Help me board the trees

[skategoat]

fullface helmet

(or it's just a matter of time)

Add to that:

- a whistle (pea-less kind)

- a cup (not the kind you'd drink from)

[b0ardski]

+1 on bump practice

+1 on branch pivots

Knowing you stop instantly when it gets tight brings the confidence you need to get into tighter & tighter areas. Pulling yourself through some branches to find a slot with 5-10 perfect pow turns is way better than a winning scratch ticket. I did this yesterday on the newly replaced 173 ID, over & over.

I flatten my angles about 10-12 degrees on the wider am boards wich gets me a little more torsional control for quick initiations, and ride way backof center to dig in the tail.

Seen on a helmet on a powder day at Sqaw

NO BONOS

[carvedog]

Some advice others haven't covered - branches can be your friend in emergencies. I've grabbed quite a few for that quick u-turn action.

We call those monkey barrel turns, especially if you hoop out your arms monkey style. Works best on small trees.

Sad news about the tele'er at Homewood. We lost one of our ski instructors after a 35 inch in 24 hours storm. He didn't even go in a tree well, his tips hit the top of a small tree ( apparently ) and he torpedoed in head first. They didn't find him for three days on the edge of a major bump run. Upper River for those familiar, so do be careful with all this snow.

[Przemek/Brooklyn]

I have been riding trees in killington last year quite a lot.

two techniques not cover yet

1 rolling forward, when it is too dense to go thru or when you about to stuck, just dive do few rolls and then recover

2 in vermont there are a lot of dense little sticks comming from the ground, dont be afraid to go thru them usualy they will give, but watch your board it can get stuck, low position and more speed recomended

3 holding to the trees on tight turns, as someone mention before,vry effctive

ALWAYS use helmet goggles and face mask body armor is not bad idea as well

[vapor]

Vapor: it looks like you have about 8 inches of nose on that board.???

Are my eyes tricking me? Looks like you getting out there on it.

Are you 4 feet tall? not that there is anything wrong with that.

Color me confused.

WB - treewell photo. Absolutley beautiful. Reminds me of the snow ghosts at big Mtn in Montucky. The smile on your girl is nice too.

Its actually centered on a 158 freeride that i use for the trees in this area.

Seems like the people i ride with are always getting me into hairy situations in the trees. Last week tried some of the new terain at revelstoke thats a couple hours north of here. Think that pitch except 6000 ft and thier longest run is 13.2 km.

Needless to say i needed abit more setback lol. thought my front leg was going to shear off.

[dshack]

Tried the tips today on a beautiful pow day at Mt Hood Meadows. Over a foot in the last 24, and dumping all day. Dropped through some pretty straight trees, and had a great time. The advice about looking fairly far ahead was great; my driving instructor started me out on freeways with a fairly similar philosophy, and it did a lot for me.

I found that 54/25-30 felt the best to me, angle-wise, but unfortunately I get a lot of underhang (23.5 boots/ 25cm waist), and my back leg got real tired. I think I'm going to play around with narrower boards, and maybe add some rear cant so I can move my stance back.

[mackDan]

Advice on tree boarding:

Don't hit the trees!

Well that's kind of obivous, but you know, couldn't resist.

OK, the best way is to just get in there and learn. Plenty of good advice in all the posts previous to me, so read those. but I'll add a few things.

1. Sounds like you have a good board there. but don't change the binding set up from what you ride on the groomers. I think binding set up really goes with the board and its characteristics, not the place you ride. I'll take my 164 Oxy Proton off in glades and trees with 60/58 binding angles, or my other boards (160 Nitro, 162 HOT SL) and I don't re-adjust just cause its not a groomed run. You have to be able to ride it anywhere, get the board setup to carve and then learn to drive everywhere else.

2. You have to start learning to think a little more ahead. This means you have to decide now mid way through turn A, where turn B is going to happen and continue to progress through the trees. When you stop thinking ahead of

the forest, you'll know it and will start whacking things.

3. you'll learn a tail drop bail out stop pretty fast, specifically when your not thinking far enough ahead. If you get in trouble, stop, trying to save your self from a crash in the trees will likely end up with a broken rib or wrist. So stop, then just take a break and really catch your breath before restarting.

4. Someone mentioned practicing on moguls, excellent idea. You have to learn to turn really quickly and retain your balance on wildly varing slopes with narrow. This is rhythm, get your rhythm ahead of the mogul timing and your OK, fall behind and you crash.

5. End of day slush piles and ridges: try and ride the end of day slush ridges (go to the intermediate slopes or the main run down to the lodge). Use one fall line ridge and try and stay within about 5-8 feet of either side and learn to turn fast and again lead the rhythm. Pop turn over the top. fun.

6. Don't look at the tree, look at the snow between the trees. Easy, but it works, your head goes where you look, your body goes where your head goes. so HELMET (got one?)

7. Practice different types of turns: the open glade super surfer carve, the slightly faster aspen glade rhythm, the narrow set, turn, set turn, the really tight set hard lift spin (all my terms), and learn to transition between them (not necessarily in that order)

7. Those aren't trees, they are pylons!. But unlike a few of the other guys I say don't grab the tree to turn. If you get in that habit, you're going miss judge your timing and you'll end up with broken wrist. You will end up doing this occasionally, but again, I'd say don't plan on doing it and don't practice it.

[Steve Prokopiw]

There are only spaces.

[Dr D]

I agree in principal with the same board same stance idea however if its not a powder board you wil probably have to move the bindings back as far as they will go. yeah you can ride it normal but you will have a dead back leg by noon.

if you are going to spend all day in the woods its worth the stance change or better yet a board change. quiver or no quiver everyone should have a powder board its just so much less work and so much more fun.

number one rule: when you start looking at the trees instead of the spaces you are to tired and you need to get out of the woods NOW!

I prefer a surfier stance and a surfier board. I ride a 4807 on powder days in the trees. the short tail lends itself to the tail press emergency brake technique and you can force the tail around with the back foot for a faster turn if you find yourself in trouble in a tight spot. like turning off the lip of a wave:eplus2:

[ncermak]

you want to keep your board in contact with the snow. if your nose is popping up and you are riding your tail down the backside of the bumps, you are in the back seat. You want to keep focused on on driving from the front, so you maintain maximum control.

[Dr D]

good fun:ices_ange watch out for avalanches in the canyon:eek:

[Przemek/Brooklyn]

This is lovley video but it is not forest riding, this is mostly open space with few trees on it.

[Dr D]

the 20mm kills the steepness and makes the trees look further apart. watch it again and notice the gaps compared to the nose of the board, many are barely wide enough to accomadate the rider. the film does show the flow nicely though. you can watch his head turn to the gaps ahead of time:biggthump

The last part is an avalanche chute and is quite open but very steep.

[kmartshopper]

The video looks like a heck of a lot of fun, but you'll probably need to be ready to turn a bit more frequently in New England.

________

Andrea de adamich

[vapor]

Id kill for a run like that,and the straitline at the end would get anyones heartrate up. The home hill goes from alpine to a dense mess in no time....nothing that a bit of prudent pruning with the helmet wont fix though.

[Dave ESPI]

THis is how I do tree runs.

nuff said

Trees and I don't get along.

"NEVER LOOK AT THE TREES ONLY THE SPACES ">

l^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^"

Solid advice !

I on the other hand, like a clear line of sight..... LOL.

CLEAR CUT UM !

[willywhit]

This is last week riding the trees with my AM.167 .. didn't change my stance or angles .. we spend all day in the woods at Jay Peak the conditions were awsome

I don't think I'd risk a nasty core shot on a Donek in the woods. I got a winterstick ST 159 off SAC a few years back for $125 and it's great for tight trees.I've been knocked out cold deep in the trees at stowe and lived to tell the tale. Just always use a buddy system and don't lose sight of your buddy.

Woods are awesome, quiet fluffy bliss.Just be careful and don't get in over your head. Bring a cell phone or a radio, just in case.

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Przemek, where's those vids of you jumping the stream behind your house at Killington ?

That was some funny stuff. Hope yer all healed up

[jeffch]

A lot of times we get fixated on making carving boards always carve - in tight spots (moguls, trees) there's nothing wrong with allowing the snowboard to slide...in fact, it's probably the favorable option.

Try lowering your center of mass (hips) a bit, riding with a slightly flatter edge angle, and using the lower joints to pivot the snowboard around the center point between your feet.

Oh, and keep your eyes looking forward!