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questions on technique
 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead

Hi all,
Well, I've just completed my 4 snowboarding lessons, and while I'm not as good as I'd like (still bottling on turns sometimes) I've had a great time.

A quick question on technique, as my fellow classmates had a different understanding of good stance at the end of the day, and it was too late to ask the instructor (I'm not settling bets, just want to know what to do!).

How much should one bend the knees when doing normal riding? I feel better bending qutie a bit, especially on turns (more stable) and pushing forward, but it's hard work. One of my colleagues thought one should stay as straight as possible, but I think that cannot be right as I remember the instructor adjusting our bindings on the first day to force more ankle bend (which leads to knee bend if you're going to keep balance).

And a second question on falling technique. Apart from the obvious "don't" Very Happy, how should one fall? Going forwards, I tried to sort of land flat (spreading the load) putting my arms a little bit forward and in a sort of diamond shape to protect my head which I turned to side (imagine you're lying on your front on the beach and you've your two hands under you head to keep your ear out of the sand (or sand out of ear). This was a fall I learned in a judo class I was briefly in, but I found that there was a significant shock in the arms/elbows (sort of sore for evening, but grand after)

Falling backwards was no fun! Second day I hit my tailbone really hard, and for rest of day and next two (over 3 weeks! I was doing this on saturdays) I was still protecting this in various reflex, foolish, and ineffective ways (extending arm, botching turns, etc.,). Ended up with painful arms and shoulders (got one particularly bad shoulder jolt today in fact, hopefully nothing serious) and a lot of wasted time (bad turns). What's the recommended way to fall backwards? What I'd try for is to tuck in my chin, curl a little bit and try to spread the impact (e.g. arms a bit out from sides and just a little behind body (so whole length of arm touches ground, not hand alone). no hope for me at speed, but that would be the principle. Does anybody know any easy way to break falls?
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ski holidays
 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person

Falling backwards for me comes really easy but forwards i dont like because i can see the tree im gonna hit. Sad
The only advice i can give if you are getting painfull jolts is some padding under your boarding gear and a good helmet.
Using your arms to break falls is generally a good idea but they also break easily. Better to break an arm though, than a pelvis.
Usually,a good scream helps as well because you dont have so much air in ya and have less chance of being winded. Something like 'BLOOOOODY HELLLL' would suffice

Hope this helps Very Happy
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snow report
 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?

michaelc, falling is an art so join a gym club to learn but as a general rules:

Hands in fists with thumbs protected.

Falling forward, cross your wrists over your sternum and keep your elbows in tight ... protects the lower face and gives a wee bit more support for the collar bones. Try to land flat over the whole body rather than hit with your knees first or you can get a terrible whiplash effect that will smack your head into the piste with great force. Exhale with the impact.

Falling backwards is similar but with your hands uncrossed over your chest and upper arms able to hit the ground at the same time as your back. Again try to land as flat as possible to even the shock and avoid point impacts. Keep your chin tucked down into your chest and exhale with the impact.

Keeping your arms in tight in a speeding fall stops them becoming an anchor and being ripped out of their sockets or broken by any obstruction and gives you more chance that the initial impact won't disable you and you can recover quicker.

But seriously, go talk to a gymnastics coach and ask him/her to give you some crashmat or trampolining practice. It won't save you from a big one but it will make the general tumbles a lot less uncomfortable. You could always take a few hours next trip practicing falling down wink .

Lastly, buy and wear some protection. wink
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snow report
 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.

You want your knees bent a fair amount you certainly don't want your legs to be straight. On a McNab course we had it described as a 'John Wayne' stance. Basically you want it so that you can bend more or unbend, your legs are your suspension and if you can't do this you'll fall when hitting dips or rises.
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snow report
 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Board4Life wrote:
Basically you want it so that you can bend more or unbend, your legs are your suspension


Thanks, that's exactly what I should have been thinking: Flexed knees are good, but go too deep, and you lose a degree of freedom.
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