One little stance change

[rhaskins]

OMG, we had to carry a Burton mini-driver when I was instructing. I turned thousands of screws on the hill mid-lesson, thanks to the mouth-breathing window-lickers in the rental shop. Idiots.

Someone should write a book . . . I know a lot of people that tried snowboarding and gave up after one or two attempts. I'll bet that simple setup or lack thereof had a lot to do with that. I left my stance as it was set up in the showroom (21 inches) for about 10 days on slope before I started to play around with stance and angles. I took snowboard lessions and neither of the instructors I had commented on stance for either class. I have a couple of books I purchased on snowboarding, and they all give passing attention to stance width, a vague "shoulder with" or so. Kind of short shrift to something that can really hinder progress. Just think of how many more snowboarders we could have out there on the slopes!

Rick

[JJFluff]

I am a trainer for the snowboard school at my local hill. We have a about 30 instructors, most of who are between 15 to 17 years of age. Many of them love to ride rediculously wide stances. It's all about the park and jibbing. They must see some of the pros riding this way, (I say riding losely, as most of the pros can't ride either). Anyways, we've told two of our instructors either they narrow the stance down for teaching or they can find a new job.

The stances in some instances are so wide it is effecting the ability to demo even some of the easiest movements.

[Scuff]

Hey Rick,

So glad that stance adjustment worked out for you!

When I first met you a few weeks back, your riding looked pretty rigid and uncomfortable - most notably was the restricted range of movement in your lower half. (And just FYI - Nobody was laughing at you. We've all been there man!)

There was a big improvement in your riding after that first adjustment. Shortening up your stance width returned mobility to your knees which in turn dramatically increased your vertical range of movement. Your knees could now absorb bumps - like shocks on a car - if you encountered uneven terrain. You also discovered/recovered better edging control so your turns didn't have as many dramatic upper-body rotations and recoveries. Consequently this also lifted and adjusted your brow.. which for a couple days was furrowed with frustrations.

So-cool to see you stick with it, hear your excitement, and witness your stair-steps to victory. Will see you on the hill real soon! Think you'll be carving turns in no time! (Keep looking up and ahead!)

Ha ha - Oh yes.. I also keep a tool with me at all times..

I've seen many freestyle riders with duck or 0° angles showing up on race day wondering why they keep falling whenever they try to carve.

For my freestyle board I keep my angles around 27° to avoid some of that dreaded boot-out issue. Yuck.

Cheers,

~Karl

[Kent]

To pile on the topic......width is important, but only relative to everything else going on.

The goal is to be able to balance, edge, pressure and steer your board to optium ability. Part of this is stance width, but also involves stance angles, cant/lift/learn, and also boot type/cant/lean. That's just the start.

Certainly not going to question your set-up with such improved results and Karl's assessment, but get to understand the impact of all the other adjustments....

K

[KingCrimson]

Wide stance is for jibbing, skidding, and straightlining. It looks gangsta too, so why the hell not do it?!?

:lol: I'm at 20 inches I think. Maybe 19.75.

[Rob Stevens]

The key is to have a stance that allows the body to be put in the proper position to comfortably weight an edge when and where it needs to be.

That's a good place to start.

Locking in toesides is easy.

The trick is that you have to be very comfortable gliding on a flat base, without being toe or heel biased.

The best wayto get comfortable with that is straight running. Go straight in the fall line of a mellow slope. If you're going perfectly straight, with no little pivots, you can just roll on edge with equal pressure on both toes.

Ride the rail around right up the hill (look out).

The real trick at this point is to have that full fall line straight running moment when you're going across the hill.

Take the drill farther by starting down the hill a little more across the fall line each time. You'll have to progressively learn to carve that perfect heel turn finish, allowing you to build the speed you'll need to flat base across the fall line.

Once you can get flat basing across the hill' you'll be in a position to just roll to your toes.

[Bubba]

Hey Rick,

So glad that stance adjustment worked out for you!

When I first met you a few weeks back, your riding looked pretty rigid and uncomfortable - most notably was the restricted range of movement in your lower half. (And just FYI - Nobody was laughing at you. We've all been there man!)

There was a big improvement in your riding after that first adjustment. Shortening up your stance width returned mobility to your knees which in turn dramatically increased your vertical range of movement. Your knees could now absorb bumps - like shocks on a car - if you encountered uneven terrain. You also discovered/recovered better edging control so your turns didn't have as many dramatic upper-body rotations and recoveries. Consequently this also lifted and adjusted your brow.. which for a couple days was furrowed with frustrations.

So-cool to see you stick with it, hear your excitement, and witness your stair-steps to victory. Will see you on the hill real soon! Think you'll be carving turns in no time! (Keep looking up and ahead!)

Ha ha - Oh yes.. I also keep a tool with me at all times..

I've seen many freestyle riders with duck or 0° angles showing up on race day wondering why they keep falling whenever they try to carve.

For my freestyle board I keep my angles around 27° to avoid some of that dreaded boot-out issue. Yuck.

Cheers,

~Karl

About carving with a duck stance I think it depends on the board and the rider. Both my freestyle boards are set up 18F, -15B and not to bad to carve on. The pure park board is very soft, is fairly stable at speed but does tend to wash out especially on heelside. The other one is an all mountain board, stiff and easy to carve with a duck stance.

[JJFluff]

The real trick at this point is to have that full fall line straight running moment when you're going across the hill.

Take the drill farther by starting down the hill a little more across the fall line each time. You'll have to progressively learn to carve that perfect heel turn finish, allowing you to build the speed you'll need to flat base across the fall line.

Once you can get flat basing across the hill' you'll be in a position to just roll to your toes.

So are you saying that you basically want to end up traversing but without any edgeing?

[Rob Stevens]

It's the point where you go flat base between turns.

This is impossible, even for a moment, if you're sliding forward on your heels when you drop your toes.

You'll faceplant, or at least get squirrely.

Finishing the heel turn carving allows you to flatbase straight, letting you roll onto the new edge without catching it.