[Kijima]

This has been such a fun experiment. I’ve stepped on snow with my boards setup in ways where I feared I would certainly crash. And I did, but not nearly as much, or as hard, as I feared. And I learned so much. What a great way to break the mold and improve. Thank you Kijima, you are an innovator, and also thank you to everyone open to this conversation about a topic near and
dear to my heart.

Thank you so much for the kind words mate.
I have a lot of passion for this, and being able to share it with peeps like all of you, who are open to testing crazy ideas and come back to this thread with your feedback makes it even more fun.

 

[Kijima]

My gopro has landed, and I did not have to pay import duties and tax so in the end it worked out ok.
I will do my best to produce some instructional heel turn vids over the next few weeks.

 

[Kijima]

This morning was my daughters preschool recital, and part of the performance was about snowboards because in October I had all the kids out to my workshop so they could see how snowboards are made.
Anyway they made their own boards from cardboard boxes and creatively used tissue boxes for bindings, but check the stance angles lol. FF all the way, and thats my daughter on the left

 

[Scalpelman]

Love the tiara!!

 

[MrDavey2Shoes]

I like the wood grain top sheet, I wonder where she has seen that???

Overcooked a heelside today and overshot the groomed portion of the trail. Almost got my toeside set and was soooo close to making it out but I ate it. Got away with nothing more than bruised ego...Right under the main lift lol.

Otherwise I focused on moving Up in my toesides and down in my heels. Felt good!

 

[Kijima]

.Right under the main lift lol.

 

[MCrides]

Think I was a little harsh on myself in my last comment. out yesterday and put down some really solid heel side carves.
The two things I was focusing on were getting low as early as possible in the turn—before edge change, before knee drive, really the very first thing you do to begin the turn—and getting my back knee working as well as my front, which isn’t something I’ve ever messed around with before. Haven’t really come up with a mental model of how to use the back knee yet, but there’s definitely something to it, even in a duck stance.

 

[Paxford]

Drop-knee is a technique in longboard surfing where you drop that rear knee to weight the tail, which lifts the front of the big log you are riding, then you set the edge and carve a turn on a really big board.

But the board doesn’t need to be big, you can do the same to get low and place weight in the right spot on a snowboard.

 

[Kijima]

Think I was a little harsh on myself in my last comment. out yesterday and put down some really solid heel side carves.
The two things I was focusing on were getting low as early as possible in the turn—before edge change, before knee drive, really the very first thing you do to begin the turn—and getting my back knee working as well as my front, which isn’t something I’ve ever messed around with before. Haven’t really come up with a mental model of how to use the back knee yet, but there’s definitely something to it, even in a duck stance.

There is definitely something about bringing the back knee in, it has a huge influence over your personal style. I actually saw knapton doing a much better heel turn than he was doing last season, but it still looked awkward and I think its because of his back knee sticking out limiting his upper body rotation.

You should spend a morning playing with rear binding angles and rear knee driving until you find your sweet spot.

 

[t21]

There is definitely something about bringing the back knee in, it has a huge influence over your personal style. I actually saw knapton doing a much better heel turn than he was doing last season, but it still looked awkward and I think its because of his back knee sticking out limiting his upper body rotation.

You should spend a morning playing with rear binding angles and rear knee driving until you find your sweet spot.

Ryan also do a lot of nose and tail rolls on his carving and 360's and i believe that is why his in a duck stance because he gets his strength from that by lifting his legs ang swinging it around whichever way he wants to and lands it smoothly and be ready for the next turn. just my .02 cents

 

[Kijima]

Drop-knee is a technique in longboard surfing where you drop that rear knee to weight the tail, which lifts the front of the big log you are riding, then you set the edge and carve a turn on a really big board.

But the board doesn’t need to be big, you can do the same to get low and place weight in the right spot on a snowboard.

When you drop a knee you shift your weight to that direction.
If you start a heel turn with a bent front knee and finish it with a straight front knee you have correctly weighted the edge throughout the turn.
Our legs make a triangle as we stand on a board, all we need is to shorten one side of the triangle to shift our weight

 

[Kijima]

Ryan also do a lot of nose and tail rolls on his carving and 360's and i believe that is why his in a duck stance because he gets his strength from that by lifting his legs ang swinging it around whichever way he wants to and lands it smoothly and be ready for the next turn. just my .02 cents

It's true.

 

[Kijima]

Ryan also do a lot of nose and tail rolls on his carving and 360's and i believe that is why his in a duck stance because he gets his strength from that by lifting his legs ang swinging it around whichever way he wants to and lands it smoothly and be ready for the next turn. just my .02 cents

This is the one I was referring to.
What I notice is lack of hip rotation, and his upper body is flat rather than vertical which means he has to put weight on his forearm rather than balance himself against the forces of the turn.
It's very different to how I do a heel turn with my leading hand touching but not bearing weight and upper body vertical so I can balance my weight against the forces of the turn.
Stance angles are what creates these two polar opposites of the same thing.

 

[Paxford]

IMO, eurocarve is for show, not flow, when you use hand or forearm to support yourself. Balance the triangle over the board, let your hand barely kiss the snow, not to prop you up in a carve, unless you are going for the money shot of course.

 

[t21]

This is the one I was referring to.
What I notice is lack of hip rotation, and his upper body is flat rather than vertical which means he has to put weight on his forearm rather than balance himself against the forces of the turn.
It's very different to how I do a heel turn with my leading hand touching but not bearing weight and upper body vertical so I can balance my weight against the forces of the turn.
Stance angles are what creates these two polar opposites of the same thing.

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Nice shot Kijima, now i want to see you do a front side nose roll 180 and then a backside 360 spin to your heel edge lol! I do have to say that ground tricks can be done on FF angles cuz i watch some Japanese vids were they do a lot of it and most of them are FF.

 

[Kijima]

Nice shot Kijima, now i want to see you do a front side nose roll 180 and then a backside 360 spin to your heel edge lol! I do have to say that ground tricks can be done on FF angles cuz i watch some Japanese vids were they do a lot of it and most of them are FF.

Haha I can't do that stuff like Ryan can, he is a far better snowboarder than me, I am just attracted to a different style of carving.
The style I like focuses on a heel turn whilst Ryans style focuses on a toe turn. I believe there is room for both
Japanese love ground tricks, some do nothing but ground tricks with 0 0 stance and their jackets unzipped all day long lol. Japanese chicks dig it.

 

[Kijima]

This is who I modeled my heel turn off, and I am trying to bring aspects of Ryans toe turns into my own style, but not the elbows on the ground, Im not a fan of that.

 

[MCrides]

There is definitely something about bringing the back knee in, it has a huge influence over your personal style. I actually saw knapton doing a much better heel turn than he was doing last season, but it still looked awkward and I think its because of his back knee sticking out limiting his upper body rotation.

You should spend a morning playing with rear binding angles and rear knee driving until you find your sweet spot.

Yeah, back knee in gave some power or fluidity or something as I initiated heel edge turns, but I was also playing with back knee out as I reached the wash-out point. I think with a duck stance it gives you a little more weight and pressure over the rear contact point. I've used it sometimes as a hip alignment cue when riding a T-bar, but haven't messed around with it during turns until now.

Meant to try +/+ but the screwdriver stations were put away for COVID, I guess. Next time.

 

[MrDavey2Shoes]

That video was A+

Watching it made me realize I’m staying in my heelside for too long and drawing them too far horizontal to the fall line. Probably would’ve prevent Saturday’s “mishap” 😂

 

[MCrides]

This is who I modeled my heel turn off, and I am trying to bring aspects of Ryans toe turns into my own style, but not the elbows on the ground, Im not a fan of that.

This guy's obviously legit, but I don't think I could replicate his technique. His front knee is almost locked completely straight from start to finish!