carving

Question
I just started snowboarding. Done it about 7 times now.  I can do turns at high speeds ok (medium blue slopes). But my turns are more like skids where I end up skidding/braking just as I turn.  I see people carving that makes that "S" curve trail behind.  Can you explain a little how that is done?

Answer
Hey Dave,

Welcome to the world of single planking. I can/will give you some tips on getting into carving turns but the BEST advice I can give would be to get a 1-2 hour private lesson. Be sure to ask for an experienced instructor. This one lesson will do amazing things for your snowboarding abilities. My third day on a board was a one on one lesson and I was ripping carved turns like crazy.

So, until you decide to upgrade your riding via a lesson, here are some tips that may help you.

The best advice I give to all newer boarders is:
BEND YOUR KNEES, BEND YOUR KNEES, BEND YOUR KNEES!
Most newer riders don't bend their knees enough. Watch other riders the next time you are out and you will notice how many folks seem to be standing straight up. If you see someone making good carving turns, notice how much their knees are really bent. The best way to remind yourself to bend your knees is to think about SQUATTING YOUR HIPS. When you squat down, what happens? You automatically BEND YOUR KNEES. BENDING YOUR KNEES causes the board to tip onto the edge more. On a toeside turn, squatting the hips to bend the knees lifts your HEELS. On a heelside turn, this action lifts the toes. Your board has a curve (called sidecut) built into it. When you rail the board onto the edge, this natural curve cause the board to turn. The further onto the edge the board goes, the tighter the turn.

Squatting and unsquatting the hips helps you transition from one turn to the other. You may have heard people talk about weighting and unweighting the board. This can be done by simply raising your hips up to take pressure off the edge. This is the point that you should be crossing over the fall line to start the next turn. As you start into the next turn, squat the hips to edge the board. Practice this up and down motion to get the feel of weighting and unweighting the board.

The next thing to think about is your foot position. If you are freestyling in the terrain park or half pipe, generally the riding stance has both feet somewhere around 0 degrees. If you want to do freeriding all over the mountain and also carve the board alot (this is my style of riding), then you should set your feet somewhere about 15-25 degrees forward for the rear and about 30-45 degrees for the front. Experiment with these postions to find what works best for you. Mine are set about 20 & 45. The more forward that your feet are, the easier it is to carve turns. If you are riding soft boots and want to ride all runs, then the ranges I've mentioned should work well for you.

When you go into a turn, along with squatting to bend the knees, you can also use your knees to help with the turn. This is done by rotating or rolling the knees in the direction you want to go. This can be accomplished by just rolling the knees into the turn or, you can rotate your shoulders into the turn, which will rotate your hips into the turn, which rotates the knees into the turn. As you start perfecting your carve turns, the shoulder, hip, and knee rotation will become much more subtle.

For starters, pretend you have a 6' stick in your hands and you are holding it like the handlebar of a bike (hands shoulder and a half width apart in the middle of the stick). When you want to make a toeside turn, rotate your shoulders and lay the end of the stick in the snow near the tail of your board. When the shoulders rotate, the hips and knees will follow. Same action on a heelside turn. This is an exagerated motion to get you into the feel of carving. You don't have to be going real fast for this practice. Just carry enough speed to keep you going into the next turn.

Another way to get more turn/carve out of your board is to squeeze your knees together during the turn. When your board is on an edge and the natural curve is creating the carve turn, squeezing the knees together flexes the board even more. This causes the board to carve an even tighter turn. The more flexible your board is the more this action will help with carving. Again, doing this initially should be an exagerated movement to get the feel of what effect this has. As you get better it will become a subtle movement.

As mentioned before, getting an advanced lesson will improve your abilities as much or more than 5 more days of riding without a lesson. Best of luck with your advancement of snowboarding.

Did I mention to BEND YOUR KNEES?

Have a great season,
Windlover