Strategies for improving ....

[Michael_A]

OK all,

What avenues have been most helpful in your improving??? (Let's NOT include obsessive forum reading, video watching, or posting pics.)

My goal is to ride smoothly, efficiently, to "own" the mountain rather than the mountain (or board) controlling me. I'm in my third year and really loving it.

I don't want to get into EC vs race-specific techniques; rather more general concepts that I can focus on, one at a time. Here is what has worked for me:

-- Time on the slopes (30 days so far). More riding, less thinking!

-- Core fitness program on "off" days

-- Riding with better riders (except hardly anyone seems to carve on my mtn)

-- Keep low, initiating turns from ankles up, upper body quiet and upright

-- Riding with my hands behind my back (has really cleaned up my style and eliminated rotation/hand waving)

What all has worked for you guys?

Michael

[trailertrash]

-- Riding with better riders (except hardly anyone seems to carve on my mtn)

I think this is key. Can you make it to Sunapee?

[Mike T]

Riding with better riders

Definitely been #1 for me!

[big mario]

but what really helped me this season was an unplanned trip into the trees that gave me a concussion and a few other lumps and bumps. I had been lectured about being on the nose by the following in alphabetical order : Bola, D.T., Inkaholic, Joel P, Pcdenver...., but it took that offpiste excursion for me to realize that getting low and staying centered was the best way for me to improve. Ride with others and listen to their advice, even if it may seem silly and simple, but most importantly, take the time to hear what they are telling you. It can save you a lot of agony.

mario

[Michael_A]

Trailertrash,

Yes, my kid's school program ends next Thursday so I think I can make it to Sunapee on 2/14!

Seeing other people ride is key ... I was struggling with crossunder for days ... then I saw a good rider doing some really quick crossunders and all of a sudden I got it. Funny thing is he was 100 yards away and I only saw 4-5 turns but that was all it took.

Michael

[pebu]

I don't get to ride with other riders much at all. Yeah, I know, I'd love to make it to one of these sessions, but I just can't make it to most of them. The thing that has helped me the most is just plain time on the snow.

[Michael_A]

Ride variety, ride sh*tty hills and sh*tty days, granular and ice, rain and snow, and you will improve...dramatically.

Exactly! I forgot that in my original post. My mountain is small and the snow is not always great but I go out under any conditions. After a day riding on ice everything else seems that much easier. Today was areas of 3" chalky stuff over ice. I did 5-10 runs with hands behind back and that really helped get rid of some funny habits.

Michael

[Michael_A]

Interesting,

I used to ski a lot in the 80s before shaped skiis ... I thought I'd never ski again but now that I see what racers are doing it looks kind of fun and very similar body dynamics to snowboard carving. WB, you see benefits to "cross training"?

Michael

[Buell]

I ride lots of powder! :D

When carving (and actually when powder riding as well) I have been working on being very aware of the amount of weight I am putting on each foot going through my carves. To do this I am focusing primarily on the pressure on the bottom of each foot. This is helping me to stay centered on my feet and to make any necessary adjustments to my weighting as I ride. It would seem intuitive, but I was always guessing before (often wrong).

[Michael_A]

I really appreciate the question, because you just brought up my #6 technique for getting intermediate carvers out of their rut:

Crossing over to skis for a few days.

Now you've got me curious. What are the other 5 techniques???

[two_ravens]

Now you've got me curious. What are the other 5 techniques???

And will they all be in the manual you are writing?

[carvedog]

One of my favorite strategies that has helped me improve is to actually ski/ride the terrain.

By that I mean being as in tune as possible to all the subtle variations of the terrain. Seems like lots of riders ( and me too sometimes ) view their line back to the lift or bottom without interpretting all the little rolls, flat spots, banks, dbl fall lines etc.

Whenever I go up in good conditions and don't feel like I am "on" this is one of the places I look first. If I can work the terrain the riding falls into place.

That and sometimes I have to turn the grrr up a notch and then life is good again.

[pebu]

Actually, you bring up a great point.

Don't lose sleep over missing those sessions.

Instead, go ride with some good ski racers- you may be pleasantly shocked by what you learn from them.

That was another thing I was going to mention. I board with a kid who's on the highschool ski team on race tigers (sl). We basically take turns trying to lose each other in the turns. I on my xvas and he on his sl race tigers are pretty close. Now if I were to put on my sl board I can usually lose him

[BadBrad]

Regarding riding in all kinds of conditions and terrain, I was wondering about this the other day. I was riding on an intermediate slope and was struggling to do some decent carving. When I tried to crank it up on edge and drive the turn I would often skid out. The conditions felt like 2 or 3 inches of frozen granular on top of hardpack, and it was somewhat chopped up, so it was a challenge for me. I just didn't felt confident in pushing it, and I ended up skidding most of my turns. I am also recovering from a shoulder injury and was being very cautious because I didn't want to fall on that shoulder again. There was another hardbooter carving it pretty well, so I blame my technique more than the conditions, but for me it was difficult and I was frustrated.

So I went over to the beginner slopes where I could easily carve nice complete, smooth arcs all the way down. It was not that challenging, but was a good opportunity to try shifting my weight, flexing my ankles, looking further ahead in the turns, etc., so I'm sure it was of some training value and reinforced muscle memory of how a good carve feels.

So, I was wondering whether it's better to challenge myself on steeper and harder terrain or to reinforce good technique on easier terrain. I suppose the answer is to do some of both. However, instead of "practice makes perfect" I believe that "perfect practice makes perfect". In other words, practicing bad habits just reinforces bad habits. So when I am struggling and frustrated should I keep challenging myself or should I find some easier runs?

[Rik Fromdahl]

practice makes permanent. right or wrong. i dunno if i'm "doing it right" or not, i just go with what feels smooth, and sounds quiet. :D

[BadBrad]

stcik to the more challenging stuff, stay away from the easier hill, and work on the techniques I outlined with regard to driving the board and riding from the deck up, employing your knees and your ankles as aggressivley as you can.

Avoid laying turns out on frozen gran: Keep your CM over your deck and you'll experience less skid

Think of holding a saw to a hard piece of lumber, ..

If you scrape the saw down a plank of hard wood, without using any sawing motion, it will skip and sketch. (on softer materials, however, it will dig in)

Try the same movement again, only this time, push the saw forward while scraping in along the lumber.

Feel it catch? See it cut?

Use your snowboard the same way, by using drive to 'saw' across the surface as you arc... You'll edge on boilerplate by doing this correctly.

Yes, I understand that, but it's easier said than done. I've never really laid out carves, preferring the more angulated racer style. I was able to carve bigger arcs on the more challenging stuff, but I wasn't way up on the edge, so I ended up accelerating too much and then had to skid to slow down. When I tried to get higher on edge and tighten up the arcs to control my speed I'd skid out. Obviously not pressuring the edge correctly, but not obvious exactly what I need to change. I'm hoping to get some instruction at SES and hopefully make a breakthrough.

[Rob Stevens]

Keep your **** tuned and learn to do it yourself. You know when you're doing it enough if it becomes too expensive to do through your local shop. Get a bench and a tuning kit.

Really good gear. I don't know if you're in hard or soft gear, but you need the best, to perform at your best. Soft gear is usually crap, so you want to be careful and seek some advice.

Go into terrain where you suck. You can't retain too many bad habits here, because you will fall if you ride without good structure. The bad habits that are allowed will work out with time.

Pad up. A knee / shin combo, like you'd buy for DH mountain bike is a good call. If I'm riding pipe or gnar-gnar, I'll wear my flak jacket as well. Sometimes, I even wear the full face. Yesterday, I had a knee to lip episode with my full face and kneepads on. No problem. Got up and rode away, where I would have otherwise been looking for Chiclets after waking up. I have also used the leg armour in cases where there was shallow reef just below the surface of pow. A new kneecap would have been on order.

Be in shape. There is NO SUBSTITUTE for physical conditioning. You're working out your core? Good news.

One tech tip I will give (JJFluff likes this one too) is to look where you're going all the time. Many riders only look down the hill, because that's where they're going, in an overall sense. Let your eyes and head lead you through a turn. You'll find you're looking at the trees on the side as much as you are straight down. You'll control your speed better and you'll never get clobbered by an uphill rider because you'll see them, unlike the rider with "Fall-line Fixation".

Ride lots with friends.

[kmartshopper]

Be in shape. There is NO SUBSTITUTE for physical conditioning.

I can vouch for this. Things are starting to fall into place a little more for me lately, and as I'm starting to carve a bit harder I'm realizing I have the quads of an 8 year old girl.

________

Can you get high off darvocet

[Jon Dahl]

One is ride with good skiers whenever you can. I've got a ski buddy who is older, and has coached some, been ski patrol, lived the life, too. It is good to ride with a skier like this because I find myself riding harder and worrying less about what could happen if this or that went wrong. He makes me live the moment, total concentration on every little thing on the hill. The other friend I ride with couldn't care less about a real carved turn, but he is an excellent bump rider. Riding with him improves my bump riding, 'cause its that or die! Forcing yourself to do the things you don't normally like to do stretches your abilities all around, makes you better.

[Fastskiguy]

Here's a few things I try to do-some more successfully than others. If you've got "The Fever", they're all fun!

-Riding with better (ski or snowboard) riders

-Riding in tough conditions

-Keeping yourself and your stuff in good condition

-I'm a fan of watching videos....a throwback to the old "Cybervision" ski tapes (anybody remember these?)

-Become a "student of the art"

-Make the effort to go to where the best are riding once in awhile

-Get plenty of on-snow time

-Not sure about skiing to get to be a better boarder but coming from a strong ski carving/racing background has been a HUGE advantage in alpine snowboarding so there might be something to it

[BigBump]

All good advice here, but one thing that always works for me is to switch the brain off and just ride in the moment. It's real easy to get caught up in all the tech talk on this board. I am lucky enough to ride on the weekends and a few nights a week and the evenings are my time to focus on technique and think about what I'm doing. The weekends are spent just ripping and banging turns just feeling what the board is doing and how the snow feels. I don't think about where my arms are or that advice that WB or Jack posted earlier in the week. Just take a day to get out and ride, have fun, and remember why you love the sport rather than focusing whether or not you need a little more heelift in the rear.........

Also, try doing something different. My carving has really improved once I started spending time in the park on my softboots. Learning how to 50-50 and boardslide and cleanly land jumps has helped me really feel what my feet are doing in the boots and improved my balance dramatically.

[maddman]

I try to ride as often as possible. I try to get as much as possible out of riding bigger mountains.

[b0ardski]

+1 to the challenge of riding tough conditions & terrain, afterwards everything else seems easier & technique calms down and things fall into place:biggthump

[crucible]

One thing that has dramatically improved my riding is riding in crappy conditions at night. It makes you extremely aware of your body positioning, and forces you to look ahead to anticipate the terrain.

Any of you who have ski hills with night skiing are lucky indeed.