# Snowboarding again, need advice.



## FlyinNRidin (Mar 8, 2012)

I have not snowboarded in about 3 years, I recently got a new board and had a few questions. (it's a couple year old burton canyon)

I seem to be very confident on my toe edge carving, although I am not really falling, I do not have a lot of confidence when I go from Toe back to the Heel edge... *Where do you shift your weight to go from toe to heel?* from heel to toe, I put pressure on the front ball of my front foot and kind of kick out my backfoot and get the board around okay, *when you go from toe to heel transition should I have most of my weight on my front foot or my back foot.*

I find myself on my toe edge a lot, when i am on my heel I seem to skip and chatter more.

Also, when I ski, I can straight line it down the mountain and just go with confidence. Boarding I feel like I always have to be on a heel or toe edge, *what weighted position do you get in just to head straight and fast down towards a cat trail?*

I love the ride of boarding equally, it's just I do not fully trust that moment of transition when you are in the middle of a high speed turn, when the board is flat for a second, that I am not going to eat it. 

Thanks for the input.


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## Bayoh (Dec 17, 2010)

Are you making sure to keep your knees bent and relaxed? 

When you're on your toe-edge your ankle/foot can function as a shock absorber, but when you're on heel-edge only your knees/leg muscles do. If you're legs are stiff and rigid it'll lead to that skipping and chattering you're experiencing.

When flat-basing and going straight you don't have to be on edge, just pressure an edge. Light pressure on an edge will keep the board straight, if you go completely flat while going fast your board will tend to pivot(rocker boards) or in trad. camber's case (catch an edge and scorpion onto your face).

As for weight shifting... I'm sure someone like Snowolf will chime in to tell you exactly what you need to be doing, but overall leaning back in a turn is a bad idea.


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## Zombaco (Dec 14, 2011)

I'm no expert, but you definitely don't want to kick out your back foot. As a preface, I ride a fully cambered board, and this what my motion feels like when I'm going from toe to heel- most of my weight is on my front foot (probably a 60/40 split) and applying pressure to my heel edge (picture lifting your toes up on that front foot), knees are bent and hips are moving down toward the snow like I'm going to sit down, and I'm driving my calf of my front leg into my highback. Also, I have my front knee and shoulder opening up toward my direction of travel. I think of it like I'm moving my front knee and shoulder and the pressure of my front heel toward my front heelside contact point on my edge. The turn gets initiated and my back foot just follows as gravity takes the nose of my board in the new direction.

Hope that helps. I'm sure some others can give you some good tips too :thumbsup:


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

When doing turns either way, your weight should shift to your forward foot (if it's not already there). I don't know if it's strictly good form or not, but one thing that really helps is to shift your lead shoulder slightly in the direction you want to turn. This forces your front foot to pressure the inside edge which initiates the turn.

If Snowolf comes on, he'll give you lots more detail, but the basic idea is: ruddering, bad.


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## grafta (Dec 21, 2009)

Hope this doesn't come off as patronizing but these vids are awesome to brush up on basic stuff...


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## aiidoneus (Apr 7, 2011)

For beginner turns you should start with even weight on both feet in a balanced body position. Think knees, ankles, hips slightly flexed and your upper body straight and in line with the snowboard.

Say you are starting on the heelside, perpendicular to the fall line. Release some pressure of the edge so you start to side slipping down the hill. Pressure the lead foot slightly to initiate the turn. Rotate the hips, and maintain upper body alignment with the snowboard. Allow the snowboard to approach the fall line, and continue to move through the turn by rotating the hips through the turn. Flex the lead knee and ankle to engage the edge. Return to balanced, even pressure of both feet as you traverse the hill. Repeat for the next edge.

TL;DR : Pressure the front foot (roughly 60%), rotate hips (center of mass) to initiate turns.


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## beastboarder (Feb 2, 2012)

im just a beginner but here's what worked for me

heelside ==>flatbased ==> toeside==> flat based ==> heelside and repeat

when you are on your heelside ready to go toe side, flat your board and put weight on your front foot this will make initiating the turns easier

same goes for from toeside to heelside. remember flat basing your board is only 1 seconds or maybe in the split of a second this is what good riders make it look so effortless. keep weight on your front foot this will help with turn initiation

trust yourself and let it rip


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## AlexS (Feb 12, 2010)

The problem could be the way you turned. I helped a friend get started snowboarding and I noticed he used his legs too much to initiate the carve which led to some problems for him. Could be your problem


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## FlyinNRidin (Mar 8, 2012)

Thanks for the info.

When I lived in Tahoe I could get down the groomed part of KT-22 on a snowboard but I never had much grace or speed. It's been a few years now, I was chillin with a couple of girls I knew from Seattle at Crystal Mountain the other day so I just did some light blue runs with them, I never fell but I could tell there was some things I needed to work on. 

The two things I need to work on is going straight and fast so I never get caught out on flats. And just trusting that transition when I momentarily flat base that I'm not going to catch an edge.

So i'll work on staying centered, putting weight on my front foot, leading with my shoulder, staying flexed and it should be a good powder day!


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