Any Tips for heelside turns?

[snow|3oarder]

Im new to alpine, but ive managed to hold my own the few times ive been out. I notice that Its harder for me to hook up the heel side edge properly. I try to minimize counter rotation as much as I can. It seems that the rear part of the heelside edge by my back leg is more prone to slipping. It doesnt seem like im bending at the waist, although I should look for that next time I board. Is there anything fundamental I should keep in mind?

BTW ive been running 60 front 55 back, because I have large boots and therefore no choice.

[joecarve]

It's a common problem - I was plagued by it in my first year. (Search on "heelside" and you'll likely find a ton of tips). A few pointers:

- bend deep at the knees. More. You're still standing tall. more.

- Looking ahead (uphill) of my turns helped me quite a bit...if you find yourself skidding and you're looking downhill, across the board, you're not looking ahead.

- As you're transitioning from toe to heel, try to really stick your hip into the turn before the rest of your body, like bumping a car-door shut when holding bags in each arm.

So just keep repeating in your head as you make the transition to heel: "look ahead, hip first, look ahead, hip first"...

joe...

[Chubz]

Check to see when you are initiating the turn. I discovered 1/2 way thru my first season that I began my turns late if you want to call it that. I was use to doing turns on a freestyle but the alpine board my heelside begins while I am moving perpendicular across the slope. When I can see my carve line from the lift. The transition point is perpendicular to the hill, where teh cresent moons meet each other. Prior to that, the transition were not perpendicular but at a slight angle down the slope. I found starting that turn early allowed it to get locked in and hold thru the turn.

I also drive the rear knee towards the heelside of the board and the front knee.

I also follow many of the items joecarve listed, especially the looking back up hill rather than down.

One last thing that helped me was changing my discs from 3 front 0 back to 6 front and 3 back. The 6 back may hellp more, but havent tested it yet.

[Jack M]

can't respond fully right now, but you may find some help in these practice drills:

http://www.bomberonline.com/articles/practice_drills.cfm

[snow|3oarder]

I was thinking of changing my lift angles to 6 front and 3 rear (i just use lift, no cant....i was previously riding 6 6). Seems that everyone has more lift/cant in the rear than the front, however, I think ill try the 6 front 3 rear. These other comments are helpful as well! Thanks.

[Gleb]

I got a tip that I defintly put up a cant on my rear foot instead of just riding flat. He told me to put the plate on so that it makes my back knee kind of go in closer to my front knee, so I can drive the snowboard better on the heel side. At least thats what i thought he said. I'm gona try it out monday:o

[tufty]

can't respond fully right now, but you may find some help in these practice drills:

http://www.bomberonline.com/articles/practice_drills.cfm

Slightly offtopic, but I was just reading through those articles again, and in "The Norm II" there is mention of stiltwalking; now I don't like to be down on what is otherwise a _very_ good article, but it's actually an awful lot easier to walk on tall stilts than short ones. More scary, sure, and the risks are greater, but easier nonetheless. Unicycles are the same, I should add.

Great articles, though.

Simon

[Guest astan100]

You know, I'm learning too, but my heel side is way better than my toe side. I can carve a sweet looking arc with my heel and sometimes with my toe.

I focused on putting more weight to the rear and trying to keep it 50/50. From freestyle, I got in the habit of way too much weight in the front I think, so I'm dialing that back.

Like someone else said, bend a whole bunch, but don't stick your butt out...hehe.

[Mr. T]

Try initiating the heelside with pressure on the noseward-heelside of your leading leg calf. Another way to think of it is driving into the turn with your lead hip to initiate heelside pressure. If exagerated you should feel pressure all along the side ( IT band ) of your lead leg. The practice drills linked in Jack's post are a fantastic way to help you with upper and lower body positioning, knee flexure and weight transfer. Remember to use knees to get to these positions and keep triing because some will likely feel stranger than others. Oh yeah, also read Dan B's piece on your butt and where it should be in the tech articles page. I also ride with steep stance angles, 65deg. ish, because of my big feet and it means more lateral leg/knee pressure. Cant enough that you feel you have a comfortable stance but not so much that your knees are together. It's nice to have room to drive forward with you rear leg without running into the front feg, and it also give you a more stable base. Many people cant just the front foot. cheers!!!

[bobdea]

it looked like you were straight legging it, the cant on the rear foot is essential for me and probably 60% of carvers in general maybe more.

as for a heelside tip, for me if I reach with my right hand toward the left side of the nose of the board it really helps me crank that turn nice and tight.

I am regular by the way.

[philfell]

I was thinking of changing my lift angles to 6 front and 3 rear (i just use lift, no cant....i was previously riding 6 6). Seems that everyone has more lift/cant in the rear than the front, however, I think ill try the 6 front 3 rear. These other comments are helpful as well! Thanks.

Please don't take this the wrong way. You are asking about basic riding technique over the internet, and am admittedly new to the sport. You are aware that most riders use more lift/cant in their rear foot than their front. And you want to do the exact oppisite?!?! Many people here have been riding hardboots for a decade plus, most of us have tried it all as far as setups go. There is a reason why we use more cant/lift in the rear foot. Save yourself years of dinking around with your set up and learn from our mistakes.

You heelside problem dosen't sound like a set-up/equipment issue. It's a technique issue. Your board will carve on it's own, you have to make inputs to make it skid. Usually when your tail skids on heel side it means you are twisting in your upper body, and you have too much pressure on your front foot. Shift your weight back a little and line up your hips and shoulders with your binding angles.

[Gleb]

it looked like you were straight legging it, the cant on the rear foot is essential for me and probably 60% of carvers in general maybe more.

as for a heelside tip, for me if I reach with my right hand toward the left side of the nose of the board it really helps me crank that turn nice and tight.

I am regular by the way.

Ya i know i defintly was keeping my legs straight. It was weird for me to go into a turn like that. I guess all my bad technique from skiing carried over. I just realized that the leg that would be lower on the slope would be straight. I'm working on it:)

[mnovak]

I'm relatively new to carving too (last year) and have been working mostly on heelside issues. Take this for what it's worth, but I think that the faster one settles into settings the easier it will be to just concentrate on technique and just get used to a particular setting. In other words, if something seems to be working for toeside at least, perhaps leave it alone and focus on technique. I was fooling around with settings at the beginning of this year and quickly returned to what I had the end of last year -- at least for me, technique is the main issue provided I am physically comfortable with the set-up.

[Neil Gendzwill]

As the OP asked for fundamental pointers, are you bending your legs? A lot? Do you have your shoulders level and either square to the nose or at least to your stance? Not to pick on anybody but if you look at the first picture in this thread you'll see a guy who's probably skidding his tail due to those two errors. There's a ton of guys who go straight-legged on their heelsides, it's more scary on that side to trust the edge and drop down into the turn.

[snow|3oarder]

I do need to force myself to be more square on the heelside turns. Also, I think I need to shift more weight to the rear of the board. I consciously try to avoid bending at the waist, counter rotation, and "straight legging," but It occasoinally happens. I do try to arch my back towards the inside of the turn (outside elbow up).

I think the tip regarding pointing your rear knee and hip towards the heelside edge will really be helpful (and so are all these other comments). I have trouble maintaining that turned position 100% of of the time. Im working on it.

I do find it much easier when I focus on the direction of the turn rather than down the hill (im prone to this mistake).

In about a week I will have taken some more runs and probably have a video, and I will let you all know the prognosis.