[keel_bright]

Heyyo,

Here's a video of me trying to have a nice carvy run:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fff1nyWEgO9FUkVXCClh5pLAOYt0B8Pn/view

I've always thought I have a weaker carve but I don't know how to improve it.

As you can see I struggle to hold an edge even when I lean in. Around 1:10 I'm fully committed to that heelside turn but you can see me struggling to keep the board from washing out under me and it's sliding left and right. I don't think I could get any lower without washing out. Maybe I'm distributing pressure incorrectly?

In this video I'm riding a YES Greats from 2013 which is Camrock. It's not supposed to be a washy board, the edges were sharpened with 2 degree bevel at the beginning of the season, and this day wasn't particularly icy in condition - the groomers were perfect. I don't ride rocker boards in general and I can't imagine trying to carve with one LOL. I just don't understand how some people can eurocarve rocker-dominant boards and I can barely hold an edge with this camber-dominant one.

Thanks for any input!

 

[Oldman]

Hey Keel

The first thing I would suggest you do is find, if possible, a wider trail to work on. The one you showed us is rather narrow to really put any board on edge and set a carve.

Your general technique is fine, but to really get a good feel for proper weight distribution on a heel side carve you need a wide enough trail to set the carve and sit on it for a while so you can play with your technique and find your "sweet spot"

There are a number of recent threads dealing with just this skill.

Be sure to check them out.

Cheers!

 

[speedjason]

Need more knee bend and weight shifting. Notice at 1:10 when you bent your knees and went lower, the edge immediately started to engage?
Also, your turn initiation is not using the front foot but rather ruddering the back leg.
There is not fore-aft weighting on the edges.
Maybe a little bit of back seat riding.
The snow is a bit firm for my liking.

 

[chomps1211]

Agree /w @Oldman!

Watch any of the Ryan Knapton carving vids, most of his carving runs are done on very wide open slopes.

Summa those trail sections you're on don't look any wider than a CAT track.

As soon as you set an edge, you have to transition. Not the best terrain to rail a long drawn out Euro!!

:hairy:









(....also get lower!) >

 

[neni]

Need more knee bend and weight shifting. Notice at 1:10 when you bent your knees and went lower, the edge immediately started to engage?
Also, your turn initiation is not using the front foot but rather ruddering the back leg.
There is not fore-aft weighting on the edges.
Maybe a little bit of back seat riding.
The snow is a bit firm for my liking.

Agree with this, except the firm snow which seemed pretty perfect IMO .

In addition, OP, you're on the right track. You do bend quite well at times with your knees; now it's a matter of timing and get the right weight shift.

What I would like to see is less fwd bend of upper body. Fwd bent upper body while low in knees nullifies the effect of edge tilt through low knees. Practice on a wider slope to lean more into the wider longer carve, work on the lean without sticking your but out. Concentrate on those low knees WITH not that much fwd bend in the waist so you transfer more weight over the edge (i.e. do nit stick butt out that much) on heelside.

 

[speedjason]

Agree with this, except the firm snow which seemed pretty perfect IMO .

Idk, I perfer a slush ish snow because I can dig edge in deeper.

 

[F1EA]

Yes to what's been said.

Check this:

Don't get hung up on "carving". You don't have to really really really carve all the time...

There's a couple earlier sections higher up on the run you were at, where you can get longer turns and actually do some carving when it's not too crowded. But on this bottom portion, you would be mixing it up a bit more.

 

[Rip154]

That board needs a good waxing. Get more speed and try to stay on edge in longer turns so you get the right feeling. Just point it further down the hill. It's harder at low speed and flat terrain. You look like you will get it soon.

 

[LALUNE]

Agree with this, except the firm snow which seemed pretty perfect IMO .

In addition, OP, you're on the right track. You do bend quite well at times with your knees; now it's a matter of timing and get the right weight shift.

What I would like to see is less fwd bend of upper body. Fwd bent upper body while low in knees nullifies the effect of edge tilt through low knees. Practice on a wider slope to lean more into the wider longer carve, work on the lean without sticking your but out. Concentrate on those low knees WITH not that much fwd bend in the waist so you transfer more weight over the edge (i.e. do nit stick butt out that much) on heelside.

Neni is just always spot on.

If I just want to carve, firm snow will be the best. I can go as fast as I want while leaving deep trenches, and if anything is wrong with my technique, I would slide instead of leaving a thin pencil line. Slushy conditions just give more margin of error for carving and have lower limits on how low you can go before washing out.

Hunching is not the way you want to "squat down" when snowboarding. Your knees are not effectively more bended over to absorb more chatter, at the same time, you always weight more on the heel side. Personally I found a useful trick to get the idea of the proper "squat" pose is to try flatbase striaight line a mildly bumpy run. This butt out squat will result in always turning towards your heel edge rather than staying on a straight line.

Attached a pic of a better posture, but ideally your back should be more straight up while bending your knees.

 

[flatlander1]

The main thing that stands out is you need to increase your board angle on the snow. You are successfully rolling onto your edges, but barely. A more aggressive edge angle will give you more grip and a sharper turn radius, and you'll start to feel those g-forces building on your carves. shifting your weight forward to start a carve and back toward the end will help too.

 

[RayC]

Bend your knees more, increase highback angle forward and Increase board angle! (Away from being parallel with slope!)

 

[Aracan]

Apart from the problem of the narrow slope, I see pronounced counterrotation. Successful carving is not going to happen before you get rid of that, no matter how often you bend down to grab snow.

 

[keel_bright]

Hey everyone, just wanted to say thanks!

I tried carving toeside more upright the other day and it was much better. For some reason in all these years riding I didn't put it together that it helps to be more upright. I guess I just thought that I wouldn't be able to produce enough centrifugal force if my body was upright rather than if I was extending through the quads while leaning in. Apparently it's the opposite.

 

[DBusby]

WARNING IM AN INSTRUCTOR. Yeah your exactly right carving in a more upright position (on the toe edge) can be super effective. It's great also in free riding. One reason it's better is that it takes less time to get into the edge and you can apply pressure to the edge sooner as you don't need to lean over so far. The other reason is that the center of mass is more stable. You could draw a line from your head to your toe side and your center of mass should run through that line.

One thing you can do to help that is take your back hand and turn your thumb down whilst putting it next to your back hip. Try it. Now try and lift it up to shoulder height while the thumb is still turned down. The muscles shouldn't be used to this movement. If you ride in this way with your back hand tucked in and thumb down you will be less tempted to reach for the snow and encouraged to push your hips forward to generate that power on your toe edge.

 

[Aracan]

take your back hand and turn your thumb down [...] and lift it up to shoulder height while the thumb is still turned down [...] ride in this way with your back hand tucked in

Where exactly is his hand supposed to be? Near the hip? "Tucked in" somewhere? At shoulder height, i.e. arm stretched?

Yeah your exactly right carving in a more upright position (on the toe edge) can be super effective.

I would love to see you prove that on a steep hill.

 

[MrDavey2Shoes]

Where exactly is his hand supposed to be? Near the hip? "Tucked in" somewhere? At shoulder height, i.e. arm stretched?

I would love to see you prove that on a steep hill.

Step 1. Point thumb down
Step 2. Tuck thumb in bum
Step 3. ...
Step 4. Profit

 

[MCrides]

What are the best tips for stacking weight over the edge of the board on your *heel* edge? It's so much easier on the toe edge since knees and ankles bend the way they do, but I find it tough to aggressively tilt the board onto the heel edge without letting my center of mass end up way back behind the edge -- I'm much more likely to wash out on my heel edge for that reason.

I've found that focusing on dropping my butt to my highbacks is a great mental cue that keeps me from sticking it out too far, but at a certain point I still have to bend at the waist to get the board far enough up on edge.

Also, this is my first post. Sup y'all.

 

[Deacon]

Book a private lesson and tell them exactly what you want to work on. You'll get more out of that hour than 1000 internet posts and videos.

 

[SigFig2000]

A wider run will definitely make it easier to lock into a carve. One that is a little steeper might help too. You don't need as aggressive of an angle as quick as on a narrow, less steep run.

Another thing that might help is thinking of the transition between heal and toe edge as one that kind of 'bounces' (for lack of a better term). So think of being all the way over on your toes. Instead of leaning back to get to your heals, try unweighting by standing up slightly and then dropping down into a more aggressive carve. Do the same thing when transitioning back to your toes from your heels. This will also help make sure that you are keeping your knees bent. Another thing is it helps to think of some of that carving motion coming from your hips instead of leading into it with your upper body.

Hope this makes sense and helps you! Your carves are already looking pretty good though! :smile:

 

[Aracan]

What are the best tips for stacking weight over the edge of the board on your *heel* edge?

+/+ angles.
Sorry, but that's the easiest way.