Guest glennmorton Posted October 23, 2005 Report Share Posted October 23, 2005 I have been getting more into carving and riding fast after somewhat loosing interest in rattling my head off ice in the park. From learning on a soft boot set up with a pretty neutral stance, I was always told to keep my shoulder square with my knees. However, in carving, especially the guys I see on hardboots, their shoulders are squared to the nose of the board. Would this be the same on soft boots with a lesser stance angle? For softboot carving, I seem to be able to carve pretty hard with my "freestyle stance" (albeit not like a hardbooter, but that will come this winter after my christmas gift to myself), but on a soft boot set up, should I be rotating more forward to square to the nose of the board? Tremblant opens in 27 days! Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Posted October 23, 2005 Report Share Posted October 23, 2005 - stick with what you've got going. Hardbooters can "get away with it", but it is not the more efficient way to ride. It is even more inefficient to fact the nose on softies at low angles. Back in the day, most riders (soft or hard) rode like this. I believe that this was because in the search for good technique people tried to cross ski technique (the established norm at the time) over to snowboarding. There are still some old school holdouts to this technique, but you will be much more effective in your "neutral" stance. I keep harping on these old threads and people are probably tired of it, but check them out. The first one is specific to soft boot carving: http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/showthread.php?t=1135 http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/showthread.php?t=1078 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrCR Posted October 23, 2005 Report Share Posted October 23, 2005 There are lots of techniques and I'm still trying to sort it all out myself and which style/technique is right for me. Personally, I'm leaning more towards the philosphy I first saw at the EC site, at least as far as shoulders, angles/board width, and non-counterrotation and such goes. I'm no were near good enought to do ECing like seen in their vids though lol. :D EC Technique Link: http://www.extremecarving.com/tech/tech.html Hope this helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy D Posted October 23, 2005 Report Share Posted October 23, 2005 I find keeping the shoulders square with the direction my feet are pointed helps the most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarvCanada Posted October 23, 2005 Report Share Posted October 23, 2005 you're not gonna be aggressively carving turns where you're double arming the slopes though with a neutral stance i think by saying "facing the nose" he really meant facing in the direction of the high angles of alpine stance in comparison to facing the waist axis with a neutral stance. for me its more like facing the nose on heelside and facing a little lower than my binding angles on toeside while in hardboots What board/setup are you getting? Maybe try riding a stiff freeride board with something like 40/30 angles before trying hardboots. When I ride a set-up like that, I'm never completely facing the nose. On heelsides I probably face my chest /shoulders at 45 degrees and on toesides probably at 30 degrees. To visualize this, imagine on heelsides having your rear arm pointing straight down to your waist as if you're almost grabbing indy while the front arm points a bit outside the nose. On toesides front hand is pretty much in line with binding angles while rear arm is bent and held up near shoulders (cause your low to the snow :) ! Trying to face the nose with a lower stance, it just seems wrong, the board will chatter, the tail will want to break free, your knees won't be bent comfortably. But yeah i think you meant facing "forwards" with an alpine stance, which is really fun. Double arming the slope is real nice and you can definately do it in softies, just with higher angles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philfell Posted October 23, 2005 Report Share Posted October 23, 2005 stay natural. If your angles are low you should be standing more in-line with your board. If your angles are high you should be standing facing more forward on the board. This isn't a soft/hardboot thing. This is a snowboard thing. Always keep your body with the least amount of built up tension. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest glennmorton Posted October 23, 2005 Report Share Posted October 23, 2005 Backs up what I thought. I had never messed with my form in terms of rotation until I rode a lift with a pretty old school guy who doled out all sorts of tips, most of which I ignored since he was wearing jeans, but the rotation thing got me thinking over the summer. I have always rode square with my bindings, regardless of angle. For the previous post who asked about my set up, I generally use a Never Summer Premier T5 165, Burton Drivers, and formerly Salomon bindings but soon to be replaced. Generally, since I do spend time in the park, I keep really low angles. Doesn't carve great and those angles, but gets the job done. I do sping them to 40/30 on occasion. Thanks for all feedback, Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NateW Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 When I was riding a freeride board with 45/30 angles I found the "face forward" approach improved my heelsides a lot. It also hurt my rear knee after a while - not seriously, just some pain that went away after I increased my rear foot to 40 degrees. So if you're like me, I'm guessing your turns will improve, but it will be uncomfortable. Try it and see if it works for you. (A good policy for any change that can be undone quickly. :)) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ak_rider Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 It's important to have your body aligned. Think shoulders over hips over knees over ankles, nicely stacked. This will keep you balanced. So if you begin to ride super forward angles(for softboots) your shoulders will be slightly open. Don't get too hung up on being square to the nose, I'm guessing it was just a very simplified way of saying how to be stacked with a neutral stance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrCR Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 Kind of ties in with what TommyD mentioned... http://chrisklug.com/hi-res/media%20klug%20carve6.jpg (Pic of ChrisKlug) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carp Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 I've been told from others that my technique is dynamic based on the terrain, conditions and board I'm on. In addition, to my stance angles. I think I read somewhere in one of Jack's articles to really practice several techniques so you can adapt to the mountain. When I was younger and more into leaving the snow I would ride both soft and hard boots in a season and found after off soft boots and returning to hard boots I'd be more fluid in my turns. I know some here ride both till this day. I'm pretty much always on my plates but wouldn't mind returning to softies for a day or two this winter, if not only to appreciate the feel and grace of carving with a hardboot set up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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