ON YOUR OWN: How to know if you're improving?

[SWriverstone]

SCENARIO: You're on your own. Most of the time, you're the only carver around at your local resort. You want to improve, and don't have the time or money to travel for lessons. You've read a lot online, and looked at lots of photos. You have a good general idea of what you should/shouldn't be doing. So you keep at it, but one question remains...

QUESTION: What signs/results/actions do you look for to tell whether or not you're improving?

In other words, how would you answer these questions?

Q: "I just did ______ on that run, so I must be getting better."

Q: "_______ felt a lot easier that time, so I must be getting better."

Q: "I didn't _______ on that run, so that was/wasn't an improvement."

Q: "_______ happened on that run, so that's a good/bad sign."

It's a scenario I'm guessing a lot of people are in...so I look forward to any responses!

Scott

PS - Though it may seem like it, I'm actually *not* asking "What should I do to carve well?" Instead, I'm wondering what *physical feedback* I should be looking for as an indicator that I'm doing the right thing? (A subtle but important distinction!)

[SWriverstone]

Very true softbootsailor. :) But even in the laser-like focus and intensity of repetition and practice...one can imperceptibly acquire bad habits, which are reinforced with repetition. This, combined with the natural human ability to adapt to adversity, necessitates a concrete set of criteria and goals against which to compare one's improvement.

:)

Scott

PS - As an aside, has anyone ever floated the idea of having a separate, dedicated instructional/coaching forum for beginner and intermediate recreational carvers? This would be VERY useful, instead of having to search through thousands of posts under "Carving Community" trying to find good instructional content amidst all the high-level discussion between expert carvers.

[Allee]

Sean C from Snowperformance gave me a very simple drill that I still do today when I'm riding like c**p. I simply couldn't do this for the first few runs down the hill, and was getting pretty close to throwing a tantrum when it suddenly clicked, and it was the coolest thing in the world.

Stand relaxed on the board with your knees comfortably bent, and hands clasped behind your back. Head down the hill until you get a little bit of speed up. Then turn toeside by simply standing on your tip toes and tipping the knees toward the snow. No other body movement, just that. When you get it, you'll feel the board gently hook on edge and head back up the hill, almost like remote control.

To do the same on heelside turn look up the hill, and then just raise your toes and lean back on your heels. Don't drop your butt or try to lean with your upper body, just push into the heels and pressure the edge.

The thing I love about this drill is that 1) it forces you to focus on the edges of the board in the snow, and 2) it takes all the superfluous arm flinging and body movement out of the mix. When you can spin down the hill like this, you know that your body weight is in the right place, you're right over the edges of the board, and you're completely in control. Everything else just follows on from there - to deepen the carve you simply press harder into your heels or toes, and to start laying it out just slightly shift your weight to drop the hip toward the slope. As soon as you start to skid, slide, wobble or go too fast, you're doing something wrong - put your hands away, and start again.

For me, improvement is - when I can still do this on a steeper or narrower slope than I'd like, or when the snow is less than ideal. The day I can carve down North Axe at Nakiska like this, I'll start calling myself a carver.:)

Your week in Aspen will be the best thing you can ever do for your carving. You'll learn more in seven days than you've learned in your three (?) season so far.

[JJFluff]

I was just thinking about this a couple of nights ago. I have gotten to the point where I feel extremely comfortable on my board. Where I feel improvement is being able to ride at higher and higher speeds while maintaining that same feeling of comfort and total control. If the board isn't bucking me around, the upper body can be put in a good position, and stay quiet throughout the turn at speed. And the edge continues to just stick. Even since last season the ability to just let the board run for me has improved. This is my 15th year on hard gear and still improving. It's a great feeling.

I feel when I am at my best, the board on my feet "disappears". It is there to "catch me" as I fall down the hill but it is almost working on its own as I move down or across the slope as I wish. You feel almost weightless.

[yyzcanuck]

I'm wondering what *physical feedback* I should be looking for as an indicator that I'm doing the right thing? (A subtle but important distinction!)

One indicator that I've witnessed on two riders is the "Hey, who just touched my ass?!" during a heelside. They had just touched their butt to the snow and continued to carve.

[tpalka]

Hey Scott, I'd recommend you try different drills and then see how you feel doing them. In other words, push the envelope a bit to get out of the comfort zone, and then as those drills become comfortable, keep pushing the envelope :) I know that it won't necessarily keep you from doing bad habits, though. Maybe you can ask Holly to video you every so often, and you should be able to tell... video is a great tool.

Some ideas of drills:

http://www.bomberonline.com/articles/practice_drills.cfm

http://www.bomberonline.com/articles/carving_ranges_of_movement.cfm

Looking forward to seeing at SES!

tom.

[SWriverstone]

Thanks for the replies all. Good suggestions, and you're right about video Tom...that's a good tool. I just need to get a camera, LOL. I recently offloaded my old Canon Mini-DV because...well...it was Mini-DV, which is so 20th century. :D

But I'll definitely check out those drills...

Scott

[boostertwo]

+1 for video. It's a valuable tool to quickly ramp up your riding. Some areas have video stations where the video facilities are already set up: you simply ride through an arena and stop in to a playback station to check your performance. If you have a camera, you might be able to get playback access on a tv at a slopeside restaurant/bar/base lodge (IMO big monitors and slo-mo capabilities on playback are very helpful in analyzing carving performance).

Lacking video, you can often examine your tracks for feedback on your carving performance.

If you are able to hit the slopes early, before the crowds arrive (or late, after a night-grooming pass) you can ride under the lift and, from above, examine your tracks on the ride back up to get valuable feedback on your carving performance.

You can identify if you're able to cleanly carve initiation through finish, toeside and heelside. Of course, all carved tracks are razor-thin. If you see any repetitive smeared/skidded tracks, you can diagnose what part of the turn you're not yet able to cleanly carve (toe or heel, initiation, middle, or finish).

You can set different tasks, such as hangers, 4 short to 2 long to 4 short, etc. and use your tracks to check to see if you are able to cleanly carve as you vary size, shape, and rhythm of your turns. (You can use your tracks for feedback on many of the drills in the articles referenced earlier in this thread.)

You can work to develp higher levels of accuracy and precision by carving around/over targets (shadows, piles of snow, tracks) and examine your tracks to see if you cleanly carve and hit your targets.

You can try to ride exactly in the carved tracks of someone who precedes you down the slope and observe your tracks from the lift to check for accuracy, toeside and heelside.

You can perform 'combos' (retraction turns on all toesides and extension turns on all heelsides--and then vice-versa) and examine your tracks to see if both were cleanly carved.

<img src="http://i39.tinypic.com/r2jia0.jpg" border="0" alt="Thedo Remmelink, A-Basin, CO.">

Of course, if the slopes are crowded your tracks may be skied over by the time you ride over them on the lift. Best to hit it before the masses arrive.

Hope it's snowy where you are.

B-2

[inkaholic]

Another great post by B-2.

Very informative, clear and accurate.

Ink

[pow4ever]

Thank you Scott for the well articulate thought. I have often wonder that myself.

I got little/nothing to offer as I am pretty new to the world of hardboot.

Trying to follwing/keeping up with good skier(not just going straight down, in a semi-control manner) is what I used to gauge just how bad i did :)

Another metrics i used is how tire I feel after each run. It's not scientific. Figured the more efficient that you get then it might mean progress.

Thank you to who all have reply. Keep it coming. It's very informative.

Regards

--

David

[Fastskiguy]

For me it's "was I able to control my speed on this hill" or was it a gradually acceleration until I hit "terminal velocity" or even just a little faster than where I started. Steeper, more narrow runs are tougher (obviously), as are tougher snow conditions.

On our little hills most days it is pretty easy to own the run but when it's death cookies or margarita snow over brick hard refreeze then it's a whole 'nother story.

[Bobby Buggs]

I didnt read this whole thing and it wont change my thoughts, Pay a friend to video you for a few hours, pictures wont lie. Then you can post it here for all of us to rip apart

Just kidding on the rip