Practicing push-pull carving turns
Contributed by tom. January 2006.
Activity: Alpine snowboarding
Location: Monarch
We got back from Christmas in Europe and were very stoked to finally get out on the slopes. It seems like we got to ride about 4-5 days a week over the past two weeks, and Lisa kindly filmed some of the things that I'm trying out.
I am working on three different things at once, hoping that they will all improve the overall result and not just confuse the heck out of me:
- Angulated style: the "bomber" style, where the upper body stays vertical throughout the turns, facing the front of the board. Trying to get quick ankle transitions, and to not reach for the snow (which in my case seems to bend me at the waist).
- Inclinated style: the "EC" style, though I have so far to go that it's not even fair to mention the word "EC" :) I am trying to be aggressive with the push-pull, sucking in my legs and doing fast transitions, while at the same time rotating my upper body in the direction I'm turning. Trying to keep the upper body in a quiet "Egyptian" style.
- Switch riding: In order to improve my overall balance, I started practicing riding switch (i.e. backwards) about a week ago. This was the 3rd or 4th day, and although I'm not carving yet, at least I feel much more comfortable going backwards.
I put together a video from a bunch of short clips, quality is so-so, but I'm just using it as a way to see what I'm doing...