 Poster: A snowHead
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Last year I had a 2 hr lesson with a mate, this season a 3 hour 1-2-1 lesson with an instructor in Dec and 3 hours in Val d'Isere in Jan. I am off for a weekend in Feb and as my skiing girlfriend has pulled out I am oing to board for 3 and half days.
I am a 40 week skier and picked up the boarding basics quite quickly - managing the Face black with about 4 "collapses".
I am confident on toe-edge turns but chuck the board round too quick on my heel edge.
I will book another 1-2-1 for my trip in Feb.
I am 1.7m and 70kg. What board should I use and should I buy boots (I have bought some wrist-enforced gloves). What else should I think about? Please help
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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B00thy, i would certainly recommend buying boots as your own will always be preferable to rental boots.
As for a board, i would recommend a mid range all-round board such as Burton Custom, Ride Decade, Nitro Suprateam - all the makes have them for anywhere between £300-£380. These will see you through your development and will be good enough however good you get, but they will be relatively easy to ride when compared to the top-end boards, which can actually hinder your development if you do not already have a consistently smooth technique.
I can appreciate the appeal of runs like Face (I felt I had to go down it at least once this Jan as well) but blues and reds usually provide more enjoyable boarding and also allow you to work on technique. You have already identified an area to work on and so you are probably half way there to getting that fixed.
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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?
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Bleh, I had this long post written out, and then my comp froze 
Basically, buy boots. Also, the over-turning heel edge is fixed in 2 ways:
1 - you are probably overturning your heel edge because you are on runs that wil put you faster than you want to go. So while it seems like a technique problem, it is actually fear; you keep pushing the heel edge to slow yourself down when you should be transfering over to your toe edge. Do more blue and red runs, and work on forcing yourself to transfer to your toe edge earlier.
2 - practie carving all of your turns on blue runs. This problem generally occurs much more with skidded turns than carved turns. If you want to go slower, just hold the carve a bit longer, even facing perpendicular or up hill if you want. This lets you slow down while still keeping a smooth pace and not skidding out your edge.
As for boards, there are just too many good boards to count. Most boards nowadays are pretty good. Gnu carbon high beam, Ride Timeless, Burton Custom or Clash, Never Summer Premier, and Arbor Mystic are all great boards that sell from $250-$650 Canadian. No idea on UK prices.
As for bindings, I would say technine are by far the best deal. Realtively cheap (around $230 CAD for the upper models), very comfortable, quite responsive, and a lifetime warranty! If you don't mind the green, white, and yellow ccolours, the technine MFM pro is an excellent binding. Also, ride and salomon both make great bindings.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Thanks guys.
And what length board? First technician gave me a 154 and the second one said 150 would be easier to turn.
I have another question that sprung to mind after my initial post and that is on binding positioning. Because I read a thread on favorite settings or something I asked the technician what he was going to set mine to. I think he said +18 and -3 or something. Is what are the rules governing settings. When do riders increase or decrease these settings? Is it something that depends upon physiology or the type of terrain or the type of riding one prefers?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I wrote an article about choosing a board a while ago. Main thing is to spend enough money to get something that will last well into your intermediate riding career as boarding has a steep learning curve and you will quickly outgrow an entry level board.
That said its worth renting until you get the hang of it and can confidentally link turns on most slopes as you can take advantage of a shorter softer flexing board that will be more forgiving.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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B00thy, there used to be quite a debate about bindings as to whether to go with straps or step-ins. In general terms straps offer better fit/comfort whereas step-ins offer greater convenience. The consensus now seems to have come around to straps as the prefered type although step-ins seemed like the future 5 years ago. You'll also hear a lot about Flow bindings which almost stradle the middle ground offering the comfort, if not quite the performance, of straps but with the convenince of step-ins.
As for stance, Neil McNab's advice is a must read.
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Thanks playdreamer, another great article. Does it apply to a beginner though? Mine were set to 18 and -3 I think which creates an angle of 21 degrees. Neil McNabb talks of between 25 and 30. Also, I assume that when I start to ride switch (I like to jump on skis so I can see me going for at least a 180 real soon) I should go for 13, -13 or doesn't it work like that.
Can you clear up one last thing re bindings. I have used 3 boards. The 1st one had two straps per foot and the 2nd and 3rd ones had one strap and you just pulled up a board to the back of your calf muscle. These latter ones were a cinch. Are these latter two the "flow binding" type? They are what I would go for. A few years ago I used to see lots of boarders getting p1ssed off cleaning snow out of metal plates that their boots used to click into (eventually). Are these step-ins? I think I would use these over my dead body. Thanks once again.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Quote: |
| Does it apply to a beginner though? |
It applies to everyone as what he is saying is that there is a certain natural angle between your feet that varies from person to person, so once you have figured out what that should be for you, and say it is 25 degrees, you might then ride 25, 0 or 20, -5 etc depending on the style of riding you want. For freestyle and switch riding you probably want a "duck" stance (search the forum for a good thread on this) with your feet pointing in opposite directions.
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| one strap and you just pulled up a board to the back of your calf muscle. These latter ones were a cinch. Are these latter two the "flow binding" type? |
Yes, the 'board' you mention is called the highback. I use Flows myself and they are very comfortable and convenient but do ultimately, IMHO, fall short on performance.
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| A few years ago I used to see lots of boarders getting p1ssed off cleaning snow out of metal plates that their boots used to click into (eventually). Are these step-ins? |
Yes.
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My personal suggestions:
1) Go with strap bindings. These will have the board you mentioned (the highback), but will have two small straps instead of one large strap like flows. DO NOT go for step in bindings (no straps of any kind, sometimes a highback and sometimes not) - they perform worse and are a pain in the ass in general.
2) Before determining the proper angle for you...
A - Get in sock feet, run and then slide across a slippery floor. Whatever foot goes first will be the foot you put in front while snowboarding (right foot forward is called "goofy" and left foot forward is called "normal/regular")
B - You will either have both feet pointing towards the front ("forward stance") or the front foot will point to the front and the back foot to the back ("duck stance"). Experiment and go with whatever is most comfortable
C - When people talk about binding angles (e.g. 18/-3), a positive angle refers to the toe pointing towards the front of the board, and a negative angle refers to the toe pointing towards the back of the board. Forward stance will use +/+, while duck stances will use +/-
3) The base of your bindings will have two parts: a circular plate and a base around the plate. The circular plate will likely have 4 holes. Put the circular plate into the hole provided for it in the base of the binding, and screw the plate in VERY lightly into the board - stiop the moment the screws engage into the board. Do this for both bindings. Screw them into the middle positions on both the front and back of the board - if this feels to wide, narrow it, if it feels to narrow, widen it. Now put on your snowboarding boots and strap yourself in. When the screws are loose like this, the bindings are made so that you can move your feet around and change the angles while the bindings stay in the right spot on the board. Once you find the most comfortable angle, carefully unstrap (making sure you don't lose the positioning of your feet) and tighten the screws. Make sure that your forward binding angle is greater than or equal to your backwards angle. So 25/15, 15/-15, and 18/-3 would all be good, but 20/25 and 5/-10 would not be good. Keep your angle difference somewhere between 5 and 40 degrees (18/-10 is a 28 degree difference, 25/9 is a 16 degree difference). Make sure that when you crouch down, your knees move in line with your feet, and also your knees should not protrude beyond your toes.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Thanks guys
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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.
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Hi its Me Flip
Oh it is too seyus in here I back at Natives!1
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Oh, back to the bindings, Salomon's SPX 4 would be an excellent choice. Awsome bindings, and fast to do up.
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FAQ
