Heal Side Edge?

[Guest snowpreston]

Hey everyone,

I have been alpine boarding for about a year and a half. Everything has been going great but lately when I get really low in a heal side carve my board wants to slide out from under me. This never used to happen and my edeges are sharp.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Preston......and........Go Lisa...!!!

[NateW]

Keep your 'rear' hand (the one on the same side of your body as your rear foot) forward, at least as far forward as your front knee, probably ideally further forward than that.

Keep your shoulders square to the board, facing forward as much as possible.

Keep your butt over the back of the board, don't let it rotate to the inside of the turn.

The hand-placement thing is basically a reminder to help keep the rest of your posture in place.

Experiment with crouching lower. I have a habit of getting too confident, standing taller, and falling because my legs don't provide enough 'suspension' that way. My toesides don't seem to suffer from a tall stance, but my heelside ability goes to crap. I periodically have to remind myself to stay low.

Experiment with placing your weight more over your front foot, more centered between your feet. If you find it helps to keep a LOT of your weight on your front foot, move your stance forward a couple centimeters. That will help get your weight distribution right without burning up the quads on your front leg.

All of the above helped me a lot. The hand-position thing sounds kind of silly, but it had a dramatic effect on my heelside carves.

[Guest Pre School Rider]

Here's a simple move that usually works pretty well for curing 'fuzzy' heelside turns.Pull your toes UP when you find you're getting that lack of edge-bite.It takes awhile to figure out just how much 'toe-Up' movement is required,and doing this too hard/too quickly will set you on your can.So,take it easy playing with this,and try to keep a smooth 'roll' of the ankle instead of bruising your toenails.This ain't a cure-all,but I've seen it change rider's turns quite a few times. Oh,and here's some other things to ponder.If one (or more) of these 'issues' is lurking in your riding,you'll be skidding rather than slicing it up... The usual reasons for edge-slippage are these :: The board is too base-flat underfoot(this is common in softboot riders,not so common with hardbooters);The rider has too much 'twist' in the torso,and the board spins out or at least skids with a tail-out bias;The rider overpressures the board(too much muscle tension,or maybe caffine?)and the edge simply gets overpowered;The rider has either the boot or binding canting misaligned,and edge pressure or tipping is coming predominately from one foot;The rider "dips" the shoulder (in the case of a heelside turn,the front shoulder) during the turn and gets too 'deep' into the turn.

[Guest jeremiah]

One thing that really helps me, especially if it's getting towards the end of the day and I'm tired, is to grab the outside of my front knee with my rear hand.

This forces me to get into my crouch, keeps my hands forward, and makes me think about the carve. I'm sure that I'm breaking some cardinal rule, but it really helped me a LOT on heelside.

Jeremiah

[Guest Pre School Rider]

Nope,Jeremiah,you are spot-on with that move.It brings you into the classic angulated body position,and I'm sure it does make you naturally want to carve!On the toeside,bring your lead hand out just in front of the front knee while letting your trailing arm stretch out (but not behind your torso),but level with the snow.When you go back to the heelside,bring the back arm towards the front knee(or boot toe!)and let the lead arm extend forward,but yet again level to the snow. In teaching this to youngsters,I reference the front knee.Both hands in front when between turns,then,like an F-111 Ardvark or Toranado Fighter,the arms pop out from center like "swing wings".The trick here is that one(or both) "wing" stays tucked in near the front knee at all times.The rear 'wing' extends on toesides,the front 'wing extends on heelsides.The degree of extention is directly related to how aggressive the lean of the body is in the turn.The "wings" ALWAYS stay level to the snow.The result is instant correct angulation,and it teaches the the needed amount lean necessary for a given speed.It looks a bit odd at first,but once blended into the overall pool of skills and motions,it tends to keep rider's shoulders level no matter what kind of turns they make.

[Guest nprace]

All these suggestions are good, but they go around the real solution. The point of grabbing your front leg and so on is to get your weight forward, over the nose of the board. This is a fool proof tactic - absolutely any time you are ever in trouble - rough ice etc.. just step harder on your front leg or go into a more "cowboy" style position by spreading your knees. This will push on the side of your boot which will engage the edge from the very front on the board.

The same is true for toe side turns. Simple put, the most important part of holding a good turn is to properly distribute your weight - you cannot complete a turn (well in any case) sitting back and there's no way to hold a good edge.

I can't really explain the physics behind it, but it has something to do with a shorter beam deflecting less under the same load as a long beam. At the extreme, you can ride the board on the very end of the tail and you'll just end up going straight.

Over the board and forward if in trouble - always! - except soft snow....