Instructor?

[pnm]

Hey all carvers,

I need to get some professional help from a Carver not any instructor to work on my carving abilities with my new setup. If you are willing to help or you know someone that instructs please let me know.

Note: I live in West LA so Mt High, Big Bear or Snow Summit works perfectly but Mammoth, Tahoe and etc works as well.

Cheers

Peyman

(310) 666-4408

[nekdut]

Gilmour is in socal now, but I believe he's injured.

[Loc]

When I first started a couple years ago I took a 2 hour private lesson with Flo Jayme at Squaw Valley. Super chill guy. If I ever make it back up to Tahoe I plan on taking a lessons to carve on steeps with him. You can reach him at his address on this page. I'm not sure if he still teaches but shoot him an e-mail and let us know too.

http://www.alpinecarving.com/flo.html

[Loc]

Also, I asked Snow Performance and they don't plan on coming to Mammoth this spring.

[John Gilmour]

Pm me..

[John Gilmour]

We did a nice trade out...programming for carving.

Dialed his bindings.

He had a nice breakthrough with me yesterday on his heelside... super icy snow... taught him the ice carving technique.. he was getting lower and gunning it , rode conquest...he was looking solid heelside.

He couldn't carve before. purely skidded turns prior..and now...watch out King Crimson.... you might have a new Local.

[slopestar]

We did a nice trade out...programming for carving.

Dialed his bindings.

He had a nice breakthrough with me yesterday on his heelside... super icy snow... taught him the ice carving technique.. he was getting lower and gunning it , rode conquest...he was looking solid heelside.

He couldn't carve before. purely skidded turns prior..and now...watch out King Crimson.... you might have a new Local.

Wish we could all hook up and ride. Lapped a couple with King yesterday. And met another couple carvers too although I cheated and rode softies. Sorry carving gods but still laid out lots of rail anyway!

[pnm]

My first carving experience with John Gilmour was AMAZING. His deep knowledge of carving in general and specially the physics of it helped me a lot to learn not to skid and carve in a short period of time. As soon as I had my gear on, the board was totally different and felt a lot more natural. He had spent good amount of time to tune my old virus death trap bindings. I can't wait to go back again.

One of my new goals/dreams in life has become being able to carve like John. While he was injured, he could carve with the thickest, heaviest powder board with soft boots like CRAZY. He can literally fly.

At the end of the day I was so excited and high from the carving feeling, specially heelside, that I left my helmet, gloves and goggle at the mountain. <O:p</O:p

[pnm]

Gilmour is in socal now, but I believe he's injured.

Thanks a lot for introducing John Gilmour. Our first session was just AMAZING.

Cheers

[Thumper]

I had my first training session with John Gilmour yesterday. John is the consummate professional. His excellent, responsive communication made setting up the session easy. We looked at my equipment and setup which John said was good to go as a starting point. On the way up the lift we covered safety topics and clearly defined and agreed upon the the objectives for the training session. Next, he quantified the problem by following me on a 70% effort run. "Your center of mass is moving all over the place usually somewhere other than where it needs to be" he said with a smile. He then demonstrated the proper technique and walked me through the human origami associated with proper body position. Always checking for comprehension, praising and reinforcing correct technique and using a cause and effect dialogue instead of criticism to correct bad technique. Within about half an hour he had me consistenly carving better than I ever have in the past while expending less energy in the process. Simply amazing! Why I waited 8 years to get a lesson is mindbogglingly stupid. Oh and HOLY SH*T -you should see John carve, on a Rossi Judge in soft boots, no less. I can't wait to go again!....

[John Gilmour]

Thumper was a great student. Being able to fly Jet aircraft and recalling thier myriad of systems and checklists makes remembering a short snowboard check list for a ready position seem simple by comparison.

He had solid form by 11:00am..

I think anyone would be happy to have him in your carving posse.

[slopestar]

Thumper was a great student. Being able to fly Jet aircraft and recalling thier myriad of systems and checklists makes remembering a short snowboard check list for a ready position seem simple by comparison.

He had solid form by 11:00am..

I think anyone would be happy to have him in your carving posse.

I'm next! I have been riding mainly softies for 23 years and ride alpine gear about 15% of the time. I would love to procure your services John for some fine tuning on softies and alpine gear!. LMK Mt High is where I ride/ I'll be there Saturday in the morning at East

[John Gilmour]

I'm next! I have been riding mainly softies for 23 years and ride alpine gear about 15% of the time. I would love to procure your services John for some fine tuning on softies and alpine gear!. LMK Mt High is where I ride/ I'll be there Saturday in the morning at East

What's your set up? Goofy or regular, Boot size waist width, sidecut... stance width, inseam... boot brand size and days on the boots (as they soften with time).. Bindings?

[slopestar]

What's your set up? Goofy or regular, Boot size waist width, sidecut... stance width, inseam... boot brand size and days on the boots (as they soften with time).. Bindings?

regular/8.5/burton custom 162-so 24.5waist?/ 8-9m sidecut?/ 21.5" stance/29.5" inseam/flow morphan's with 300 days/flow amp 9.

angles 21front x 0back.

Video is flat land riding switch, which I ride 40% of the time. Switch/not flat land....

Second setup is a burton fusion/bx 165 with race plates and two 6 degree cants one front and one rear. Freecarve boots(soon to be retired or passed on) angles around 50f x 45b width at 21"

[John Gilmour]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HofoK_QQxGc

I think we can make you, better, faster, stronger..

How much foot movement do you have inside your boots? Particularly lateral ankle roll?

[slopestar]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HofoK_QQxGc

I think we can make you, better, faster, stronger..

How much foot movement do you have inside your boots? Particularly lateral ankle roll?

Thats awesome! I am heading up to Mt High now actually...Will be there tomorrow all day. Email is lancef at audioimages dot tv or via cell at 7#1@4 3$7$6 2#2#5*8

My boots are linerless and fit like a glove

[slopestar]

What a positive experience I had with John today. The subtle tweaks and coaching has given me so much to work on in the coming days/months. I would recommend his services and coaching to anyone looking to get more out of their riding abilities. Thanks John. Looking forward to applying the principles I had to re learn today! :D

[slopestar]

What a positive experience I had with John today. The subtle tweaks and coaching has given me so much to work on in the coming days/months. I would recommend his services and coaching to anyone looking to get more out of their riding abilities. Thanks John. Looking forward to applying the principles I had to re learn today! :D

[John Gilmour]

Lance had a smooth flowing style- clean at medium speeds but without a lot of cutting power mainly because his body was not stacked over the edge, and odd edge pressure sequence.

Now he looks a lot more solid - we pretty much eliminated his heelside and toeside chatter. I didn't adjust his bindings -mostly because of board insert limitations of using Burton 3 hole boards with 4 hole adapter discs He had two stance choices...too wide or too narrow. He would benefit from having good two strap bindings (mostly a better binding plate). IMHO I'd estimate not having a custom board (which would help in his case) and bindings (adjusted and optimized) and boots (newer) are limiting his riding by about 30-40%.

Now he can carve clean on steeper trails and finish out turns without chatter and also won't be blindsided by a straight liner as he can see uphill during his heelsides. He even left trenches in his softboot set up that I found difficult to skid over....:o...not often that I get softbooter requests. Not much fun for me today as my ankle in combination with the slush was making riding almost impossible because of the jarring...I had to heel skid nearly every run.

Lance made great progress in a few runs... on a packed slushy Hot Saturday.... hardly optimum conditions for carving progressions- but he overcame the conditions. Wait until he gets on good carving snow...I think he will amaze himself.

Today's transformation was really cool to watch. Mostly because he had good success even without gear optimized for him.

I think at some point we have to get everyone on the hill at once.. Mt. High SES ...

[John Gilmour]

Dear -------,

I certainly would like to help you to learn to snowboard better. Learning how to turn a snowboard should be something that is very easy, but because so many things are counterintuitive–we have a ridiculously large website devoted entirely to turning.

If carving fast on steeps was easy, this website simply would not exist.

Here is an unusual analogy. Let's say you gave a variety of people the goal to put together different sports cars.

They didn't have any formal training in assembling sports cars at all. Some of them were doctors, some of them were lawyers, some of them were engineers–but none of them were sports car designers, none of them were professional sports car racers, and significantly, none of them were both sports car designers AND professional sports car racers at the same time.

Then we have issues, adjustment of equipment, adjustment of technique, and matching the purchased gear closely ...so that it works synergistically.

You can imagine, one person has a Toyota supra with tires that are too large, and a suspension that is too stiff. Another person has a Ferrari Testarossa, but with the wrong suspension kit from the wrong decade. Another person has a Bugatti Veyron–but only has the skills to drive a Toyota Corolla. etc. etc. etc.

Aerodynamic wings are adjusted incorrectly, the larger disc brakes are put in the back by mistake, chassis that were built for mid-engine placement of the engine placed in front instead, or worse in the rear. Brake cables used for throttle cables..wrong gears for power steering used in the transmission...

It's just a big mess.

In fact, it's often such a large cluster of mistakes, that the one person who can only drive fairly well, who can design very well, and has been given a Volkswagen GTI, is able to drive better and faster than a lot of other people who spent a lot more money, have spent many years learning techniques that are wrong, and practicing these mistakes, ever so more carefully every day.....for YEARS...OR DECADES.

I put together a goofy car (Rossi Judge with very angled soft bindings) ... just to prove that proper "gear matched technique" and adjustment can go a long way. I own far better "cars" (Madd 158's) but then people say..."It's just the car". Good technique, and gear adjustment is worth more than a great board with bad technique that is out of adjustment.

So here's what's going to happen, you will show up with your bag of "car parts", I'm going to take a look at it and try to fix the way it is assembled and try to tune it so that it works well. Shift your bindings, tell you how to buckle your boots, flex your board and try to adjust your riding style to "pilot" it better. If your gear is already set up well (rare, but sometimes it happens) , I'll put my the majority focus on changing your technique from the get go.

That being said, it's still possible that it is not the right automobile for you. But at least, if it's put together properly, you will have a much better chance to drive it well.

And that is what I do, everyone shows up with things put together mostly from trial and error, and frankly there is a lot of error because so many things about snowboarding are naturally counterintuitive.

I try to take what is correct and keep that (in terms of your form), even if it is not perfect, but if it's working I try to retain that. I then try to identify the areas that will benefit most from larger corrections.

I address those bad habits and try to change them....to "untrain you"...to give you new "firmware" for your muscles, new "software" on turning, and to demonstrate the correct technique and then later...have you compare it to your old technique...so you will be able to self analyze when I am not around to tell you what has gone wrong.

I do not use a set series of drills, instead I analyze what we have to work with, and then try to make the most efficient use of your time, not wasting time with drills you are already able to do.

So, in fact, nobody gets exactly the same lesson–the only bad part about that is that it's hard to transfer the knowledge to somebody else, mostly because their problems likely will be very different than yours.

What will happen, is that your snowboarding ability will improve significantly in a very short period of time. Some people don't realize how much better they are performing on the snow...mostly because I teach these drills on easy terrain, and at slower speeds.

But then, all of a sudden, they notice they are able to carve on steep terrain, they notice the board is holding much better on firm conditions. Speed is more manageable, they have no blind spots, and they can slow down in a single turn at nearly any speed.

And after a few lessons they don't need me anymore. Which makes me happy.

Then after I have a few people in SoCal tearing it up... I'll get out my hardboots and carving deck.

[John Gilmour]

I'll be there..... in case anyone else is interested.. a few emails so far.

I want to send some skilled snowboarders to next years Aspen SES so SoCal will get some recognition

[Thumper]

An update on training results. I went to Mammoth last week and finally got to apply what I'd learned.

Setup changes: I put Cateks on the slalom board and the F2s and Donek plate on the Kessler 185. Much better feel for the edge with the Cateks although when cranking the back knee toward centerline for the basic stance it twists the sh*t out of the board.

Day 1; Steady progress all morning on the slalom board. Confidence and aggressiveness building. super fun. so I brought out the Kessler and applied the same techniques. OMG I don't think I was even carving this thing before. It was just insane. Unreal edge hold and an amazing tendency to carry energy through turns. Chop, ruts, bumps who cares. Jus get er up to speed, hunker down and geevum. 18m sidecut needs a lot of real estate. Confidence and aggressiveness building even more. and then....just approaching the fall line, in the about the hardest, fastest turn I've ever done, I'm suddenly sitting on the front binding with my front leg straight out to the side. My initial response was puzzlement ("What the...?") followed by concern ("Hmmm... My front foot is loose. That's not good.") followed immediately by a long, thorough thrashing. A very sore back knee and upper abdomen caused me to call it quits, feeling lucky.

Day 2: Sore and timid i wussed around skidding all day. I did see a guy on an alpine deck carving the crap out of a pretty steep and firm black run, impressive.

Day 3: 800MG of Motrin, an apple fritter and a pot of coffee and I'm good to go. Spent all day on the slalom deck. Funnest carving day of my life. John, your techniques work so well I just can't believe the difference. Still need to work on rotating the hips more and need to tweak the back binding somehow so neutral knee-over-centerline doesnt twist the board so much. I can't wait for "Carving 102."

[John Gilmour]

Sorry to hear you ripped the binding out of a Kessler...

I would suggest you really inspect your screws and thread depths on your board - my guess if you look at the screws... they might not have had enough threads of engagement. (I like 4-5 myself ...I tend to like to err on more not less)

I too sheered a binding out of a Kessler. In this case a 168 BX with softboots ... I had just landed massive air on Ruthies on Aspen... very high speed- and went for a layout at what to me felt like more than 50mph. I noticed my back foot was free..running out of trail width- I had to grab the nose with my hands to bend the sidecut manually to avoid the trees and turn upslope as my edge was locked in a carve..and unable to free my edge.

After hearing you also sheered out.... I might send Kessler some special inserts for use in the next BX deck I get from them. I'd take a very close look at both your inserts and screws before continuing to ride that deck.

Glad to hear you were not hurt. I'm sure you understand that having a plate gives you more height and leverage... not unlike a long handled screw driver.

Also, the technique I taught you is for hard snow- so we will go over a different style for softer snow in 102.

In the meantime... "Bracing" is weaker...has less ability to absorb shock...and when the forces mount...... "Bracing" means a concentration of force with no direct path for dissipation of the mounting forces...ie..something has to give.. your legs, your binding, your boot, your board, your inserts, your screws etc....

If you are breaking things (assuming the ASTM (IIRC what the term is and if it still applies to the snowboard industry) standards are adhered to which are designed not to cause early failure for the forces humans put stuff through)... then you likely are bracing...which if you remember the muscle firmware thing I taught... it is actually weaker.

What likely happened ... as you exceeded your previous limits for speed - your brain thinking "Holy Crap this is amazing! I'm superman!" let your body sneak out of that "new muscle firmware I taught you" and went into old school "Brace mode" and you locked up and somehow overloaded the system- and that led to equipment failure. (Or ...more likely... one or more of the screws were loose or too short)

Since your Kessler has double density inserts try to use more than 4 screws with the binding plate if it allows for this.

So... stay on your slalom deck...as I mentioned before... You'll do a lot of runs per run meaning more learning under good conditions. Save the GS monster until you can boss it around and dish out more than it can spit back at you. Anyone comment on your new riding???

[Thumper]

Hi John, It was the front boot that popped out of the binding on about the 10th run. So the inserts, in my case at least, were OK. It was warm in the afternoons so the early morning snow was pretty firm -which was perfect for practicing the technique. I started intentionally, consciously exhaling just prior to heelside turns, really settling into the low stance and then abruptly angulating. It works so well. I'm trying to to gain the discipline where my first reaction to the unexpected is to sink lower and angulate more vs stiffen up, go upright and angulate less. It's working. I also understand what you were saying about how speed helps. Unlike tires with a constant amount of grip, the faster you go, the more g available you have to put weight over the carving edge -the harder you can carve. It's so sweet to take that principle and feel it work. Thanks!

[slopestar]

I will be exercising what I learned for the first time since our lesson this Saturday at Mt High. Great to hear (except for the binding blow out) that you are applying what you learned with great success! I will be looking forward to next weekend at June! I still need a carpool/lodging buddy or buddies if possible!