John E

Dshack - you didn't say what your stance was - only that it was the narrowest the board would allow. If you are only 5'3" or 5'4", I would think your stance should be much narrower than most. Again, I am a newbie. When I rode my board last year with a shoulder width stance (about 19"), my quads burned & I could only tolerate a few runs. I narrowed my stance to 18" and rode all day yesterday and my quads started to burn only near the end. The narrower stance also feels more natural.

I am very much a newbie to hardbooting. I skied for about 30 years and have been soft-boot boarding for the last 10 or so years. I rode quite a while with my soft boots at "shoulder width". I then read an article that said to jump up in the air as high as you could (without boots on)and land in your most stable stance - this should be your board stance. I tried this several times & ended up narrowing my board stance by at least 1". I found this to be a more natural stance and less fatiguing. I've only been on my hardboots about 4 days. I have a slight inward cant on both front & back feet. The stance was set at the shop. The last time I rode hard boots exhausted me very quickly. I felt like I was fighting the board all the time. I have since narrowed the stance on my alpine board to the same stance as my softboots. It is the narrowest stance on the board. I have not yet ridden it this way but I find it to be more comfortable on the living room floor. I'll try it on the snow tomorrow. I've not yet tried adjusting the canting.

I'm a newbie to hardbooting. I'm trying to imagine the most likely way to wipe out. I keep thinking it would be from riding the edge hard & then losing it - being thrown to the outside of the curve (hopefully not into the trees or others on the slope). More experienced riders have told me that the most likely way to crash was in the transition from heel to toe side (or vice-versa) when the board is off edge. What is the most likely way to wipe out? What is the most common way to get injured?