# stance and carving



## unsunken (Dec 15, 2009)

I've been snowboarding for a while and a couple years ago I decided to change up my stance from a pretty forward 30/15 to a duck stance to work make switch easier.

I still cannot for the life of me carve anywhere near as well as I did before and when trying to make a sharper/rounder heelside carve, I end up skidding. I've messed around with my stance a little bit and it seems like no matter the angle, if it's duck I have issues, if it's forward it's fine. Are there any major differences or quick tips for carving in a duck vs forward stance?


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## speedjason (May 2, 2013)

something to do with weight transfer? maybe the forward set up is forcing you putting more weight on the front foot?


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## Steezus Christ (Jul 29, 2013)

i find that gradually changing the angles of your bindings works best. start by changing it 3-6 degrees, going for a ride to get comfortable then adjusting 3-6 degrees again until u gradually feel more comfortable with a ducked stance. a little more time consuming but it works for me


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## Outlander (Nov 28, 2011)

With a duck stance, there will be some tweaking to your technique required and it will take a little time to get it dialed in. A major difference is in the body movements you use to maintain high edge angles. For good angulation, its all in the ankles. The idea is to keep your weight over the board, not nearly as much leaning toward the inside of the turn.

Something that is super important with a duck stance is good forward-aft movements. You want to deliberately shift your hips and upper body toward the nose at turn initiation then start shifting your hips and upper body aft as you progress through your turn. The final half of your turn should see you with considerably more weight on your rear foot.

What this does for you is it transitions your weight (therefore edge hold) along the board from tip to tail to correspond to the point where your sidecut experiences the most lateral force toward the outside of the turn as you progress through the turn. Where you will really notice performance increase most with good fore-aft technique is in your heelside carves.

Timing your fore-aft movements with your flexion-extension movements gives you even better board performance. Remember, for more dynamic carving, you want to use your ankles, knees and hips to use angulation to maintain edge angle and less leaning into the turn (inclination). With your forward stance, its more of a rolling of the ankle and driving your knees. This method does not effectively work with a duck stance so you must use different body movements to achieve the same board performance.


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## unsunken (Dec 15, 2009)

Outlander said:


> With a duck stance, there will be some tweaking to your technique required and it will take a little time to get it dialed in. A major difference is in the body movements you use to maintain high edge angles. For good angulation, its all in the ankles. The idea is to keep your weight over the board, not nearly as much leaning toward the inside of the turn.
> 
> Something that is super important with a duck stance is good forward-aft movements. You want to deliberately shift your hips and upper body toward the nose at turn initiation then start shifting your hips and upper body aft as you progress through your turn. The final half of your turn should see you with considerably more weight on your rear foot.
> 
> ...


Thanks! This is exactly the type of information I was looking for. So it sounds like a key difference is making sure I shift my weight back towards the tail during the turn. I'll try it next time I get out.


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## knoxious (Feb 16, 2012)

Interesting thread... and a great explanation from Outlander...thanks mate. 

So, I have been riding a directional board (Arbor Abacus) for about 5 years and have my stance setup very "forward facing" (sorry, don't know my exact numbers) and set back for the pow shreddage. Being what it is - and how I have set it up - it's a bit crap to try switch. 

I've just bought a twin shape board (Rossi Jibsaw) partly because I want to progress my switch riding. 

I'm guessing I'll want to go "The Full Duck" to make this easier for me... so, my questions are: do may people have different stance setups for their different boards, or do most people pick one and roll it out across their many boards? Do people find it hard to chop and change their stances? etc...

My next session is 5 weeks in beautiful Nelson. 

I. Cannot. Wait. 

(although some more dumpage west coast would be nice...c'mon Ullr! etc..)


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## sclogger (Dec 3, 2013)

I run full duck 15/-15 on my twin playful/park board. On my slightly offset do it all board I run 15/-8, and on the big directional pow stick/all mountain slayer I run 15/8. So yes, my stance definitely changes based on what I'm doing for the day.


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## speedjason (May 2, 2013)

Outlander said:


> Something that is super important with a duck stance is good forward-aft movements. You want to deliberately shift your hips and upper body toward the nose at turn initiation then start shifting your hips and upper body aft as you progress through your turn. The final half of your turn should see you with considerably more weight on your rear foot.


now I thought about it it all makes sense cuz as you turning away from the hills, the gravity turns from front of your board to the rear. I am gonna try that this weekend.:yahoo:


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## behi (Feb 27, 2013)

Any progress?

One big difference for duck stance carving is the use of rotation. I've seen that recommended quite a bit and it simply doesn't work (well) for duck stance carving. When you rotate your hips into the turn or move your back knee forward, you lower the edge angle at the back of the board and the tail will want to go a larger radius than the tip and wash out. Keep your hips aligned with the board and the back knee back.

What may also be helpful is adjusting the bindings to have a bit more forward lean on the back foot.


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