# Newbie can finally cruise down blues but still have questions!



## fayewolf (Jan 3, 2011)

Trying not to blame it on my board, because I honestly am not able to really tell the difference, I've only rode the rental burtons and my gnu b-street. Lilfoot said this board throw her around on choppy conditions, and it's known for not really "dampening" (i don't know what it means...)

I honestly think that I've come quite a long way already, albeit slowly, I'm quite comfortable riding the blue runs in my mountain, and not falling on my ass like when I first learn! Don't get me wrong, I still fall, just not every 10 meters, lol 

I notice that now I'm riding a bit faster, I'm not sure if it is the terrain, or mainly my technique, I'm getting alot of chattering especially on my heel side traverse. I know that I bent my knees more on when coming out of the turn and also during the traverse, maybe that made it go faster and chatter more? The only thing that helps is obviously loosen up the legs like noodles, but it is still scary, and even so, sometimes my board throws me up a bit and if unlucky, I land on my ass. (these falls are not nearly as painful to my beginner catch-a-heel-edge-while on-toe-edge kind of alls), but it is still a bit bothersome. Is there any tricks to this?

I also find myself ruddering my back leg when the blue gets really steep. This happens when I just cannot get myself to lean down hill and in order to turn, i had to throw my upper body and rudder the back leg, I don't do this all the time, but i did caught myself doing this a few times. especially when I freak out at the speed i'm going and slow down to a stop in the middle of a steep blue... it's very difficult to restart the turns... i guess this comes with experience and riding more?


----------



## crimsonfox (Jan 18, 2011)

Dampening is how well your board eats up chatter and feels smooth when the terrain gets choppy. It sounds like the board does not have a lot of dampening if you are experiencing chatter on the blue runs. The best thing you can do without buying a new board is to stay flexed at the knees and try to stay loose. 

As for ruddering, it sounds like you are traversing side to side too much. Get the nose pointed downhill and edge to edge to control your speed. Remember, you speed up at the beginning of a turn and slow down towards the end of the turn.


----------



## fayewolf (Jan 3, 2011)

Yep, my traverse are rather long, in my stupid mind, i thought making my turns wider utilizing the whole mountain will be easier... i'll try that next.

Yeah, i really don't want to get a new board, when i bought this board, I swear up and down to the sales person that I won't go fast, i don't like speed, well, i still don't, but I'm going alot faster than I was before, and the chattering is throwing me around quite a bit esp when the snow is choppy. 
Thank you!


----------



## KahWhyC (Nov 10, 2010)

Majority of the problem that you're having will occur less as you progress, like fear.


----------



## AcroPhile (Dec 3, 2010)

My 2 cents: Its the technique not the board. Riding choppy snow is just another skill you will learn as your skills progress. As you described, you are just getting comfortable going down the blues without falling so you are not really pushing the limitations of the board or riding extreme terrain. At this stage in the game, buying another board that can handle chop better is a waste of money. Just keep riding and soon, choppy snow will be no problem at all. I'm sure other members of the board will be able to help you out with more technical advice on the specifics of riding chop. Hope this helps.


----------



## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

fayewolf said:


> Yep, my traverse are rather long, in my stupid mind, i thought making my turns wider utilizing the whole mountain will be easier... i'll try that next.
> 
> Yeah, i really don't want to get a new board, when i bought this board, I swear up and down to the sales person that I won't go fast, i don't like speed, well, i still don't, but I'm going alot faster than I was before, and the chattering is throwing me around quite a bit esp when the snow is choppy.
> Thank you!


I had a board with very little dampening before (Morrow Lithium) and I have a board with much better dampening now (NS Heritage). That does reduce the chatter, but doesn't eliminate it. The problem in the end is technique. I've had the same problem as you in that on steeps, I chatter on heelside turns. This turns out (in my case) to be caused by a number of technique issues:

1) Not holding enough edge on heelside, so the board 'slips'
2) shifting weight to back foot on heelside
3) turning more sharply on heelside
4) braking on the bottom of the turn

Snowolf has discussed the proper technique for bleeding off speed in another thread. The idea is _not_ to brake at the bottom of the curve, but instead to brake at the top, just when you're turning from the traverse to the fall line. I've been practicing this, and it does work. It's hard because it's counterintuitive, and you have to learn to accept the acceleration on the downhill part without freaking. Also if you get out of the rhythm, it's difficult to get it back.


----------



## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

AcroPhile said:


> Just keep riding and soon, choppy snow will be no problem at all. I'm sure other members of the board will be able to help you out with more technical advice on the specifics of riding chop. Hope this helps.


Yep. I'm getting much better with chop. Two things that help a lot: bending your kneeds and crouching more (but not leaning more), and hitting the chop with a bit of edge rather than a flat board. If your board is flat, the chop acts like a series of ramps, but if you have a bit of edge you'll cut through them more. Also don't try too hard to turn in the chop. That'll just launch you.


----------



## fayewolf (Jan 3, 2011)

Donutz said:


> issues:
> 
> 1) Not holding enough edge on heelside, so the board 'slips'
> 2) shifting weight to back foot on heelside
> ...


I have all of the above issues!! I noticed I was leaning on my back leg a bit on steeper areas!!! And the braking, it was all from fear... When it goes too fast, I felt like I'm gonna loose control and crash!!


----------



## fayewolf (Jan 3, 2011)

Snowolf, can you pratice this aft movements on green runs? I know what you mean, by bringing the board uphill it effectively controls the speed. I have been doing alot of aggressive skid, exactly like you describe as i enter the bottom of my turn, the problem is i'm losing edge control, board hops under me! I'm gonna check out the dynamic skidded turn video and see if i can do this before the season ends!
Snowolf, thank you so much!!! I don't know if you still remember, 2 months ago I was SO frustrated!!! Stuck with it and it's all worth it!!


----------



## jlm1976 (Feb 26, 2009)

Snowolf said:


> The reason you notice this more heelside is mostly due to the anatomy of the human ankle. We have great Plantar flexion (the opening of the ankle joint) with the ankle and good range of movement. Plantar flexion (closing of the ankle joint) is much more limited and we simply do not have the same level of control. You will find that it is also easier to maintain good toe side carves than it is heelside for this same reason. As a result, we tend to naturally ride much stiffer heelside than toeside and therefore, you will tend to skid out on heelside more than toeside.
> 
> Increased forward lean in your bindings helps this quite a bit for free riding.


I feel like I am missing something. If we are already so limited in our ankle movement, how does restricting it even further with forward lean help?


----------



## fayewolf (Jan 3, 2011)

Snowolf said:


> The reason you notice this more heelside is mostly due to the anatomy of the human ankle. We have great Plantar flexion (the opening of the ankle joint) with the ankle and good range of movement. Dorsiflexion (closing of the ankle joint) is much more limited and we simply do not have the same level of control. You will find that it is also easier to maintain good toe side carves than it is heelside for this same reason. As a result, we tend to naturally ride much stiffer heelside than toeside and therefore, you will tend to skid out on heelside more than toeside.
> 
> Increased forward lean in your bindings helps this quite a bit for free riding. More importantly though is tweaking your riding technique. Once you understand the how and why, it is much easier to make small adjustments to your riding. As I said, becoming more dynamic and riding with a lot more leg flexion to absorb chatter is key. In addition, using good lower body flexion allows you to keep your body weight directly over the top of the board is crucial to maintain edge hold at the bottom of your turns.
> 
> ...


Thank you!! I have been trying to increase my forward lean a little too, I think it will force me to bend a bit more on my toe side, i know I don't bend enough. I don't have that much of a problem sitting down on my heel side though. I also have been practicing some flexion and extension while riding, but standing up when coming out of the turn is making my feet confused and I almost catch an edge!! 

I am riding 15/0 now, should i change it to duck stance?

Yeah, and for some reason, toeside is easier for me than heel side now, completely opposite from how I learn it, it's less tiring...


----------

