cb1021

jlm1976

Noir,
As long as your leg length changes through the turn(same as saying the distance between the board and the rider's COM changes), it's a dynamic turn. Whether it's an up/down unweighting and how much is determined by the rider, terrain, and conditions. This is why I prefere to talk in terms of what the board/body is doing than a term for a turn...ie "When I am finishing a down unweighted dynamic turn" is pretty much the same thing as saying "When I bend my legs at the end of a turn".
For me, if I am really cranking some carves, I keep my legs extended through more of the turn to build edge pressure so that when I compress them at the last second to drop my weight down hill, release all that edge pressure, and explode into the next turn.
Your last statement is pretty much the heart of why generally, once a rider gets used to compressing the lower body at the end of the turn that is pretty much all they use and "up unweighting" becomes used less and less.

bcc,
To get the effortless look to dolphin turns, it's all about generating tail pressure quickly at the end of the your turn. To get a feel for it, head to a green, very easy run and flat board down the fall line. While flat boarding, slide the board forward with your back foot. If you do it quick enough the front board will lift up on it's own. Once you have that, after the board lifts up, spring off the tail to turn the move into an ollie. That is what you need to get going at the end of your turn for a "dolphin turn". Also, they aren't just an excercise. As I got better at bumps, I found that leaving my legs loose wasn't enough to absorb bumps. I needed to actively absorb them in order to not get knocked around and that move is one of the ways to do it.

NoirX252

jlm -->

Do you find extending/compressing actively throughout the turn decreases stability on hard conditions such as ice or when going beyond the speed envelope of a board and still trying to make it carve (it wants to lose an edge but you angulate and keep your center of mass so close to the board, you just muscle the edge into the snow)

I realize when keeping the COM close to the board, you naturally lose some ability to tilt the board up on edge, especially the heel side, (but I use aggressive forward angles like 48/42, so this is less of an issue).

In my own experience, if I kept myself compressed (knees about 90 degree bent, but during a carve it feels like my ass is going to hit my boot), I get superior edge hold, and I still have room to down unweight aggressively. I'm still pushing against the board, but not in a way that my legs extend away from the board. I can ride different ways, but I have found the way I just described works best on ice and such.

But this is my own experience, if I'm wrong (snowwolf?) someone please correct me. Looking to improve my riding further this coming season.

jlm1976

Actively extending and compressing your lower body thoughtout a turn will usually increase stability in any condition because it's one of the best ways to manage edge pressure in a turn, especially as you move into the lower part of your turn. Compressing in the lower part of the turn can help keep edge pressure from increasing to the point of the edge breaking free and you landing on your butt. This is also true for when the terrain gets steeper.
It's also important to remember that like any other movement involved in snowboarding, actively changing leg length through your turn isn't always done through your maximum range of motion. Sometimes it's slight, subtle changes that make all the difference.
Also it's the timing of the move. In Brian's AWESOME toeside turn at 1:47, see how his CM starts wobbling to the inside and outside of the turn? That's due to Bryan gettins too extended too early in the turn.


I've never really found that to be an issue in lower angles(I right 18, -12). The trick to angulating on your heelside in lower angles is getting your butt below your knees

In my own experience, if I kept myself compressed (knees about 90 degree bent, but during a carve it feels like my ass is going to hit my boot), I get superior edge hold, and I still have room to down unweight aggressively. I'm still pushing against the board, but not in a way that my legs extend away from the board. I can ride different ways, but I have found the way I just described works best on ice and such.

But this is my own experience, if I'm wrong (snowwolf?) someone please correct me. Looking to improve my riding further this coming season.[/QUOTE]
IF you figure something out based on your own experience, you can't be wrong.

WVrider84

Found a couple more videos to share

Cross under Turns - YouTube

emdee406's Channel - YouTube

Justin

i haven't taken many leasons. last leason i took was when i was comfortable on blues. the instructor instructed me to only use up-unweighting, was this becuase of where i was in my riding? also when is up-unweighting benificial over down-unweighting?

CheeseForSteeze

Some dolphin turns with alternating frontside and switch front 1's

Would be a good tool to add whether you are a freeride or freestyle. Nice CASI vids, too though the soundtrack for Level 2 is a big 90's pornish.

jlm1976

True...once you get those it's time to go for the same thing but with heelside dolhpin turns and backside 1's...they are way scarier but super fun!

skip11

Just a solid riding clip

Big Vail Fun - Snowboarding with Sando - YouTube

WVrider84

That's some sick riding!