IslandCrow

This is a question I've been meaning to ask. I'm guessing it's not just me, but when getting off the lift (i.e. back foot not strapped it), I find turning right (I'm a regular rider) much more difficult than turning left. In general, it hasn't been much of an issue, since generally a very gradual turn is all that's required when getting off any of the lifts at my local mountain, but I'm not sure I like having that particular weakness. So, two questions:

1) As with anything, I'm sure more practice will help. Do any of you guys actually practice riding with one foot unstrapped?

2) Any hints for me? I have found that it seems to help if I move the toe of my unstrapped foot further towards the toe edge of the board, and I have gotten better, but not much better.

sook

I did practice one footed riding on last bit of the bunny slope. My first couple seasons riding were very crowded and getting off the lift was usually a crazy experience so just being able to straight glide wasn't cutting it. I'd devote the first 15 minutes a day to it until I could turn both ways and stop on a dime.

My girlfriend is still a little nervous about the lift and I noticed that she cannot turn toeside either. Her problem is that she gets off with her knees locked, stiff legged. So she is trying to turn toeside by either leaning over her board or just flexing her ankles which just doesn't work fast enough

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Evo | 390 | Kaiju

Donutz

This is a surprisingly hard technique to master. I'm gradually getting it, and I can maneuver toe or heel side as long as it's not too extreme. Here's what I have to pay attention to:

- Weight has to be 50/50 front/back foot. Not enough weight on the back and you can't get the edge to bite, and you'll spin.
- You have to exaggerate heel or toe pressure to get the edge to bite. I actually stand on my toe with my back foot when doing toeside turns.

I've found occasionally that even if I seem to be doing everything right, the back end will wash out. In those cases, I find I can regain control if I release some edge on the front foot while driving even more edge on the back.

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Illegitimi non carborundum

Mountain Days: 30

cifex

The secret is in your shoulders. Keep them over your feet and don't twist your torso. When you get nervous, the tendency is to open up your shoulders and face the way your are going, then it's all over. Use ONLY toes/heel pressure and keep your weight 50/50 as donutz said.

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cifex

Btw..it's called 'skating'.

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Extremo

IDK if this has been said already...the responses seem ridiculously long...but you need to hang your toe over your toe edge when turning toe side, and hang your heel over your heel edge when turning heel side. It's really that simple.

mrjimyjohn

yeah like everyone else said, keep your shoulders straight,front and back feet weighted equally, but if you need to do hard turns, i like to drag my toe or heel a little bit as well (like extremo said)

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dodgemaniac

i have the opposite problem of you in that i care make the toeside turn to the right easily but the healside one harder

fayewolf

I have the *exact* issue. I usually have no issue standing and gliding forward, it is when I have to turn.. omg... i have no idea how to control the board with just one foot.

I ride goofy, and was told sit on the left side of the chair. My first fear is hitting the left side of my board onto those poles (happened on rental and now I'm paranoid). Then getting off, if i'm by myself, I'm all good, I can do a heel side turn usually with just my front foot and leave my rear foot on my board. But if I have to do a toe turn, I almost always fall down. If i ride with others, I'm always on the left which means, I almost always have to turn left in order to avoid running into them....

I may try to hang my toe out a little and drag it. I think I tried that and jerked me and I fell...

IslandCrow

Yeah, I guess I was only considering it skating if I was pushing with my back foot.

Anyway, thanks for the advice. I had noticed that hanging my back foot a little did help me turn on my heelside when I was first learning. Now, I don't really have an issue with sharp turns on that side, but perhaps it would help me toeside. I mean, I'm not completely useless in that direction, but significantly worse than turning heelside. I may just have to play around with it on the beginner hill next time and try out some of the suggested techniques. It will give me something to do when I ride by the park (which is on the way to the beginner area) only to realize there are more people in there than I want to deal with.