doing paths?

Question

Hi all

I am new to snowboarding,i can link turns and do the odd trick here and there however when i get to hill of little gradient which i have to go straight i begin to panic as i feel like i`m due to take a tumble because the back seems to feel like the back is going come round to the front.

How can i stop this? what am i doing wrong i am fine doing a red run e.t.c but the slow stuff catches me out and its beginning to put me off.

I have already dislocated 3 fingers and torn the ligaments and broke a bone in my arm and stretched my ligaments/tendons on my knee.Not very lucky but i really wish to progress.I am away to meribel in 2 weeks time and wish to be in the right frame of mind.

to boarderchick

i notice you are an instructor,i was taught to point and lean with your leading leg/foot just before xmas but i have now been told this is the old way to learn how to link turns e.t.c

I can link turns ok and i have now managed to drop the arm and just point my shoulder is the correct way ?if not could you please explain to me the easiest way?
reguards neil

Answer 1

Genius is completely right about taking lessons. This is will be the easiest way for you to learn. However instead of spending the money on a private lesson, try to go during the daytime of a weekday or on a day that isn't going to be perfect weather. Avoid weekends and nights as much as possible. During the daytime you will likely be lucky enough to get to the group lessons and find that you are the only one with your experience! Presto: private lesson for the price of a group.

Now to help you with your problems without a lesson. Saying that you can link turns is a great start. I am assuming you meant on the green circle runs instead of red (never heard of a red run) If you back foot wants to come to the front is could be a couple things. Have you tried going the other way? People who start out natural and when their back foot wants to lead they find out they are actually goofy. Another possibility is that you have too much weight on your back foot. Years ago we taught students to put all their weight on the front foot and then shift them back when they got better. Now we teach that you want your weight 50/50 on each foot. If you are able to link turns on gentle terrain, you should not have too much trouble when doing to a blue square run. The trick when going to steeper hills is to take things back a step. Work on one turn at a time again and go slow. Gradually pick up speed as you get more comfortale with the turns. When you are comfortable on the blue terrain then do this same thing with the black diamond trails and then double black diamonds.

Dislocating fingers is supposedly the number 1 injury riders face, though I have rarely heard of them in all my years teaching. This can be avoided by making sure any time you fall you have your thumb tucked into your hand and your fingers wrapped around so you land in a fist. This can jeopardize your wrist either way though. Whenever you fall do your best to fall uphill instead of downhill and try to fall on knees/butt before putting out your hands to catch you. Better a bruised bum then a broken wrist. Some people I know wear football pads if you fall a lot.

One last thing: the guy that answered just before me has some good advise, but if you take a lesson change where he put "rails" into "edge" and you instructor will know what you are talking about. It took me several minutes to realize he was talking about the metal "edges" on the snowboard and not about going into the park and doing some rails. Otherwise what he said about "rails/edges" was correct and good advise.


ADDED INFO:
I am not sure I've heard too much about pointing and leaning with the shoulder. I have heard of using your knee as a "headlight" on a car and point your knee to trace your path. The problem I see with using your shoulder instead of your knee is you will learn to use your upper body to make your turns, which is not the ideal way.


As far as the leaning goes: there are 4 different types of turns - you can do basic turns (your whole body stays straight and leans forward/backwards for your turns) or dynamic turns (your body becomes 2 independent pieces, your upper body stays quiet and still while your legs flex/extend under you and away from you as you do your turns) and then there are skidded (you "windshield wipe your turns) and carved (make a pencil line in the snow) turns. You can combine these to make basic skidded, basic carved, dynamic skidded and dynamic carved turns. Any of them are correct and by leaning in you can a good basic turn. Keep in mind when leaning that you want to keep your bum tucked up under you and your back up straight. If you use your shoulder to initiate turns (I'd prefer to use the knee though) make sure you do not rotate your upper body too much or you can throw yourself off balance by having your front torso facing straight down the hill instead of being sideways with your board. Your arms stay quiet at your sides (front hand on inside thigh, back hand on outside and slightly behind back thigh) since if you throw your hands about you "open" your body up and can easily get your weight too far back.

Hope this helped you out some more and didn't get to techy (I tend to get that way sometimes :-) I'll check back again if you have more questions or I confused you your added questions.

Answer 2

Technique is most important for sure, but also demo a good new board and see if the same thing happens. Don't know what your riding, but I've been on a lot of different boards over the last 18 years and sometimes you get one that doesn't track well. Meaning it doesn't ride like it's on rails, real sketchy and hard to control. Sometimes you get a board where the edges aren't perfectly parallel symmetrically or the board is warped. This will cause all kinds of trouble if your not an experienced rider. If you are experienced you can usually deal with it if the board not too messed up.

Answer 3

I think that your scenario is a common one for people who start to progress in the sport and want to attempt more challenging terrain. However, without much experience, riders may feel out of control. The solution here is really just technique. When I first read the question I immediately thought "not using rails." If you are trying to ride with the board totally flat against the mountain you will have no control. You should always be on one rail or another - never spend much time with your board all the way flat. You're likely to catch a rail that way, especially if there's a significant amount of snow. If you are using your rails correctly, your back foot should never leave its position, as the rail "locks" the board into the line you have chosen through the snow. Good luck and keep at it!

Answer 4

yeah i just started and i kinda know what your talking about. idk if u've taken actual lessons or anything but i took 2 lessons (one for each day i've gone boarding). i can link turns and get some speed and pretty much get down w/ out falling.

to answer your question, try bending your knees a bit more and have more pressure in your "front" foot that your back foot.

if that doesn't work make sure that you are keeping your chest and board parallel like im a skier and im used to facing downward so in the beginning i tended to turn my chest to face more "down the hill" insdead of off pointing to the side of the trail. im reg so when i'd bring my right shoulder to point towards the bottom of the trail, my back leg would lose quite a bit of control.

if that doesn't work try getting a lesson, idk wut u've heard about them but you make a lot of progress in lessons. its probably some little technical thing your doing wrong, and they'd b able to fix it. oh yeah make sure u go for like a 1 hour private lesson, its more money but they really focus on your progress.

Answer 5

You need to practise the hokiekokie move. First put your left leg in, your right leg out, in out, in out and shake it all about.

That's what it's all about