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Why have twintips...

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
...if you can't ski fakie (edit - switch!)?

I see loads of skiers on the mountain who have twin tips, and I see very few people who can ride fakie (edit - switch!), so why bother getting twin tips if you can't ski backwards?


Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Thu 15-09-05 13:20; edited 1 time in total
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To spray your mates with the roostertail, duh.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
it does make it easier to *learn* to ski fakie. Skiing fakie is quite tricky, so I don;t ski fakie nearly asmuch as I ski normally.

mind you , the fact I can't ski fakie may have somethign to do with that....
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Kramer, Most (if not all) ski equipment is owned by people who can't use all it potential.........me included ! snowHead
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Kramer, your B2 has twin tips, so learn. I am. It isn't all that difficult to execute reasonable slowish parallellish turns fakie. I couldn't say I'm good at it but I can make it down MK backwards not too slowly doing almost parallel turns without hitting anyone, though only when there isn't anyone on the slope. wink
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Comprex hit the nail on the head.

Also, because my Seth Pistols have Union Jack bases, and I am a patriotic skier...
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slikedges, I can ski fakie. I wouldn't quite call the B2s twin tips, although they do make nice rooster tales.
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After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
nbt is spot on - you'll never learn to ski backwards (or more importantly backwards safetly) unless you've twin tips....and it's increasingly creeping into instructors syllabusses (freestyle module for BASI Grade II as option vs racing module now) ...so over the coming seasons more and more skiers will be introduced to it as it filters down as a drill/technique...nearly came a cropper riding switch at hillend last weekend...think I'll stick to fakie on snow
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What is 'skiing fakie'? I've never heard this expression before - is it 'just' skiing backwards?
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Cathy Coins, yep, it's a snowboarder term really.
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Cathy Coins, yes, it is just skiing backwards, I think, it's what I mean anyway Very Happy I guess it comes from boarding. I ride regular (board set-up for left foot forwards; goofy is right-foot forward set-up) but if I turn my board 180 so I'm riding it right foot forwards, I'm riding it fakie. Actually I think the right term for skis is skiing switch, but I'm way too old to be sure.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
when it comes to freestyle there really is a blurring of terms between ski and snowboard names for manoevres....we even share the same baggy trousers wink
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Kramer, dg3, which shoulder do you look over?
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
slikedges wrote:
Kramer, dg3, which shoulder do you look over?


Is this a man thing?? Laughing

Thanks marc gledhill & slikedges, I think I've got it...just don't introduce new terms like riding goofy Madeye-Smiley Very Happy
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
I always thought the terms fakie and switch were interchangeable.

slikedges, I look over my left shoulder. I can't do it on anything more challenging than a blue, but it's something to practice, along with flat spins.
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 Poster: A snowHead
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Fakie is a boarding term expressing which way you face when stood on the board. Riding Switch is going backwards.

So looks like all you chaps who got it wrong are fakies as you don't have a clue what you are talking about.
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Kramer, yes, left shoulder for me too. I've never paralleled switch on a real hill, only backwards snowploughed leading the kids. Do you need to learn to get comfortable looking over the right too?
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
FastCarver, and you need to learn to read Puzzled
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FastCarver, I'm pretty sure that the term for which way you face is regular or goofy.

slikedges, I'm not particularly adept at it, so I would hate to give any advice. Perhaps when I've practiced it a bit more this winter. I would say that you know that you're good at it when you can take off and land a jump doing it.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
way I was taught on 'riding switch' (probably the 'correct' term wink ):

1. Always keep poles facing backup the hill - you don't want to shish kebab yourself
2. Going straight - you can keep head neutral (straight forwards) with quick glances for safety
3. Turning - look over the shoulder of the opposite turn direction ie. turning right (if someone watching you come down the slope) then look over left shoulder etc. this gives you a better chance to scope terrain ahead for obstacles/people

Great tip I got was to initiate each turn with a slight advance of the lead turning ski, within a wide hip-width platform - sorry guys this probably all reads as double dutch as you need to think about it going backwards...

oh and fastcarver - what rules? who cares? when I passed my ISIA teaching, my examiner was cool with my language...
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This does seem to suggest that riding fakie as a snowboarding term is riding with your back foot at the front. Perhaps its evolved into a different meaning for skiers?
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Rules? Who mentioned rules? I seem to have upset a few people with a terrible pun. Oh dear sense of humour failyre at snowheads
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falure. (sorry about the typo)
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Cathy Coins, I hate to point out the obvious, but if you're riding with your back foot at the front, then you are riding backwards.
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Everyone, this from above,

slikedges wrote:

I ride regular (board set-up for left foot forwards; goofy is right-foot forward set-up) but if I turn my board 180 so I'm riding it right foot forwards, I'm riding it fakie. Actually I think the right term for skis is skiing switch,
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Kramer, surely not Puzzled it would mean you're riding facing the opposite way to that which you face normally. Is that not so? Like the difference between riding goofy and regular - you just switch over and ride the other way?

(I don't know any of this and I don't really care Very Happy )
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
oh was i right then Confused
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So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
slikedges, I know, I was going to point out you said this but thought everyone could read it anyway Very Happy .
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
"you don't have a clue what you are talking about"...fastcarver - it wasn't your "fakies" pun that upset me/us (thought it was quite funny Very Happy ) - just thought you were a tad harsh assuming people on the board knew nothing, that's all
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
dg3, when I started I used to look over the shoulder opposite the turn direction as you describe but all that turning of the head made me dizzy so I've just been looking over the left of late. I vaguely remember thinking that people I've seen on the mountain tend to look over only one shoulder too, but they might not have been very good, just dabblers like me.

I've also found advancing the uphill/outside ski to seem to be how I initiate the switch parallel but haven't spent much time thinking about weight balance position etc yet, just glad it hasn't been too difficult to learn!
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FastCarver wrote:
falure. (sorry about the typo)


Try again, go on it might be "third time lucky". snowHead
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Cathy Coins, I see what you mean. Fakie is with your normally back foot in the front binding, and vice versa. So although the board is still going forwards, you are on it t'other way round.

Can someone who knows about the terminology confirm whether this is correct? FastCarver perhaps?

BTW, I think it's quite reasonable that someone suggests that I don't have a clue what I'm talking about, often I make it up as I go along. Very Happy
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
slikedges, can you do flat spins?

I can get from forwards to backwards pretty easily, but to get back again is more difficult.
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silkedges, I know ,it does get a bit disorientating - but if you stick with it, definately safer for you and others when riding switch. You've cracked the way BASI teach switch turn initiation - by trialing the ski advancement, really helps increase the probability of a making a good turn vs the dreaded ski diverging moment and backwards disaster - yes I had a bit of a painful switch learning curve...
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Cathy Coins, Kramer, a board has a nose and tail and can be set-up left foot fore (regular) or right foot fore (goofy). If you ride it tail first in either set-up you are riding fakie. Then there's duck...

Kramer, I can just about do a forwards to backwards left turning skis on slope flat spin, but haven't tried any in the air yet - I'll wait till I can ski switch a bit better!
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A flat spin is a backflip on a sideways axis, usually done in a halfpipe! I'm guessing you guys are just talking about spinning on the snow?

Riding switch is one of the best feelings once you get the hang of it. Look over your outside shoulder, and stagger your outside ski further infront. This way you can open up your body, and it starts to feel really natural to carve a turn switch. When you unweight you just swap shoulders, and slide the new outside ski past the other.
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MagSeven, that is indeed what I meant by "flat spin". God I'm such a gnarly freerider with my encyclopedic knowledge of the terminology. Embarassed
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I know alot of skiers find it easier to land switch/fakie (note to fastcarver: switch and fakie mean the exact same thing, what you describe as "fakie" is actually a reference to regular/goofy) than to land forward, since there's alot more room for error on how far you lean into the hill when you're pressuring your tips instead of your tails.
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