new to the carve... some experiences and questions.

[lex]

i made it out for the 4th time on my alpine board. it is a raceboard, fairly stiff.

i knew this would be a difficult board to learn on, this is what i have been experiencing: the board is fast, scary fast, it needs speed to carve. i run in the issue of wanting to make long shallow carves across the piste. these get the board going very fast and it make it turns very fast. i tend to over curve which makes the transitions hard unless i am lock in and reacting quickly. i am still trying to get used to the feeling of being in a carve so having to change very fast is a bit difficult.

when i am up to speed to get a carve i usually start the sequence heelside (i lock in the carve better) and then switch to toe. the angles at which i get into a carve come a bit close to the extreme carve. the transition is still a bit scary because the board is going so bloody fast. i make the transition by shifting my weight over and trying to keep pressure at the front edge of the board. i skid out more on the toeside, usually past transition. the angle that i transition to toeside i fell nears extreme. i am very high on edge and it is a blast. when i can get a set of 4 or so linked carves to lock it is always fast and at (what feels to be) near extreme carves. i would say 20-30 degrees from the face of the hill. my board will not really make small carves very well it seems. often i can only get 2-3 or 4-6 rotations in because the board end up going sooo fast.

are these (what feel to be) near extreme angles normal and good? (they feel really good).

i have been riding with my boots in position one (the straightest) and as stiff as they can make them, is this good? i seem to have more control and ability to initiate the position and lean for carve.

my bindings are set at 58/53. they came with cant wedges on both that make the bindings tilt in (the full length) towards the centre of the board, they look like 3 or six degree wedges. should i keep these in or should i take them out?

since i have a narrow race board, will it preform better if my binding angles are steeper?

gesture purity: i was reading the philosophy section of extreme carving and the bit about gesture purity resonated with me. i am curious about what people thing about that, and not only in relation to extreme carving but for carving in general. i like the idea of being able to do the most with only the movement required to complete the manuver. i find that in my carving that i mostly shift my weight, letting my whole body tilt, not breaking at my hips (especially in heelside). in your carving do you aspire to a gesture purity, something that will never be perfect (unobtainable), but something you are always working to improve.

thanks for reading and your advice. it blows me away how much fun it can be when you are in the zone. today was great! the sun was so warm that i was at the top of the area (+2000m) and i had a thermal and a t-shirt on. the snow was perfect.

alex

[Chris Houghton]

We'd only be guessing, even if you told us what board you are trying to ride, but it sounds like you are not putting enough pressure on the nose at the start of the carve. Toeside skids are a bit weird too - are you trying to touch the snow?

Give us something to work with.

[Gecko]

Length of board

Waist of board

Size (mondo) of boot you wear

Side cut radius helps too

[lex]

sorry about that..

i am riding a cocoon lotus 164cm raceboard with proflex f2 bindings 58/53. the estimated sidecut is 11.9m. waist is 18.5 nose and tail are 23.5. boots are 28 mondo (so says the liner) raichle.

i agree, i do not think i am getting enough pressure to my nose because i tend to shift my weight back in the transition to toe side because it feels like pressure from my back foot helps to engage the flex needed to make the board carve. i am also just trying to keep balance during the transition so that could also be where the weight shift to the back fits in.

i am not trying to reach for the snow. i just find that for the speed, the transition and the way the board turns, i need to be very low and close to the slope. when i am at those angles i feel like i am locking in and it feels good. the only thing is it makes the transition extreme.

[tufty]

I'd look at the following issues:

1 - Technique. Sounds like you need to be putting more into the nose at the start of the carve.

2 - Boots. If you've got your boots set and locked in Raichle position 1 (the most vertical) you're going to have trouble getting low onto the board, and getting your weight over the toeside edge. If they have a 5 position adjuster, you might want to try riding in 'powder' mode (adjuster bar flipped down and the litle knob turned) that will lock you in a position of between 3 and 5 - This will make it easier to get down on the board and to get some weight on the toeside edge. I know quite a few people who ride with the front foot locked to 3, and foot in 'powder' mode.

I wouldn't worry too much about your carves being close to the fall line, that's a standard problem. It's scary to link carves at full Gs, and as soon as you start hitting steeper stuff it becomes much harder to transition. Go back either to the flatter slopes and try linking carves that run for longer, or stay on the steeper stuff and unlink your carves (do one carve at a time, as long as you can hold it, stop, then the same on the other side) for a while. Then try linking two or three carves on the steeps again. The steeper the slopes, the more Gs you will pull, and the more important it is to be able to flex at the knees and ankles to absorb some of the force - see my boot comment again.

You might want to take out the toe / inward cant on your front foot, too. But canting is a huge can of worms.

Simon

[lex]

re: boots locked in position one.

i have had them locked in the middle position but i felt like i did not have enough leverage, like it was harder to get my nose in, harder to get on edge. i found in position one that i had the leverage that i needed to get on edge.

[Chris Houghton]

Position one? Sounds like a case of flegmatic-carve. Standing too tall and not flexing in the knees. We need some pics.

[Jack M]

You're trying to ride terrain that is too steep for your abilities. You can't learn anything when you're fighting for your life. Head down to the greens and practice the Norm. That board should be fairly easy to learn on. So should the terrain.

http://bomberonline.com/articles/feel_the_carve.cfm

http://bomberonline.com/articles/the_normii.cfm

[lex]

indeed, some parts of my favourite (blue, the light piste in switzerland, no greens) run is a bit steep and too fast for me but also flattens out wide in a few places. at the end of the run it flattens out the most and i do my best. i can link carves fairly well. i am basically trying to get better on the steeper parts. i can get linked carves on the steeper sections, it is just very fast.

i shall read and then re-read the norm before i go out again..

thanks!

[BlueB]

Hey Lex,

I see you are having great fun learning to carve.

I'm no expert, but my 2c on few issues that you have:

- Long shallow arcs (this probably becomes more obvious on harder snow/ice, right?)

* Direct result of board not flexing enough. I'm repeating myself, but you are about 25lb lighter than the bottom line for that board. For learning you should be on top limit. One of the remedies is to make the stance as narrow as possible - that would put more pressure to the centre of the board.

- Speed

* Control it by finishing the full semi-circles, or even extending your arc a bit uphill on steep runs. This would make the transition very difficult, so stick to milder runs. As the board is too stiff for you, the speed is your friend to certain extent - it magnifies the force applied towards bending.

- Toe side skid

* I have experienced this too in my learning days. What helped was running the equal angles front and rear, and driving the rear knee into the turn (this helps on heel side, too). Do not worry too much about pressuring the nose, as this might inspire you to "kick" the tail, as it becomes lighter with all the weight on forward foot. Rather concentrate on equal pressure on both feet and entire edge. Nose pressure techniques would come later, when you are confident in basic carving.

- Binding angles

* With steeper angles it would be more difficult to initiate turns, especially toe side. But, you might find that there's less chances for tail "kick" and skid...

- Cant

* Unless knock or bow legged, you do not need it for steeper angles. Just toe lift front, and heel lift on rear foot. You can also achieve this with straighter lean in front boot cuff and more acute in the rear. On flatter angles some cant feels comfortable to me, but I still need toe/hill lifts.

- Boot lean

* Partially answered above. But, straight and locked is bad. Prevents you from flexing the legs.

- Extreme vs. angulated style

* I won't comment much - it's a well dissected topic on BOL. I like going extreme on good snow, but on very hard pack or ice angulated is a must (at least for me).

Oh, by the way, your board is narrower than mine (193mm waist)...

Keep up good work!

Boris

[Jack M]

Lex, sounds like you've got a good trail for both practicing and for pushing your limits. When the trail gets steep, really exaggerate the forward weight shift at the beginning of each carve. Drive the nose of the board into the turn. Between carves, don't waste time standing up and gliding - this allows speed to build. Speed control only happens when we're carving (or skidding). Snap into your next carve as quickly as possible using cross-through technique. Here's some reading on that:

http://bomberonline.com//articles/cross_over.cfm

[lex]

BB,

long shallow arcs: i should clarify what i mean. basically carves that have a large radius, where you are in the turn for more than a few seconds, transversing back and forth across a wide piste. so yeah, these are intentional.

i have been experimenting with my binding settings and i am going to move them back to being as centre as possible. i also want to pull the cant wedges out and try things flat.

JM, thanks! yeah, i think it is a good run, i could ride it the whole day (and usually do). i will read up on the X-through...

i hope to get come digi camera videos this weekend and i will post them up for you to see.

thanks again,

alex

[Skwalleur]

For me, when starting out - the big laydown turns with arcs using most of the pistes were a natural way for me to deal with getting balance, gut and confidence for my next turn. As my riding progressed I learned to push myself into much tighter, faster turns with cross-over/push-pull technique as mentioned above. I think it's only a matter of riding more to get the feel and confidence for doing faster linked turnes in all conditions rather than focusing on a large number of gear-setups.

Back in the day - making those big arcs: