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Weight distribition

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
quick question for the more experienced boarders ...... to get the pressure on the front edges when turning on either heel or toe, should I

keep a balanced weight distribution on both feet and get pressure on the front edges through pressing the toe/heel (opening knees idea I think)

or

should I push my weight forward on to the front foot, whereby the weight can provide the pressure
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I use the front more so I'll say front but at the moment I am trying to use more equal/slight back as it feels better, riding switch this is how I do it, guess riding normally I picked up some bad habits.
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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?
i would say for normal piste riding (not in pow) you need your weight to be distributed evenly. yes you can use foot steering but many find this causes heal lift. knees should be bent and the wight transferal should go through the knees thus moving the board as you do it.

not sure if tha makes sence!
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rayscoops, you need to combine both, where you put force into the board gives you basic control over the direction you want to send the board and also plays a part in the carving process (ignore 'pedaling' or torque influences for the moment).

Stance first, head up, back straight, tummy tight, bum tucked under and hips knees and ankles relaxed. Hips and shoulders in line with the board and your arms relaxed, slightly out from your body just as a bit of balance control . . . remember this position and always keep it relaxed, this is what lets you move about over your board and will stop you bouncing off trees, rocks etc.

If you're sliding regular footed flat down the fall line, you need to have a little weight going into your lead leg and along the centreline, ensuring the board will track straight and true down the fall (that's why you need to have your head up. In this slide, if you transfer your weight behind the centre contact point of the board onto your rear leg, the board will want to pivot round on the centre point and you'll be traveling down the fall line riding switch.

Starting your turn just needs you move your weight off the centreline and to the side of the board your want to turn to. It doesn't need to be far off the centreline before the board starts to turn and you don't need big body movements to accomplish it, just look where you want to go, raise your arm and point. As you get better at feeling what your board is doing it will become second nature and you'll just use a small flex of your knee or foot to move the pressure contact point under your board.

Once you have the board beginning the turn you need to drop to apply pressure to the edges. This doesn't mean bending at the waist or pushing up or down with your toes, it means for a toe edge turn you relax your knees and drop vertically down, keep your ankle tight and use the stiffness of your boot through your bindings to roll your board onto its toe edge. How far you drop and how hard you edge is a matter of speed and the steepness of the fall line . . . faster, steeper = lower and harder. Once the edge is engaged and begins to carve you will naturally incline your body inward to balance the centripetal forces (just like a bike) and as long as your weight stays neutral and low you will keep to the board's natural carve radius till you come to a stop and fall over. Coming out of the carve is a matter rising up from the low position and the reducing the carve till the edge is almost disengaged, you're vertical, knees still relaxed down a little and you're sliding across the fall line with a little bit of edging in a traverse.

For a heelside turn, you repeat the slight pressure chance to start the board turning and then drop at the hips instead of the knees, this will naturally put pressure into your highbacks and bring your feet up against your toestraps, rolling the board onto its heel edge. Again, how far you drop is dependent on your speed and the slope pitch.

There is a lot more involved in controlling a carve including moving your mass along the board to tighten the carve radius and tensioning the tail to give you mare acceleration into the next turn and also twisting or torquing the board with your feet to give you more or less edge grip . . . but that's lesson two wink

The BIG RULE is STAY RELAXED and flexible, the moment you stiffen up or straighten your legs you have lost control of your board. Head up and look where you WANT to go and you will get there.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
It also depends how advanced you are, a lot of learners dont realise that they are leaning right back until you demonstrate exactly how they turned and fell. In general the greater proportion of weight you put on your front foot the faster you will turn. You can even hop the back of the board around, this definitely isn't 'good technique' but can be a handy skill to learn for bumpy conditions.

A lot of people believe that there is a 'good technique' and in general there probably is in terms of stability and minimising injury risk. This is pretty much as described by those above in terms of centering weight and keepinig your shoulders in line with the board. However, I think that a range of different techniques should be learnt so you can switch between them depending on what situation you are in. For example in spring I really enjoy leaning right back like a learner and putting in big turns letting the nose of the board slap on the mounds of slush, it's kind of like surfing.

So I guess my main point is that the more you shift your weight forwards the faster the board will turn, this will stop you from picking up so much speed in the turn as you spend less time facing down the slope. So this can be good for learners who want to turn on steep slopes. Although ideally of course you would have the confidence to put in a normal turn, but this depends on how fast you can build up your own confidence, what snow conditions are like (how likely you are to hurt yourself) etc...

Relaxed and flexible, couldn't agree more.
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mista,Completely agree, there are lots of additional techniques and modifications to riding style you need to learn and practice to cope with ice, crud, crust, powder, sugar etc. but without knowing the fundamental elements of turning I don't think you can progress as far or as quickly in gaining the higher skills.

rayscoops, as mista, points out the further forward (to a point) or the harder you put force into your lead leg and the front of the effective edge, the quicker and harder you can get into a turn and the lower you get the better your edge angle to hold a real hard carve.

Also, can't agree more about backfoot steering in powder and slush, it's a complete hoot and probably one of the best experiences you can have on a board.

Keep practicing and building your confidence, don't try anything risky new till you've warmed up for half an hour and never in the afternoon after lunch and a few beers . . . they can't anesthetise you for at least six hours to fix the bits you've f*****-up wink
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
So really all we are saying is that if you turn with weight evenly distributed or lean forward they are both good skills to master; as is learning to turn with the majority of your weight on the back foot. On the whole the stance that will give you the most stability will be centred though. Obviously coming down a steep slope with big moguls on you are not going to want to use this technique though and might want to consider using the other technique of transfering the majority of the weight to the front of the board and skipping your back leg round. Conversely in powder as Masque, points out you would be better advised to put the larger proportion of your weight on the back foot.

Once you learn to spend the majority of your time centred and carving on the edge rather than skipping the back round and skidding the edge then you will be able to straightline big sections and then put in massive carved turns, another of the most enjoyable parts of slightly more advanced riding.

Enjoy Very Happy
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Thanks all, I had been experimenting/practicing just what you say above last week. I tended to skid or pop the board around from a heel to toe turn, but with a bit of relaxation and using a little bit of rear edge pressure first to start the turn I found that the front edge toe pressure did the trick, not really putting weight forward with body movement, more like simply putting pressure on the front edge. Steeper slopes and everything is exagerated to quickly pass through the fall line. The most effective thing I picked up was to always stay upright and at 90 degrees to board, especially when the board is on an edge, so that I am not bending over but I am in the same stance/angle to the board whether it is flat or at an angle on an edge, more like leaning over so that that the whole body is in the same position on the board.

There seems to be quite a few differing techniques that all work to get a turn completed, but working the edges rather than sliding/hopping the board around seems to me to be the most stable, but perhaps not the quickest (at the moment) to turn.

I am also looking at the McNab DVD and adopting much (but not all) of what McNab suggests

Thanks for that and I will keep on trying and enjoying Very Happy
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Masque, mista, Extremely useful advice. I found that last year I was having to hop the back end round in order to get my turn in when going from heel to toe edge. I think this was partly due to the heel lift I was getting from the hire boots. Toe to heel edge was not a problem as heel lift didn't happen and I was bending my knees more on those turns. For some reason, bending my knees on a heel to toe turn was just not happening. Think I must have been subconciously wary as I had done quite a few face plants on the heel to toe turns!

I will have my own board and boots this year and I'm hoping that this will help to improve my technique.

How much forward lean do you set your bindings to?
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Dobz wrote:
How much forward lean do you set your bindings to?


When I learnt I had a fair bit of forward lean on, I found this stopped me catching my toe edges so often, as the lean back makes your legs more bent just to have the board flat.
But hard to explain I guess.
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Dobz, Forward lean is a personal thing that is dependent on the thickness of your legs, the stiffness of your boots, your ankle flexability and the strength of your bindings.

But basically, set them to mid position, strap in and stand up in your most comfortable knees relaxed stance. If your high-backs are pushing hard and making you feel as though you're being pushed onto your toes and out of balance, check your stance to make sure you're properly relaxed and if you are still off balance, release your high-backs till you are comfortable. If you can stand upright with your knees straight or nearly, bring your highhbacks forward till you achieve a good riding stance.

In the middle is where you start. This is for general riding, if you're going to play in the park a lot of riders slacken them off a little to give themselves more freedom of movement and if you're into fast hard carving on icy piste you may want more forward lean.
Powderpigs - if you've got a day or two (or more) of powder and you want to learn how to surf on your backfoot, move your bingings back a hole, relax your high-backs and get ready to get very sweaty digging yer face out of the snow.

Note for the girls: Your leg physioligy is usually slightly different from the boys and us old f*rts in that your calf muscles (gastrocnemius & soleus) insert into their tendons (achilles & gastrocnemius) lower down your leg making the area above your ankle thicker than us which means that if you are not using women's specific bindings which have lower high-backs, you will probably not need as mmuch forward lean. But check your stance anyway.
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Dobz, boots made a big difference to me, I also was getting loads of heal lift from hire boots but have now bought a pair of boots and they fit a lot better and help me keep contact with the board and feel the board better. If I was starting again I would buy boots first before anything else.

My board is a 163 Flow Infinite that takes a bit of riding and is very tiring to chuck around, so using a better technique means I have a bit more energy for apres.
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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
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
I have amazing boots that fit my feet perfectly and I have worn in for a season and a half but have kept their rigidity. They also fit my bindings perfectly so I have very good direct control over the board without too much need to use the pressure on the highbacks. As a result I dont have alot of forward lean. Basically I have it so that when I am standing a in a relaxed stance on my board with my knees slightly bent the lean of the highbacks matches the lean of my calf. Incidentally half way through last season I widened my stance as far as it would go and changed my angles from +9 -9 to +12 -12 and for several days felt a massive difference in my leg muscles because I was so used to the settings I had previously.
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