How to carve a 360 snowboard turn

Contributed by tom. 6 April 2008.

For me, the most interesting BOL post this year was about carving a 360 turn. In true BOL fashion, although the original poster asked for video, the following 8 pages were full of "i do it all the time but don't have video" or "send $20 for a dvd" :)

I had the good fortune to ride with the Pureboarding team during the first week of April, and one of the days we hit Buttermilk. The Pureboarding riders weren't sure what was so special about the 360 -- to them it seemed boring unless done switch, or with a layout, or very low, or at high speed -- but they were kind enough to recognize my excitement and said they'd teach me. And after a number of tries I finally hit three heelside 360+ turns! We filmed a variety of 360's -- front side, heel side, standing up, crouching down, etc.

Making the turn

Here's what I learned: speed and terrain are key. I think all of this is spread throughout the 9 pages of the aforementioned BOL post, too:

Terrain: I don't know how to illustrate it, but the hardest part of the turn is the going uphill. So finding terrain where one can come in fairly straight, make the first or second quarter turn on the uphill part (banks are good) and then finish on the flat or downhill.
Speed: It takes a lot of speed for the uphill part, so it's important to come in with a lot of speed (esp. if it's the second quarter is the uphill one), and to gently engage the edge, cranking it higher as the turn progresses.

Terrain picking

Style A: Very difficult

The Style A is difficult: the rider comes in with more speed, but the first part of the turn involves a wide carve that scrubs a lot of that speed. By the time the rider gets to the uphill part, it's in the third quarter of the turn. At the end of that there usually isn't enough speed to complete the carve, and the rider just falls over.

Style B: Easier

Style B turn relies better on the terrain. An example of a good place for it is a junction of two trails, where they meet roughly at 90 degrees. That way the rider can pick up speed coming straight down one trail, and maintain that speed for the entire uphill quarter. Having a spotter is a good idea -- don't want to go full speed uphill into anyone else!

Movie

See the higher-quality video, or the lower-quality embedded below.