CheoSamad

How do you guys feel about throwing tricks in to air bags?
Does it still hurt to land on your back or face if you mess up?
Does it really help once you have to take the tricks to big jumps?
My local mountain is installing the new air bag this weekend and I want to know what to expect.

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Smokehaus

I have never used one personally, but the only thing i would be worried about would be having my board hit me after landing.

Tech420

I remember reading somewhere that if you land it perfectly (as if there was no air bag) it can mess you up pretty good. You are supposed to land a little bit off.

Shazkar

YEP

They had one at Windham

Feb 2010: I was enjoying the air bag for my first time, did it like 10 times in a row, and then decided to do ONE more time... threw a 180, landed "perfectly" with my feet down, which meant that as I sunk in, when I fell to one side, my board was stuck into the air bag.
And that is how I sprained my MCL, which has been a continual problem for me / bothered me at least to some degree ever since

Couldn't walk properly for a while after that

If you land on your face or your back or whatever you will be totally fine.

Argo

Depends on the airbag.... Ask before you jump, you can ride off of some of them

lonerider

1. It's pretty fun.
2. Landing on your whole back is fine... It stings if you land head first... but it's a LOT less painful/damaging than if you did it for real.
3. Yes, it helps you get a feel for the rotation in the air know when to spot your landings... especially for inverted tricks... for instance on a backflip/wildcat... you will know that once you see the sky a second time, you need to open up, slow your rotation and get ready to land (in the beginning a lot of people have no clue about their orientation to the ground while in the middle of the spin... i.e. if they are under/over-rotating in the air or if they are off-axis).
4. I've done three different air-bags... most of them it's much better to land on your board and then intentionally slide off your heelside onto your butt than to try and ride it out (it's actually impossible to ride it out on some setups).

MTC

Are these air bags just put out for anyone to try out or is the use supervised by proper qualified coaches/instructors who provide coaching advice?

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john doe

There is supervision but I've never heard of a coach. A coach wouldn't be of much good since most are there just to fling themselves in to the air.

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eddiethebus

airbags do seem to be more common in the euro zone, we have them indoors in the UK and at my local hill here in france. There good fun, the only time i've ever seem anyone really get hurt is when they didnt carry enough speed off the kicker to actually make the bag. They just fell of the backside of the kicker

My biggest problem with them is they tend the make the kicers narrow which makes spinning more difficult and they are artificially steep compared to 90% of park kickers as they dont want you travelling a distance. They just dont mimic most real life kickers very well.

I've never really learned very much off them

MTC

How do you guy actually learn any new skills, are you just seeing and doing without really understanding the mechanics of it all?

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Please Santa, make it snow in the UK!