Are these dynamic turns?!!?
 

This weekend was the first time I could get out for the season(Dam you mother nature). Here is a short clip of me trying to turn dynamically. This video is from the end of the second day. I think I was a little tired so I started straightening my front leg.



Few questions:

1) Early in the weekend when I had more strength I felt like my turns were a lot better. When i was making my turns i could feel the board pulling away from me. Should I be feeling this? Is this feeling the board grabbing the edge and initiating the turn?

2) I was also focusing on keeping my knees bent when the board was under me. I would then push out on my edges. At times it felt like I was trying to stand up, and i would lose my balance. Should i be feeling this?

3) I tend to lean back a little. I was trying to focus on leaning forward this weekend. I figured if i i focused on bending my knees at the same angle i would accomplish this. How do i know if I'm leaning to far forward?

Sorry for the wall of text. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!

the link to the video.... dynanic turns?!? - YouTube

To use the youtube tag on this forum... only copy the video id (the part after "v=" and before the next "&" if there is one... in this case it is "V1StVZAPp7k". I fixed it your quote above.

Because of the relatively mild slope and the low speed, it is hard to get very "dynamic" on your turns in those conditions. You are linking your turns pretty smoothly (I find a lot of people hang on to a edge too long and "over-turn" and skid out the end of their turn)... so it's good that you are transitioning from toeside edge to flatboard to heelside edge to flatboard to toeside edge etc in a nice smooth rhythm. You are also kind of "kicking" the board out which on hard/icy slopes will cause the tail of board to slip/skid out (causing you to lose your balance).

1. Sort of? I've never thought of it quite as "pulling away" from me... but when I do a cross-under turn... the board definitely hooks and "swizzles" under me... not sure if that makes any sense

2. You shouldn't be losing your balance... but for what I consider to be dynamic turns... there is a sense of compression early in the turn initiation... and then pushing out on the edge in the middle of the carve.

3. So yes, you don't want to lean back (with straight legs)... but you also don't want to bend at the back too much (with straight legs) which I what I think you are doing. Maybe what you want to be doing is putting more weight onto your front foot. That's more leaning towards the nose of your board (versus bowing forward).

Here is a video of me trying to film myself riding with a regular camera (it is surprisingly hard to point a non-fisheye camera at yourself while snowboarding). I make no claims at all to having superior form as I tend to bend over too much on my toeside turns as well, but I think you can see my legs "compressing" at the start of a turn (especially the first turn) and then pushing out... as well as "trying" to keep my body upright and angled with the slope (I need to work on it).

I hope this helps...



The end of the video (around 1:10) has photos of the trail that I took from the chairlift the same day you can see my carved track pretty distinctly from all the other ones (some people were skeptical that I was carving my turns). If you are going to hate on my video/technique that's fine... I just request you post a video of your riding as well as a response.

I think OP's main issue is that the hill just isn't steep enough to gain the momentum needed to work the board. try exactly what you were doing on a steeper slope and you will get it no problem.

You are accentuating the quickness of the turns by swingin your back end around and skiding then locking in the turn. on a steeper slope the board will do all the snapping for you all you have to decide is when to transition.

The key here is to suck up your knees in the transition then push out as you compress through the turn. not full extended, just when as you lock in and feel the lateral force push to about 25% bent then suck back in to 50-75% as you make the transition. your upper body stays pretty much the same height off the snow through the whole thing.

Im not an expert either im just describing what it feels like when im riding.

2nd dude has it down pretty good i think.

@Lonerider: I really can't fathom why anyone would think you aren't carving in that video even without the evidence of the line at the end... You can very visibly see that you are completely on edge transitioning to the other without skidding out.

YouTube comments I'm guessing?

To be fair, I'm sure his form is much better when he isn't using a regular point and shoot camera. He mentioned that he had to consciously maintain the camera's angle because it wasn't a sports cam like a GoPro with a wide angle lens.

Can you come to Michigan and give me free lessons? :D

A pre-apology for slightly hijacking this thread :) I do believe my form wasn't the best since I was focusing on aiming the camera at myself... but it probably as it exposes technique issues I need to work on anyway (I think everyone's form breaks down a little when they are distracted).

Yea, I definitely noticed I was not extending my legs out as much as I think I could have, especially on the toeside where sometimes I'm basically completely "compressed" I think I was worried that I'll over-pressure pressure the edge and/dig my toes into the snow (boot drag is my nemesis... the end of the video where I slid out on my heeledge is my boot heel/binding dragging into the snow). That why I am more conservative in boot overhang discussions.

I do try to the do the fore-aft movement to hang onto the carve... for me it feels like I shift my weight forward to initiate the edge just in front of my front binding (i.e. the front contact point) and during the carve, my weight shifts down the edge until I reach the part just past my back binding.

Thanks for the tips, but I think we should keep the focus on the OP!

I think when I was kicking my back foot out I was trying to bleed more speed off. I didn't want to get to far ahead of my camera man. I also think I tend to kick my back foot out when I'm tired. To correct this should I apply more pressure with my uphill foot. So if I'm doing a toe side turn I'll push my uphill heel down and push my down hill toe into the snow? Also, if my memory is correct from previous posts I've read I only apply this pressure early in the turn?

Do I throw my knees forward and throw my butt down with both dynamic skidded turns and dynamic carved turns. Is the only difference between the two turns my transition and what I do with my ankles?