Hayabusa

I started boarding like a month ago and just starting to get a feel for jumps.
went off the small jumps in the park and even managed to land a few
Although there's only like 2 jumps in the park and I keep having ride the lift to practice only twice

It seems that I should practice on side hits on the runs before the park?
I'm not entirely sure what to look for with side hits. Are they just any bumps in the snow?

I've tried following tracks that other riders go on, but they seem really high up or like go through a bunch of trees, didn't appear to be very beginner friendly. Once I tried to follow tracks on to one just to ride over and see what it would be like only to find there was another one right behind sort of like a w. So I rolled out of that one.

Is there a way to spot these side hits? Or is it mainly trial and error?
or any place there's a significant change with the angle of the hill?

ThunderChunky

Usually on the sides on the trail. They usually cut out and then cruve back into the trail sending you either backside or frontside depending on your stance and which side of the trail it's on. Can practice anywhere that has a sudden drop or little lip to get air.

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CassMT

hard to say without seeing the hill but...might want to hit where others have gone before, landings can get hammered really fast though, so take a mental not eof where the hits are, then be there first when the next snow comes...

i like wall hits, burms/walls sometimes run the length of the hill and you hit like wave, frontside, backside, get used to how these feel.....again this is all maybe really useless with no idea where you ride...if it looks like you can get some air on something just...try

falling is good, it means you are pushing yourself, overcoming fear...it gets easier, i been riding years and years and i still eat shit at least one a day...whoop

Hayabusa

I usually hit up cypress (local mountain close to town)
although I'm going to check out whistler on the weekend

so I wanted to get an idea of what to look for

NWBoarder

Take the run that you are hoping to play on and watch some others to see what they are hitting. Then you will at least ahve an idea. But really, if it looks like you can catch some air from it, then you probably can. Rollers are also good. More fun than a park jump sometimes. It's fun to come in hot and just give a little pop where the hill rolls and just sail.

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Oh yeah!? Well, my mom says I'm cool!

MarshallV82

Watch others ride.

Just go into some sparse trees/moguls and pop right back onto a groomer, there's typically a nice little kicker type hit.

pop off the snow that's around lift poles, there's decent little bumps there to practice getting air off of, typically out in the open. Hug the side of groomers if crowds/conditions allow and pop/ollie off the roller (random bump/lip in a groomer or a steep run that has a cat walk going through the middle of it)

Moguls are your best bet, just cruise them a few times and look for spots on the edge, they're bound to be there.

Here's some random video I searched for that shows a nice side-hit off the side of a groomer, these are everywhere. You can hit it slow and get some practice.

Hayabusa

Cool
the video really helped~
Don't really have the terminology down yet so I wasn't sure of what sort of shapes/ terrain I should be looking for.

Still working on learning to ollie... so can't really picture how to ollie off a jump yet. But I'll jump off them ^_^

I'll let you guys know how it goes

MarshallV82

When you hit jumps like in the video kinda bend down as you approach the jump and extend as you leave the lip. Stay loose! Get your speed right and try not to speed check right before or after the Jump.
If you have to abort the jump just weight the front of your board and you'll ride right over the top, if you speed check it's worse.

Have fun!

CassMT

yep remember:

get low to get high

crouch, launch up, pull up more,(tweeeek), extend a bit, land and compress, on to the next

whistler should be good, i hear they got some jumps up there, hehe