Your butt and where it should be?

[jtslalom]

It seems that as ones binding angles get larger and larger and almost parallel with the length of your board it's easier and easier to have your hips over your board on a heel side turn. This also seems to be a problem with new carvers. On their heel side turn their hips will tend to fall over the inside of the turn rather than over their board. This tends to move the the riders center of gravity away from the edge and possibly cause the rider to ineffectively pressure the edge and skid out. This may be true for riders who have large binding angles, but what about riders with binding angles of zero degrees both front and back. This means having your bindings perpendicular to the length of your board. Now I have ridden with soft boot riders who ride like this and can stick carves on icy hard conditions. Granted the one rider in particular has had lots of race experience riding professionally on the Cross-m team at Donner ski ranch. This guy can stick carves on icy diamond slopes with a free style board with zero degree angle stances. My questions is how can he get away with sticking his butt out on heel side carves and have those carves stick like glue when I've seen many riders with 45 degrees and better on hard equipment fail miserably?

[snowboardfast]

I would have to say that if a person has good technique they could carve well riding with low or high angles as proven by your friend. Those that you said were carving poorly in hard boots probably have trouble carving on any snowboard. I do pretty well with both setups except I can't carve that well when the snow is super hard and or ice. That is because I live in Colorado and we don't have much ice here and I don't get to put in the time to learn how to ride ice which is fine with me as I would rather not have to do it which is why I moved here in the first place after having ridden on machine made snow/ ice in the midwest years ago. I am sure you guys have more refined technique than I will ever have. I have a lot of respect for anyone who can carve on ice whether hard or soft boots. Maybe you could give some pointers on how to do it well?

[Jack M]

Whatever position gives you the most balance wins.

Seth Wescott gettin' it done in softies:

Funny, we have an article with almost the same name here: http://www.bomberonline.com//articles/your_butt.cfm

(there is more to this site than the forum!)

[utahcarver]

Okay, I read the article by Dan Bogardus on Butts and where they should not be. Let me say that my heelsides have been a mess lately. Tail washing out, nose-chatter, I've kept concentrating on keeping my outside arm down and uphill arm up to level my shoulders (Mark Fawcett feature in Snowboard Life). I also concentrated on pressuring the nose early into the turn and that helped but, it wasn't until I read Bogardus' recommendation that I should pressure my knees toward the snow that I found another clue. Uh, okay, how do I do that?

Well, I rode by myself yesterday so that I could focus on doing this. I knew that I had learned something like this on toeside turns at the end of last season. So, I tried to form a C or crescent shape with my body and I relaxed my ankles and pushed my knees toward the snow. Wow, the control flowed into my turns. On the next chair, I decided to put it all together. I linked turn after turn and felt the confidence wash over me. I became aware that my hips (read:butt) were not hanging over the snow anymore but were over the board's edge. It was a moment of discovery that will stay with me for many seasons. Now, I know where my butt should not be.

So, thank you to Mr. Bogardus and to Jack (Michaud) for his article that helped me last season to figure out my toeside problem. BTW, the shot of Wescott is sick. I want to do that.

Mark

[John Gilmour]

Balance=focus=power

I can carve almost equally well in hard or soft boots. But flatten me out in angles too much and I lose the involvement of major muscle groups like ham strings and quads.

The more muscle groups are involved the more muscle groups you can utilize to maintain balance, focus the weight where you want to be, and power through the most icy conditions.

98% of all snowbaorders do not optimize their stance and riding style for balance and so ride without power and can not be agressive caring. They tilt gingerly and carefully instead of confidently diving into turns.

Center of mass should always be as close to the heel side edge as possible both in the vertical and horizontal realms. Get your ass crack within 1 inch (Vertically and horizontally) of the heel side edge and you will stick like glue on almost any surface... whether in hard or soft boots, whether on a full blow race set up or a powder board.

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