly.

Stopping:

At this point, you will be wanting to know how to stop the glide without bailing. Basically at this stage there are two ways to stop. The first was is to simply take your free foot off the board and set it down in the snow. A couple of things to think about here is that the board is moving and you need to stay ahead of the board. If you put your free foot down in the snow near the rear binding, you will instantly do the splits and fall. Place that foot down ahead of or at least abeam your front font foot so you have time to slow the board down. You mave to do a series of little hopping motions to come to a full stop. After a few tries you will get the feel of it. This maneuver will not work well if you have picked up a lot of speed so there is another method to slow yourself down to a stop.

This is done by dragging your heel in the snow with your free foot. As you are gliding, shift your free foot so that the ball of your foot is on the board and the hell hangs out over the edge. Be sure to have that foot firmly up against your rear binding because when you lower your heel into the snow, there will be a lot of drag. If your foot is`nt secure against that binding, the drag will pull your foot off the board and you will do the splits and fall. To begin slowing, gently lower your heel to drag in the snow and adjust the pressyre as needed to stop. This is not a quick way to stop so allow yourself plenty of stopping distance when employing this method. You can do this also by dragging your toe instead of your heel. Either way works and it is what is most comfortable to you. Just remember that if you drag your heel, your snowboard will want to turn heelside and if you drag your toe it will want to turn toeside.

The third and most effective way to stop requires you to be able to turn into a sideslip skid. this is the surest, quickest way to stop. After you learn to turn.

Torsional flex and turning:

Okay, now that you are a pro at skating, gliding and stopping, it`s time to step it up and learn to turn and steer your board one footed while gliding. To understand how this works, you need to know a little about the properties of your board. First is something called sidecut; this is what gives your snowboard it`s hourglass figure ( and we all thought it was just so it looked sexy ). This radius is what turns the board; by geting this board up on it`s edge, the sidecut creates an arc on the snow and the board wants to travel in the shape of that arc. The other property that is important to you for learning to turn is a property that engineers who love big words call "torsional flex" In English this simply means that you board has the ability to twist throughout it`s length. To demonstrate this ability for yourself, stand on your boar on the flats with your front foot strapped in. Now lift the toe of the front foot while holding the rear of the board down with your free foot. You will actuallt be able to see the board warp or twist. Lifting the toe causes the heel edge to press down into the snow hard and if you were moving, it would engage the heel edge sidecut and start a heelside turn. Lifting the heel and pushing the toe down starts a toeside turn. Keep this in mind for when you are gliding.

Heelside gliding turn:

Point your board down the gentle slope and start your glide. Pick up a little bit of speed and to begin a gentle heelside turn, flex your ankle and lift the toes of your front foot, driving the heel down to warp the board so that the heelside edge begins to engage the snow. As you do this, turn your head to face where you want to go. It is helpfull to focus on a "trarget" and aim for it as we tend to go where we look. Slightly rotate your upper body just enough to place your leading shoulder over the heelside edge of your board and flext your front knee, pushing the knee in the direction you wish to turn. During this stage of turn initiation, you rear foot is neutral on your stomp pad or deck. Once your turn is established, you can follow through by pressuring the heel of your rear foot.

A couple of things happen at this stage that sobotages people`s turns. One is simply not applying enough torsional pressure with the front foot. If you do not feel the board responding, increse the force you apply. The other thing people often do is once the turn strats they relax and back off the pressure. This causes the board to go straight back down the fall line. Hold that pressure constant.

Another thing that happens to people is once they get the turn down, they tend to over turn and spin out. The way to overcome this problem is to just remember to quit turning! Simply ease up on the pressure and your board will travel straight. To avoid overturning, keep your aiming point in sight and a few degrees prior to the nose of your board pointing at the target, begin backing off that pressure. It take a little time to stop the turn so you have start "un turning" a little bit ahead of where you want to end up.

Toeside gliding turn:

Set up as you did for your heelside turn and when you have picked up a little speed, begin to turn by pushing down with the toes of your front foot to pressure the toeside edge of your board to get the sidecut to engage the snow. pick an aiming point to steer towards and focus on that. Slightly rotate your lead shoulder over the toeside edge of your board and drive your front knee down a bit. As the turn becomes established, follow through by pressuring the toe edge with the rear foot as well. As you point toward your aiming point, gently relax the pressure on the front foot to slow the rate of turn to travel in a straight line toward your aiming point.

Snowolf

A very good post about riding styles:

Snowolf

Complete detailed snowboard waxing demonstration video:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

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