andy scheen

I think this is a great and very interesting conversation. Im not entirely certain why but it seems to have pushed some buttons and is a topic people want to debate and discuss and I'm enjoying hearing all the different opinions. I really like what Lars and James are doing. Their popularity and number of views/ followers seems to confirm that they have found a need information for that isn't represented very well in other sources. I'd like to add that a duck stance isn't just about freestyle and riding switch. There are a lot of other advanced riding techniques where this stance can have positive results (pun intentional). I also think Lars is 100% correct that ++ isn't a great setup for a beginner. At the school I teach at (and I have to assume most others) we just don't get any snowboard students much beyond the beginner/intermediate stage and even intermediate level students are pretty rare. Advanced students that are ready to start carving and experimenting with different stances/equipment are extremely rare. It's less about AASI/ski school dogma and more about what works for 99% of our guests 99% of the time. Its not that we avoid teaching advanced carving with ++ or hard boots or alpine equipment but more like it just never comes up.