Cane700

Speak of the Devil and he appears. I went out to the slopes the other day and the first rider I notice has hard boots and a carving board with plate bindings. LOL.

DRA6N

So I finally have my toe side carving down pretty damn good. I had to learn to thow my weight and really kick that back foot out there. I also found out my bindings werent setup right. I never realized there as a piece on the bottom of the binding under where your toes are that actually slides out, after moving this I found I had a LOT more toe control than before!

now Im waiting for my RuRoc helmet and some impact shorts and knee pads and gonna start playing on some rails and little jumps!

thanks for the help guys!

Ichabod

So I'm trying to work out if I'm developing a good habit or a bad one with my toeside turns.

I'm a beginner, second season, 49 years old, slow learner , blues and some blacks, (I rarely fall - other than on flat ground, my nemesis - which I actually take as a kind of bad sign as I could be pushing myself more?).

Anyway, I've learned a lot from reading here, and I thank you.

At first I was using too much weight on my back leg, so I did what I read here, and started reaching my front hand down to my front knee, and it improved things immediately.

As of yesterday I felt like I was getting weight forward nicely and then kind of lifting my rear foot and forcing the rear of the board around. It felt much closer to carving, as I was gaining speed coming out of the turn instead of scrubbing off speed, and I found myself almost shooting back up the hill. (I'm sure I wasn't actually lifting the rear of the board but that was the feeling.)

So - does that match with "kicking that rear foot out there", or am I developing a bad habit that I should nip in the bud right now?

skunkworks_

If the first instinct for a beginner is to put too much weight on the rear leg, then the second instinct is to swing the board around with their rear leg to transfer edges. This is known as a pivot turn: you put weight on your front foot and swing your rear leg like a windshield wiper, and the board pivots on your front foot. If you add a sideslip in between each pivot, you're doing pivot slips.

These are quick maneuvers that allows you to change directions quickly, and as such, are appropriate for navigating snow conditions where there's limited space and time for you to maneuver. This often occurs on moguls, or if you're on a slope that's above your level.

However, it's not graceful or economical technique. You're essentially forcing the board to move the way you want it to with your leg strength (and possibly by swinging your arms, a big no-no). The general idea with snowboarding is to use the board's edge and the sidecut to do the bulk of the work in a turn. If you're constantly throwing the board around with pivot turns, you are tiring yourself out unnecessarily.

It's really important as a beginner to learn how to turn properly, and the way to turn properly at first is the skidded turn. Skidded turns are initiated by your front foot. Let's say you're riding along on your heel edge, which means your weight is balanced on both heels. To transfer to your toe edge, you put more pressure on your front foot's toe while keeping your back foot's weight on the heel. The two opposing forces cancel each other out: your board flattens out, which causes the board to point down the hill and pick up some speed. As this occurs, finish the turn by finally transferring weight on your rear foot from the heel to the toe. Now your weight is only on your toes, which causes the board to go on the toe edge, which causes it to turn in a new direction.

I really recommend taking a look at Snowolf's and Snow Professor's videos on garland turns. They are the perfect drill for learning how to use your front foot to initiate turns, and you'll have a much more natural feel for how your weight distribution on your front foot will change the direction of the board.