Carving plug-in

[Hans]

Nice slowmo's

[pogokoenig]

Me like!!!!

Very interesting how these guys handle a race oriented technique in the steeps. Very dynamic and very confident. Some very nice edge-to-edge transitions. When it gets hairy these guys use the airtime to "predrift" and get the board turning before edge contact. That makes the whole thing very fast since no time is wasted with half-circles.

[kieran]

liking the heelsides @57s and @1m31, they have the appearance of the build-up to big deep toesides.

[slopestar]

Powerful and fast in steeps. Awesome technique. I too recently took the ejection seat ride out of a toeside carve. The worst of it was nearly pulling my front foot out of my Flow NXT FRX bindings, tweaking my front ankle a bit. Looks like I will be crossing over to hardboots as I found the limit of softboot bindings and I want MORE!!!

[John Gilmour]

Powerful and fast in steeps. Awesome technique. I too recently took the ejection seat ride out of a toeside carve. The worst of it was nearly pulling my front foot out of my Flow NXT FRX bindings, tweaking my front ankle a bit. Looks like I will be crossing over to hardboots as I found the limit of softboot bindings and I want MORE!!!

Remember... the key to getting better is to not get hurt.

Keep your weight way back on toesides in the pre-load ... if you botch it,,,you can bend your rear knee more if you find you are late in getting your weight just prior to edge engagement. Just a saving bacon move so you don't get pitched.

[xy9ine]

well done. i'd trim the intro preamble and cut back on the slow-mo, but the shredding freecarve action rocks. need more of this!

[slopestar]

Remember... the key to getting better is to not get hurt.

Keep your weight way back on toesides in the pre-load ... if you botch it,,,you can bend your rear knee more if you find you are late in getting your weight just prior to edge engagement. Just a saving bacon move so you don't get pitched.

Thanks J.G. I look forward to us both being healthy enough to ride together again soon!

[softbootsurfer]

This is a Beautiful Video....Thanks for Posting!!! Love Great Technique and this is IT!!!!!! :)

the end of the Backside Turn at 58 sec. just blows me away with how Beautiful and Powerful the Position to Slope....perfect Feed

into the next turn.... and a couple Backside Floater throw downs as well...just Amazing and Controlled Riding

Thanks again for Posting!!!

[kaz]

I've seen him at a ski mountain in Nagano I used to go to but never really talked to him.

However, I know he is a quite nice guy and has a great passion for snowboarding

and awesome technique as you can see in the video.

This video below is same guy and he is riding on a very steep run.

He is my hero.

Edited January 20, 2013 by kaz

[softbootsurfer]

yes...thats nice too:) and it is nice to see two vids without the Bodyflopping Outriggers...just edge and a Touch here and there...I guess I am a Purist at heart...

[Miltie]

Just received the full length Carving Plug-In DVDs from Japan (red and blue). Both are real good and promote some of the upcoming racers in Japan. Also, both videos are edited well are more creative than the usual Japanese carving videos. Carving Plug-In Red was also sponsored by Bomber Japan/Wintertree.

The rider mentioned in posted videos above is actually the force behind 2Production which distributes the Carving Plug-In series. His name is Kohei Kawaguchi, rides for SG and is a real positive figure for alpine snowboarding in Japan.

Overall, great stuff!! Tom

[kaz]

I thought I'm the only one guy who has the Carving Plug-In DVDs in North America.:)

I'm gonna tell him that you enjoyed those DVDs.

I'm collecting carving DVDs.

I have

and

I don't know if there is a carving competition or a technical competition in North America.

But those are popular in Japan.

This is the carving competition

that my friend posted. Kohei Kawaguchi and Manabu Kobayashi are in this viedo.

Just FYI.

[Miltie]

Kaz, Good stuff! I too collect Japanese carving videos. My wife (from Chiba) also got me Installer 12, Installer 13 and Absolute 2012. She even got me this year's Carve magazine.

I lived and worked in Nagoya for 7 years and moved back in 2011. Spent many days on the snow in Gifu and Nagano. Really liked the alpine scene there and the easy access to decent snow. Met lots of cool people there.

Have fun up in BC! Tom

[Puddy Tat]

I don't know if there is a carving competition or a technical competition in North America.

But those are popular in Japan.

This is the carving competition

that my friend posted.

So what's going on in this video. Like you've posted above it is a competition, but what are the rules and how is it graded? I don't speak Japanese so it's a little strange looking. What I got was there was a series of 1v1 heats with a winner seemingly being decided by five judges who all seemed to vote the same way in the 4 or 5 minutes I watched. What are the judging criteria?

Thanks,

Dave

[kaz]

Tom: That's cool! I was wondering how you enjoyed the RED DVD. If you have lived in Japan, you or at least your wife can understand their talking.

My home town is Yokkaichi Mie. Next to Aichi prefecture. My wife is Canadian and worked in Japan for 6 years.

I used to go to Nomugi Touge ski area in Nagano. So many alpine snowboarders there. Its kinda alpine snowboarder's heaven.

Anyway, thanks! have fun and ride safe!

P.S. A guy wearing blue beanie, black jacket and blue pants with Ogasaka is my friend from Nomugi Touge ski area in the Absolute 2012 DVD.

Dave: Pretty much that you think. The carving battle is a tournament. The winner is decided by some judges from participant's technique.

I'm not sure this but Participants have to show short, middle and long turns in the one run. And the judging criteria is how cool the riding is.

But the technical competitions are run by some Japanese snowboard associations. My believe is they have their own judging criterias and

they are bit different from each other. So participants might have to adjust to each association's judging criteria... but I don't know exactly.

Put simply, those competitions are like a figure skating. Judging by how cool/beautiful/dramatic the riding is. Not time.

I hope you can understand even a little bit of what I wanna say.

Edited January 6, 2013 by kaz

[softbootsurfer]

:) Competition in What? Dance Style? put some gates up and fastest wins, not always pretty either...:p

Surf or Skate style Comps are typically influenced by the Sponsors :)

SES and the like are not Competitions, they are Celebrations of the Dance...

Is it really necessary to pick winners and losers when it come to Dancing ?

If you know the Joy of the Carve...you are a Winner in my Book...:D

[kaz]

It's not dance style. And snowboarding technical competitions are not influenced by the sponsors so much.

But I don't know the truth. I'm sure those are not bad as much as surf and skate competitions though.

In fact, there are so many guys who are aiming to win the competition and practicing so hard to improve

their skills. I had been watching some of them in a ski area. So I can't disrespect them.

However I do agree with you, indeed. I don't think I need to compete against someone.

I challenge myself and the runs even on a bad snow condition. I just wanna carve down the runs cool.

English is my second language so I might have misunderstood you guys or exprained with wrong expression.

Sorry in advance if I'm so.

[Gabe T]

I was also wondering what the judging criteria was when I saw that competition vid. I came across something similar for carving on skis although I can't recall whether it was Korean or Japanese.

I find it quite interesting that the predominant free carving style seems to be much closer to a race oriented style of riding.

To keep things interesting, I've been trying out different styles in my own riding; this being one of them. I thought I was close, but after watching some footage from my latest vid (the clips where I'm facing and following the camera), I've still got some work to do. :)

[kaz]

So many racer joined the carving battle so you can see them in the video. But racers won't enter the technical competitions so much (I think). Carving battle has simple criteria but the tech-comps. In the tech-comps, you ride on a wave run, flat middle slope and stuff. And you go down the run with only short/middle/long turn or free-style in the one run. After you finish one run, Judges give you points. And the winner is the guys who got highest total points.

I found the explanation of tech-comps on Wiki but it's only in Japanese and I can not explain everything. It's too difficult for me.:(

I put some YouTube videos below. Those are about tech-comps. Hopefully you can get some idea of it.

Sorry for bothering this thread.

[softbootsurfer]

No idea what a backside floater throw down is but having a hard time trying to see any floating going on, hard carving in "hardboots"(till you hookup you can only lookup) is what I see, agree the body doesn't touch down and displace the edge, sans the dark part, touches hands to see the slope in the shade, many eurocarve videos on that trail, this guy starts to use the whole trail and then uses 1/3rd of it, and racecarves respect.

Been calling this Movement a Backside Floater for many years...:) when he touches down All the dead weight comes in and he absorbs it...

I guess you could call it Weightless or Flying or maybe You call it Crashing :) I call it Floating as thats what it Feels like to me...

[kaz]

Hi ursle,

I got some videos for you.

Racers

Technical competition riders and racers mix

These guys are who I used to ride with in Nagano Japan.

I'm not that good like them though.

If you check those video's channels, you'll find some more ideas of carving snowboarding scene in Japan.

Edited January 20, 2013 by kaz

[kaz]

Kohei Kawaguchi posted a new video on YouTube.

Carving Plug-In Green

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RACOnX1qP4I?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

He participated in an SBX race.

He is producing 3 DVD titles for next season: Carving Plug-In "RED 2", "BLUE 2" and "GREEN".

And he is releasing "KOHEI STYLE 2012" soon as well.