# Need help! couple of questions regarding linking turns.



## skip11 (Jan 28, 2010)

So I went up to blackcomb today and practice linking turns on mostly blue runs. Mind you that this is my 5th time riding. I've watched snowolf's vid and it helps alot, but I still have some problems.

1. I feel like my turns are more like exagerrated skidded turns. Some times I get it right, but most of the times it's like brake and then turn (if you get what I mean). Am I kicking with my back leg too much? 

2. Also, I found out that I needed to really slow down in order to link turns, instead of 1 fluid motion. What can I do to fix this?

3. I watched other snowboarders that blew past me and I noticed that their feet is really "light". It's like they don't put much pressure on the edges at all. The board seems to just glide into the turns. Is this how it's supposed to be?

4. I am also having a hard time doing cross under turns when on cat tracks or flatter terrains.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JQiXIw-0oY here's a video that keeps me wondering how do they carve in those steeper terrains and still control speed.

Sorry for the many questions, I hope you guys can help


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## neversummerFTW (Jan 10, 2010)

You shouldn't force your feet around, but lean your lower body into the turn. Let your front foot lead and just follow. I think that's what you mean by "light"


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## Guest (Feb 25, 2010)

My instructor noticed that I also slipped a lot when turning toe side. Once he pointed that out I realized that I was too concerned with getting the board around instead of focusing on where I want the board to go. Picking waypoints to turn on helped me focus on the goal (my path) rather than the means (edge change).


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## slyder (Jan 18, 2010)

I you look at the video he is riding a strong edge and still scrubbing some speed to stay in control.
If you also watch their heads, their 1st movement is to look into the turn they will be making. Their shoulders then follow, causing the body lean into the turn giving the board a good carve on the edge.

I hope this helps, and I practice this a lot, trying to get better myself :laugh: For me, I need to concentrate on keeping my weight forward and making sure I look into the turn. Those 2 things have really helped me
-Slyder


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## Muki (Feb 8, 2010)

I'm having the same problem you are.. For me, though, it seems it's the fear of falling on my ass when I'm not slowing down alot to turn on my toe again..I'll link 1 or 2 together maybe, and then I feel like I'm going to fast and I'll get fucked if I wipe out. Heh.


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## Mr. Polonia (Apr 5, 2009)

skip11 said:


> 1. I feel like my turns are more like exagerrated skidded turns. Some times I get it right, but most of the times it's like brake and then turn (if you get what I mean). Am I kicking with my back leg too much?
> 
> 2. Also, I found out that I needed to really slow down in order to link turns, instead of 1 fluid motion. What can I do to fix this?
> 
> ...






Muki said:


> I'm having the same problem you are.. For me, though, it seems it's the fear of falling on my ass when I'm not slowing down alot to turn on my toe again..I'll link 1 or 2 together maybe, and then I feel like I'm going to fast and I'll get fucked if I wipe out. Heh.




im guessing that you two have the same issue...FEAR

When u start off, you will, for the most part be more comfortable on your heel edge. This is the edge that you will first learn to stop on and therefore you will be more comfortable transitioning from your toe side onto your heel side because that will be a more natural movement for you.

Im guessing that you link a toe side to heel side turn with no problem, then by then you will be going faster and so, if you want to transition again to your toe side, you will feel the FEAR and start doing "an exagerated skidded turn"

Get used to the speed and dont be afraid, to "kick" that back foot out when your going on your toes. Make sure you also lean fwd or back depending on which edge you want to link. This will take some practice.
Get passed the committment issues, and tell yourself constantly, " Lean fwd, kick that back foot back, Lean back, kick that back foot fwd " you will also notice that once you get comfortable at this, your links will become narrower and more smooth


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## skip11 (Jan 28, 2010)

Thanks for the replies guys.

@Mr. Polonia: from what I've been reading and watching videos, you're not supposed to kick the back foot?


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## Mr. Polonia (Apr 5, 2009)

skip11 said:


> Thanks for the replies guys.
> 
> @Mr. Polonia: from what I've been reading and watching videos, you're not supposed to kick the back foot?


not kick like as in *KICK* but i see a lot of people fall on their asses when they are trying to link turns...part of this is because of theyre weight distribution not being in front of their edge on the toeside and vice-versa... im not really sure as to what level youre on, but the way i overcame the fear of transitioning on my weaker edge was to kick out the back foot just to get the handle of it and after that, i learned to use my weight more than anything as well as using my boards sidecut to do the rest of the turning.

hope that cleared it up


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## Mr. Polonia (Apr 5, 2009)

My reply was aimed more towards Muki than to you.

As for you, it looks like your comfortable in riding on both your edges...so ur problem is too much kicking out and therefore youre slowing down before the link.

If u want to get smooth without all that skidding, you should lean over your front edge and dig your front foot into the snow, and as ur initiating the turn, slowly extend your legs up to put that extra pressure on your boards sidecut. Sidecut is what causes your board to turn naturally without the need of steering with your back foot A.K.A. ruddering.


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## skip11 (Jan 28, 2010)

So in a way, you are digging the front foot a bit more than the back foot?

I'll try this the next time I ride.


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## Mr. Polonia (Apr 5, 2009)

skip11 said:


> So in a way, you are digging the front foot a bit more than the back foot?
> 
> I'll try this the next time I ride.


yes you dig your front foot first so that way the lip of the board will initiate the "carve" and then you follow thru with your back foot. You want to use the boards torsional flex ( twisting ) to engage a sidecut turn. once ur into the turn just dig the edges into the snow, lean FWD and ull see its effortless to be smooth


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

If you can find some light powder at a minimum, it is so much easier to learn on when your trying to do smooth links am turns. I can link like a champ in pow but tend to slow down on my links when its packed an groomed. I agree with all the body mechanics posts thus far an I tend to kick around my trailing foot a little bit.


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## Muki (Feb 8, 2010)

Yeah, it is the fear.. I've overcame it last time, and of course fell, but eventually pain takes the place of fear so I stop trying cause my tailbones hurts so bad. Lol .. Could barely walk and it hurt to sit down Sunday night.. but all is swell. I'm just glad I'm making progress every time I ride.:thumbsup:


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## skip11 (Jan 28, 2010)

"The front knee should have a little more bend to it than the rear one. Drive the knee down toward the snow and arch your back a little bit to stay stacked over the board. Just be patient and let the turn develop naturally from here. Resist the urge to force completion by kicking the rear foot along."

I think this is also one of my problem, I realized that I didn't drive my front knee down toward the snow enough. Snowolf, I have a question. When do I initiate the turn, is it when the nose is flat or when the the nose is flat AND the board is pointing down the fall line? (I guess the question is should I start my turn early?)

P.S
I'm 5'5" 145lbs riding a 155 cm board. I hope my board is not too long.


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

I would suggest a shorter board unless you are hitting lots of powder. I'm 6' 290 on a 160w and it maneuvers well on the groomed runs an in moderate pow. I have a 169w for deep powder.


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## skip11 (Jan 28, 2010)

Thanks for the advice SnoWolf appreciate it . I think also one of the reason that I do too much skidding is to control the speed, which in turn can make me manage the turn easier/better (which is not the case apparently lol).

Yeah I guess my board is a bit too long. It's a 155 Ride Machete. I figured this will probably be my board for the next 2 or 3 years, I figure I'd invest in a good board. Unfortunately I'm not really knowledgeable about the sizing of the board and the guy at the shop says it's a good size for me (the tip is at my nose).


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## skip11 (Jan 28, 2010)

So will be going up to whistler again tomorrow (so excited!) and I have one question regarding transitioning turns. Say when you transition from heelside to toeside, when you're about to transfer edges do you press down (I guess this is called down-unweighting?) or extend my legs (up-unweighting)? I have a feeling that going lower when transitioning will be easier and have more balance.


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## Guest (Mar 13, 2010)

^ there are many different approaches to the initiation of a turn but most beginners will initiate with a 'down and forward' movement, flexing the knees. after the turn is initiated, extend the knees to exert pressure on the new edge.

try counting - aloud if necessary - to get into a consistent rhythm of flexion and extension.

alasdair


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## skip11 (Jan 28, 2010)

UPDATe:

I just got back from snowboarding. The weather was perfect today, whistler was dumped this last week, so we got fresh powder up there. I'm finally able to link turns comfortably on blue terrains. I found out that on steeper terrains, I unconcsiously kinda of use the down unweighting movement (even though I'm pretty sure it's far from perfect fundamental) while on normal blue terrains I use the regular turning method I learned from Snowolf and SnowProfessor. 



> As I said, this works well and is even fun to do when cruising groomers, but it will bite you in the ass on steeps. The reason it does is because on steeps, an up unweighting move throws you out and down the slope. When you "land" you do so with a lot more force and this tends to lead to bad chatter and skidding. With a down unweighted move, you land much softer and your board reengages the snow with a much lighter touch.


This is very true Snowolf, especially the part where it throws you out and lead to chatter to skidding. I figured if i flex my knee more to initiate the turn (while flattening the nose), I get a way smoother turn and didnt throw me off balance. Another thing I noticed is that when going at speed (pretty fast to me, but maybe not so much to you), I started making those S-turns by just shifting my weight heel-toe heel-toe.

One problem I have with heelside turns is that, I feel that I skid quite often when trying to control speed, instead of using the shape of the turns to control speed (as you mentioned in your video). Is this fine or should I really practice controlling speed with turns instead of skidding (mind you this is all blue terrains as the greens at blackcomb are mostly narrow cat tracks).

I also tried learning switch for a little bit and it's so hard haha.

PS: The snow was mostly chopped up powder and soft pack.


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