A little virtual coaching please?

[John Gilmour]

Come out to Aspen, wide open terrain with good snow and I can will give you the confidence and neuromapping to take those skills back East.

Slopestar ( soft boot carving deep edging and trenching) and CMC (carving for icy snow) both emulate different riding styles  that I taught them.
 

You can ask them how I helped.
 

 Slopestar has really been killing it- had a great time riding with him this year.  That video with the slow toe side, it’s hard to go that slow as an intermediate and carve that deep, better to learn with a bit more speed then learn to slow it down.

‘my advice…get low first …then worry about edging

 

…..is a lot easier than edging first and trying to get low.

 

Here’s your virtual coaching from the stills. Heelside is your better turn of the two.. you are looking into the turn which is great and your leg positioning relative to each leg is actually quite good. However your hips and butt are way too high off the snow for a good heelside. Finding your balance along the centerline tip to tail of the board first and getting low prior to tipping will help. Then you can do it at the same time once you fix the issue to edging to much and too early for your hip height off the snow.

 

 Toes side…that really needs work . Your center of mass is way too far away from the edge of the board for your speed and inclination.  You are leaning into that turn (bad)  rather than edging into that turn. Try focusing on not leaning your body into the when initiating but  trying to drive your shins and knees down towards the snow first. It will at first feel awkward until you feel the edge powerfully cut.  Much easier to show you on FaceTime when you are clipped in in your living room . 949-416-6194 
 

Aspen has become a DJ Mecca with great slopes. Like Vegas with a skiing problem.  You won’t be disappointed. 

Edited March 3, 2023 by John Gilmour

[icebiker]

Thanks John. I may take you up on that. Wife and son and I were thinking that would be a great destination for next season. Great tips on the meantime.  Do you have a link to the video you reference? 

[pow4ever]

i read it as
John G is reference to the video you posted EC with Ben.
slow carve/deep require everything to go right.

wow; class of 2013 here....  Good memory

 

[icebiker]

Again thanks for all the helpful tips!  Here are a couple of examples however of what I struggle to understand. These pics are inspiring for sure, and while EC isn’t what I’m aiming for at this point, I marvel at how the body positioning doesn’t show a lot of leg/knee bend (counter to some of the tips above).  

https://forums.alpinesnowboarder.com/topic/55440-photo-shoot-with-my-ec-buddy/

Take heelside first. See pic 5. Rider’s legs and butt are very close to snow,   legs flexed but not extremely bent, board angulated at ~45 degrees.  In my equivalent heelside photo,  board is similarly angulated, legs are similarly flexed but not overly bent, yet I am way up off the snow.   What is he doing that I am not?  I am certain he is carrying much more speed than I am, so that could very well be a factor, I’m just trying to understand his technique.

Now, for toeside, see pic 3.   Body stretched EC style, legs only mildly flexed, yet body very close to snow.  Is he able to do that because of centripetal force at speed (eg flex/bend legs entering the turn, then extend at the apex?)  

In digesting everyone’s feedback I sense my issue is a combination of poor body positioning and insufficient speed. Any thoughts on the above?

 

Edited March 20, 2023 by icebiker

[CravingCarving]

What are some drills to work on increasing angulation? 

 

(New alpine rider, longtime softboot rider. Finding the switch difficult.)
(I can start a new thread if more appropriate, but thought since it was mentioned a few times it would be within the scope of this thread)

 

Thanks

[Neil Gendzwill]

Icebiker yes speed is a factor as well as turn radius. The tighter you turn at a given speed the more your body needs to lean. Therefore you need more speed to get low with longer sidecuts but even with short sidecuts you need a certain amount of speed.
 

You get a tight turn with early edge pressure. As I said before I am not the best at getting low but I find I get the lowest when I seriously commit to that edge early. That means that the start of the turn begins when I am traversing across the hill just after the previous turn, and I huck my body over the top and onto the downhill edge. At this point I am traversing on the downhill edge as it hooks up. If you do it right you will whip around tighter and lower than you might think possible. But it requires commitment and faith that the edge will hold, especially going toe to heel. That one is a blind huck over your shoulder. 

[John Gilmour]

Well, quite honestly, we have all been there.

It’s not like we are all great at carving from the moment we stepped on a board. 
 

‘So stick with it.  

However I will tell you this, sticking with the same set of movements will just get you stuck.  One thing I assumed (incorrectly whiles learning to carve )  was if I just kept “leaning’ I would get low.  And perhaps on perfect groom you can, but the reality is we don’t get that surface for very long. 
 

so here’s something to ponder.  Imagine you have no body above your shins …. Well then if you tilt your shins towards the ground your board would carve.  Actually it’s the most important thing to get right.  
 

if you keep your upper body for the most part NOT tilting, and tilt agreesively almost trying to touch your shins and knees to the snow toes ice without allowing for any lateral slide…. You will carve a very deep planted secure toe side turn.

 

ok… so you start that turn, you feel the DEEP groove being established… once that rail is set and cutting SECURELY…. Now …. It’s okay to EC toe side. And you can then extend on the snow.

Aspen snow right now is really good. 3 days of great carving, and I rode first gondola  6 -10’ of fresh pow  top to bottom at ruthies today ensuring an amazing base. It’s felt like Early January most of the season, this past week feels like early February. Temps in single digits at night. Spring has not come to Aspen yet…so if you want Really good midwinter carving …it’s here. It was dangerous about 10 days ago, but the deep snowfall has fixed that.

Edited March 22, 2023 by John Gilmour

[icebiker]

Thanks again all, my season is over for now but you’ve given me much to think about and I look forward to applying these tips next season!