jnshapiro Posted February 9, 2007 Report Share Posted February 9, 2007 While I'm sure I have bored you with previous posts related to my improvement as a carver, I made more progress today and intend to bore you again . Today I thought I would see what happen if I applied the maxim "trust the edge" to the extreme. To initiate a turn, I "threw" myself down to the snow. Just sort of pushed my way down. WOW! The edge held! If it hadn't, I'd have been on my face. I carved such a deep turn that my back knee actually hit the slope. My side slid just over the surface with my hand on the snow. And even managed to shed some speed at the same time (something else I'd been having trouble on). This happened more and more often as the day progressed. I popped up after the turn, crossed the board under me, and "threw" myself down into a healside. This time, my hip dragged the snow. Doing turns like this I was easily able to control my speed on a pitch that previously had me a bit spooked. Turns were tighter and better controlled too. When conditions get better and I get some more confidence, I'll take this over to some steeper runs and see how it goes. Dang that was fun! I found that making turns like that all day is very wearing on the legs. I was done a bit earlier than normal. So, if your having trouble getting low and shedding speed, maybe this will help some. BOL has been a hugh help to me learning to carve this year. Thanks! Oh, if anyone is interested, I was riding a Donek Axxess Olympic at 167cm in length. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pow Posted February 9, 2007 Report Share Posted February 9, 2007 The transformation is complete... you are a trench digger:cool: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crucible Posted February 9, 2007 Report Share Posted February 9, 2007 This is SO like the scene in Kung Fu when the Shaolin Sifu says to Caine, "When you can take the pebble from my hand, then you will allowed to leave"... Well done. George Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buell Posted February 9, 2007 Report Share Posted February 9, 2007 Isn't it funny how each big advance requires a corresponding increase in leg strength! Congratulations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackbird Posted February 9, 2007 Report Share Posted February 9, 2007 The transformation is complete... you are a trench digger:cool: Indeed!! How much do you trust your board now??? It's a great feeling isn't it?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gleb Posted February 9, 2007 Report Share Posted February 9, 2007 way to go. I remember the day that happend to me. It was raining out and I've had the best day of riding up to that point. Keep on diggin' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted February 9, 2007 Report Share Posted February 9, 2007 just make sure not to reach down for the snow, and that your shoulders are the last thing to cross the board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnshapiro Posted February 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2007 Jack, I've been real careful about keeping my shoulders parallel to the slope. I had that drilled into me from years of skiing. My hand hits the snow when it does. Force it and lose the edge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gleb Posted February 9, 2007 Report Share Posted February 9, 2007 This is SO like the scene in Kung Fu when the Shaolin Sifu says to Caine,"When you can take the pebble from my hand, then you will allowed to leave"... Well done. George next step is catching a fly with chop sticks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abakker Posted February 13, 2007 Report Share Posted February 13, 2007 just tried what you did over the weekend. we had finally gotten some softer snow which turned into slush which gave me a little more confidence to test my edges. everything worked great and i too got some nice Gs building up, but for some reason i kept going over the nose of my board, and landed on my head several times. later in the afternoon when it got slushy i was laying some nice carves out, and booted out a couple of times, even though there isn't any overhang on my board, but i just kept ending up sliding down the hill on my chest or back with no other apparent cause. that being said. it was my first day of real carving. i have never left the mountain so happy before. Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dshack Posted February 13, 2007 Report Share Posted February 13, 2007 Today I thought I would see what happen if I applied the maxim "trust the edge" to the extreme. To initiate a turn, I "threw" myself down to the snow. Just sort of pushed my way down. WOW! The edge held! If it hadn't, I'd have been on my face. I carved such a deep turn that my back knee actually hit the slope. My side slid just over the surface with my hand on the snow. And even managed to shed some speed at the same time (something else I'd been having trouble on). This happened more and more often as the day progressed. I popped up after the turn, crossed the board under me, and "threw" myself down into a healside. This time, my hip dragged the snow. Since you're keeping yourself well-angulated, are you throwing yourself down with your knees, or what? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abakker Posted February 13, 2007 Report Share Posted February 13, 2007 i think what i was doing was a combination of things. first, i am riding an f2 speedster rs, which has a softer than average flex in the nose, and second i am riding fairly weight forward in the beginning of the turn(a habit started in VT) so what i am looking to do is maybe see if i can lighten up in the beginning of a turn and weight the board a little slower, maybe start the turn without such an aggressive dive when the snow is soft. we'll see this weekend. i'll be taking some lessons up at silver and riding with some other hardbooters for the first time in about a year, so we'll see where that leads me. Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnshapiro Posted February 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2007 Since you're keeping yourself well-angulated, are you throwing yourself down with your knees, or what? I'm reaching down with my toes first, then driving my knees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWriverstone Posted February 13, 2007 Report Share Posted February 13, 2007 This is a great story...but doesn't work on solid ice! In fact, I'd say it only works when you've got real snow that will hold an edge. I'm not suggesting world-class carvers can't do it on ice...just saying that for us average folks it doesn't work well on ice! It also doesn't work well when the surface is nothing but 6"-12" high washboard bumps—you need a pretty well-groomed surface. Agree? Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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