Carving lessons on DVD?

[Guest gibber]

Any DVD with carving lessons? Exercise would be helpful

Thanks!

[SWriverstone]

I don't think there is anything out there yet, but interest is growing and a project may be in the works...

I think it's amazing (and sorta cool in a fringe way) that carving seems to be one of the only sports I know of that has no published instructional materials of any kind (I'm talking books or videos, no the occasional magazine article.)

I'd sure like to have something...on the other hand, I like the idea of it being like Jedi training---you don't learn from a book, you learn from a Master. :)

Scott

[skywalker]

This is a awesome thought!!!

There are some guys out there, who learned snowboarding mainly from me. My little sister's style is so similar to mine, that you might call her riding "skywalker style" ;).

So maybe in a few years when carvers meet, there will be some saying: "Look at this guy, I think he was trained by Jack." Or "This one is riding more like Jacques than like Patrice, maybe he liked Jacques' style better than any else"

[Guest dudleydudley]

Originally posted by skywalker

So maybe in a few years when carvers meet, there will be some saying: "Look at this guy, I think he was trained by Jack." Or "This one is riding more like Jacques than like Patrice, maybe he liked Jacques' style better than any else"

It's very obvious that people's riding styles are very different just by reading the way they describe it. You are right...

Again, I see the Zen of carving. You don't learn by being instructed, you learn by watching and emulating and learning on your own. Then suddenly, one day, you are "enlightened."

[Guest gibber]

We do have some books here in Italy, crappy I would say.

In the late years everybody started on a hardboard, then when poor performance (and technique) was shown, the majority switched to softboards.

Also snowparks didn't exist and we didn't have here in Europe long "fuoripista" (freeskiing?) as yo do in states so hardboards ruled.

So in the beginning it was "hard or nohing", that's why books were written.

I do personally own two but as I've said they're crappy and useless: there's no point on remebering instead of watching at somebody.

That's why I thought a good video could help.

[Jack M]

Originally posted by SWriverstone

I think it's amazing (and sorta cool in a fringe way) that carving seems to be one of the only sports I know of that has no published instructional materials of any kind

ouch.

[SWriverstone]

Okay Jack! I stand corrected! :) My apologies. Your articles---as well as the others here on BOL and the info on Scott Firestone's site have all been invaluable, and newbies like me wouldn't progress nearly as quickly without them.

I guess I was referring to "published materials" in the more old-fashioned sense (rather than the "digerati" sense). I've been told there are several snowboarding books that have sections on racing and carving...but I haven't seen them yet. The only ones I've seen at the local Borders are only about basic technique, then move right into ollies, 360s, etc.

As a thought, I'm sure an excellent book could be assembled from all of the content available online---both from articles and an edited compilation of threads from BOL (and other carving forums like extremecarving.com, etc.) As a professional writer/editor, I'd be happy to contribute help to a project like this! (If we could get the authors to agree and permit publication...but that might be like herding cats...)

ALSO: though there is a LOT of written info online, there isn't much I've found in the way of "how-to" photography, e.g. clear, closeup shots of various stances from different angles, shots of good carvers doing basic drills like The Norm, etc. Patrice and Jacques have a bit of this on their site, but only a bit. There's an abundance of wailin' action shots that are great for inspiration, but not so great at showing what a rank beginner should be doing.

Again, if anyone wants to volunteer at ECCS next week to be a "carving photo session model" for some shots like these, I'd be happy to help shoot/video them! :)

Scott