What about your ankles while carving?

[RicHard]

I mean: during a backside, the ankle rule is a little bit less importatant due to the fact that we push on the back of the boot and on the heels.

On the frontside, I've got some doubt about what ankles should do: we have a joint more to use but... how?

I mean: if we push the toe toward the snow, the shin cannot press the boot properly. But if we pull the toe up, we don't use the ankles joint.

What to do?

I hope the question is clear... English is not my mother-tongue, as you obviously will notice! ;-)

[Buell]

RicHard, there is more ankle discussion in this thread.

Thanks for the post Don. We would love to see more! Looking forward to some turns with you soon!

[RicHard]

RicHard, there is more ankle discussion in this thread.

Thanks for the post Don. We would love to see more! Looking forward to some turns with you soon!

Thanks a lot for the suggestion! Very interesting topic.

Anyway, I can't find a good answer to my question, since it seems to be the "higher angle=less leverage" the focus of the topic.

I would isolate things, assuming a 45° setup to simplify things, and to understand what on the frontside carve should the ankles do.

To my reasoning, if I push the toes far from shins, shing put less pressure on the boot. If I pull up my toes, shin sticks to boots allowing to put pressure on the cuff of the boot.

Am I right? What do we have to do, so? Pushing the toes? Pulling them?

Do one thing at the beginning of the carve to swithc to the other at the end of the carve?

That is my question... sorry for explaining it in a bad way...

:)

[RicHard]

Ehm...noone know how to pressure the toes while carving a frontside carve?

Pressure the toes pulling shins away from boots' cuff or pulling the tow pressuring the shins?

[pebu]

I wouldn't ever pull toes up as you say. You feel pressure on your shins, but that doesn't mean that the pressure you feel is going into the ground. It would only serve to tire you out quicker and increase the chances of shin-bang. What I would use the toes for are to balance the pressure between the toes and the shins. If you're feeling a crapload of pressure on your shins, push down a bit to try to relieve that pressure. If your legs are floating around inside the cuff then let up on the toe pressure.

If you ask me, in a perfect (carving) world, there would be no need for anything below the shins. The snowboard would be an extension of your body and the last movable joint would be the knee. But the real world has bumps and crud, so we need a little relief in the form of ankles.

[kjl]

RicHard, if I remember right you are riding soft boots in the EC style? I seem to remember seeing you all over the extremecarving boards. In my opinion, with soft boots and the EC style the amount of pressure from the shin is not important. The way I see it (simplified greatly) you have two choices to pressure the frontside edge with respect to the ankle and boot:

Shin -> BootTongue -(stiffness of boot or BTS)-> BottomOfBoot -> Binding

or

Toes -> BottomOfBoot -> Binding

I think on easy slopes at a slow speed it is fun to just press the shin on the boot and feel the springs flex with the terrain, but if you are really trying to ride faster on anything harder you should not be leaving the manipulation of the ankle joint completely in the passive control of the spring, but to take active control over it by pushing your toes down, letting the BTS do shock absorption and vibration dampening instead.

I would never pull the toes up - it increases the pressure on the shin, but the pressure on the shin was always just a means to an end: pressuring the toe of the boot via boot stiffness, and pulling the toes up would be counterproductive.