Mooz

Look where you want to go. As you get more experienced you will look further and further ahead until yes you are looking just about all the way down.

For now, look where you want to go with each turn (being mindful of other riders ahead of you). If you can see your board lift your head up. Looking down at your board is going to end in bruises

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Mooz

Quit copying me!

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huskerdye

Thanks again guys, Snowolf.. Could you read my first post on the second page and see if I'm understanding everything correctly.. If you can't understand what I was trying to say don't worry about it.. Then I'll be done! Thanks a whole bunch!!

gjsnowboarder

All instructors are dorks. Comes with the territory. A lot of times with riders that are new to the sport they get laser focus on just down the hill. So advice is given to look-up the hill on your toeside. With early riders this tends to work pretty well since the ability to move your head independently from your lower body just doesn't regularly happen. It can though, increase fear because now you don't know where you are riding. Like the others I prefer to have you look where you are going.(i.e. not the end of the run, but the immediate to very next area you are traveling too!!) I usually set look-to and ride-to points that are within 15-30 ft in the snow and have them try to block out the image of all the way across or down the run. The important part is remembering finish out the turn and not always looking down the hill. That means toward the end of each turn you should be looking across the hill to slightly up it.

PS I have used the command "look up the hill" when the student is not at least looking across the hill. This let them know how far they can look rather then stopping their sight at only down the hill. Exploring how far we can make a movement while snowboarding is an essential part of progressing. It opens up possibilities.

fayewolf

Keep at it. I had the exact same questions/issues, except that my problem was getting out of my toe side turn into heel side turn. I catch edges there alot and bam, eat shit.

I basically had what snowolf wrote out for you here memorized and keep repeating it to myself. Once you're out on the slope, it is very easy to forget everything. Try to read it over and over again, watch his videos too, helps alot.

Also, someone here also mentioned to assign numbers to each step, I find that very helpful as well, as to making sure I don't rush through the steps. I tend to want to get out of my toe side as soon as i can because I'm not comfortable with it, and neglecting to get my board completely flat before going to my heel side, and eat shit this way.
My other issue is purely the fear factor, I dont like the feeling of bombing down the hill with my board flat, and my body sometimes would refuse to go flat, but it is an essential step before you can make edge changes.

Good luck and don't give up.

huskerdye

Thanks so much guys!!


So then, let's say I'm on my heel edge, transversing across the mountain, I can initiate that next turn when I'm almost perpendicular to the fall line then? And to do so, I relax my front foot, is the reason I'm bringing my back foot around last is so that the board will kind of skid from the back? I guess that's just how I'm picturing it.. Or is there a better way to think about it?

gjsnowboarder

That is pretty close. Relaxing the front foot will flatten out the board. You then want to rotated your front leg and hips which will steer the board toward the fall line. Once your board is into the fall line your start to pressure your toeside edge and start tilting the board on edge progressively throught the turn. You finish up the turn by your back foot rotate along and pressuring the edge more . As you get better and can keep your CM moving through the turn you start the edging of the board earlier and earlier.

Norst

Looking up the mountain is not a bad idea IMO. This is how I teach our beginners how to turn. When you're on toe side slipping down, you shift pressure onto your lead foot (similar to how you initiate the pendulum). As the board straightens out, you turn your hips to face uphill and allow the board to turn under you. It's like imagining your eyes are on your hips and you're looking up the hill with them. This eliminates the counter-rotation that people use so often for their toe-side turns. Once they get the idea that their body initiates and their legs follow, you obviously tell them to stop looking up the hill with their head but I emphasize keeping their entire body (knees, hips, shoulders) inline with the board.

Everyone will catch an edge when they first learn this and it's almost 100% caused by leaning back. It's 100% natural.. your board is picking up speed and you might not be comfortable with it and so you shift back and try to stop. You have to trust yourself and the board and lean into the fall-line so you stay centered.

Here is a good vid:
YouTube - QuickRide System Steps
Skip to 6:00 if you just want to look at the turning section. When they tap on their knees, they're saying where the pressure is. So if they tap on both knees it means equal pressure, if they tap on one knee it means that's the one with the most pressure. But notice how their upper body is the first to turn and they allow their lower body to follow.

Hope that helps

huskerdye

Okay, seriously one more question and only because I'd like to hear this from a professionals opinion..

I understand what I need to do with my feet and knees now, but what about upper body.. If I simply look in the direction of the new turn will that be enough rotation to allow for it? Or do I also need to move the hips, shoulders, and head? Or by moving the head am I really moving all three?

Sorry, just want to get everything placed together!

huskerdye

Thanks for everything snowolf, I was wondering if I could run everything by you one more time to see if it sounds like I got this right. Heading out tomorrow and wanna make sure I have it down! Anyways, I'd really appreciate it if you could just read over this and lemmee know if I'm misunderstanding something..


So I'm going down the mountain heel side, to initiate the next turn I'm going to flatten out my front foot which will cause the nose of the board to point down the fall line, a couple seconds later I'm going to flatten my back foot causing me to be on the flat face of my board, which will cause me to go straight down the mountain? I then get on my front toes and as soon as I feel that the turn has been committed I get on my toes with my back foot, looking in the direction I want to turn and moving my shoulder over my toe edge, keeping my hands behind me. And then repeat the process for heel edge?

Some final questions..

Do I need to do anything else with my back foot other than what I described above, will that be enough to go through with the turn?

When on my heel edge, my front shoulder needs to be behind my body over the heel edge of the board correct?

Also, do I, or do I not lean with my body when going through a turn? And if so am I just going to lean to which ever turn I'm on..

Also, do I need to be in a more athletic stance throughout linking turns, or during any more should I be standing up more.. I'm still kind of confused with what to do with my upper body is what I'm saying I guess.

Any other tips guys! I don't wanna miss anything!!!