# Skidded Turn to Carving



## Guest (Feb 22, 2010)

Thanks to the numerous threads, links, and videos I found on this site, I have really grown confident and effective over my snowboarding. During my first run of the season, I had to "falling leaf" down the mountain and didn't have the balls to go down a moderately steep slope. Since then, I was able to go down my first blue diamond run yesterday and I enjoyed every minute of it.

My turns are getting better, but what I realized yesterday was that my turns are slowing me down. They are not perfect, carved turns. They are more like skidded turns than they are carved turns. Although I favor the control it gives me because of the slow down in speed, it kills my ride when I reach a flat portion of a trail. In addition, I am not able to make quick turns. When I link turns from heelside to toeside and vice versa, I almost always need to use the entire width of the trail. I want to be able to turn on each side quicker and less wide. 

How can I progress that skidded turn to a carved turn to keep the speed? And how do I make less wider turns?

Thanks for the help!


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## crazyface (Mar 1, 2008)

it just takes practice. you have to push yourself to try to tighten your turns and go down steeper terrain. i didnt even notice my transition from skidded turns to carving. i never said its time to learn how ot carve, i just saw my tracks and noticed that i was on edge for all of my turns. give it some time.


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## fredericp64 (Jan 4, 2010)

Look, I have just started snowboarding no more than a month ago. I already consider myself pretty good because I can carve well, stop in a flash, take off jumps, bomb down hills. I'm even starting to butter. 

Why? - because I'm not afraid to try shit. I have taken many falls, spills, blows, but I haven't gotten hurt too bad yet. 

I say ditch the fear and the rest will come much easier than you think. You need to adopt a ''just do it'' attitude. Trust me, it works. 


Although you DID mention not being able to make quick turns. You might be using a board bigger and or wider than you really need. What are your weight/height/boot specs? Also your board specs?


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## Guest (Feb 22, 2010)

fredericp64 said:


> Look, I have just started snowboarding no more than a month ago. I already consider myself pretty good because I can carve well, stop in a flash, take off jumps, bomb down hills. I'm even starting to butter.
> 
> Why? - because I'm not afraid to try shit. I have taken many falls, spills, blows, but I haven't gotten hurt too bad yet.
> 
> ...


I weigh 185 lbs., I'm 5'1'', and wear a size 11 boot. My board is 160 cm.


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## fredericp64 (Jan 4, 2010)

Correct me if I'm wrong ppl, but that board seems quite big for your size. Something like a 150-152-154 ish (max!) would sound much more appropriate for your height. Considering it's a 160, I'm guessing it's a freeride/all mountain board. These are typically harder to learn on as they are more rigid than say, a park board for example. Park boards are better suited to beginners as they are more flexible, thus easier to initiate turns.


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## Guest (Feb 22, 2010)

fredericp64 said:


> Correct me if I'm wrong ppl, but that board seems quite big for your size. Something like a 150-152-154 ish (max!) would sound much more appropriate for your height. Considering it's a 160, I'm guessing it's a freeride/all mountain board. These are typically harder to learn on as they are more rigid than say, a park board for example. Park boards are better suited to beginners as they are more flexible, thus easier to initiate turns.


It's a Ride Decade board, which, from what I understand, is a rigid, all-mountain board.


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## fredericp64 (Jan 4, 2010)

Yeah, flex rating of 6. Making it pretty much an all mountain board. That's decent rigid, they have even harder boards, like the Burton T6 for example (flex rating: 8) which would be even tougher to ride if inexperienced. 

I would say that your problem indeed resides in the length of your board. I think people can get used to anything though if they've been doing it for long enough. So maybe you will learn how to carve properly. Worst case, if you get tired of trying, maybe borrow a friend's board for a run or two to see if a shorter stick would better suit you? That's all I got!

Best of luck!!


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## Guest (Feb 22, 2010)

fredericp64 said:


> Yeah, flex rating of 6. Making it pretty much an all mountain board. That's decent rigid, they have even harder boards, like the Burton T6 for example (flex rating: 8) which would be even tougher to ride if inexperienced.
> 
> I would say that your problem indeed resides in the length of your board. I think people can get used to anything though if they've been doing it for long enough. So maybe you will learn how to carve properly. Worst case, if you get tired of trying, maybe borrow a friend's board for a run or two to see if a shorter stick would better suit you? That's all I got!
> 
> Best of luck!!


My question is, whenever I do a search for a suitable board length for my height and weight, they always point me towards a 159-160 cm board. Why is that?

OMG, I wrote 5'1'' and I meant to write 5'11''!!! :laugh: I'm 1 inch away from 6'0''. Wow, no wonder you thought my board was way too big!


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## fredericp64 (Jan 4, 2010)

Hahahaha no way!! And I was trying to think up of a nice way to tell you your hardcore fatness probably threw off your board recommendations loll. In that case, your board size is more than perfect for you ha!

K so yeah in that case, just refer to my first post and TRY SHIT! Test the borderline limits to falling. As soon as you fall over to one side , well that's when you know you've tilted too far. Then just gradually lean less and less from the extreme 'till you got a good controlled carve without falling.

Practice this going at a moderate speed as the momentum will facilitate your efforts. Trying this at very low speeds will be tougher as you will have no momentum and it will be strictly a question of balance. Think of it like riding a bike, you will start to wobble and lose balance if you're going at too low of a speed.


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## Guest (Feb 22, 2010)

fredericp64 said:


> Look, I have just started snowboarding no more than a month ago. I already consider myself pretty good because I can carve well, stop in a flash, take off jumps, bomb down hills. I'm even starting to butter.


you are awesome. do you have a newsletter to which i could subscribe?


fredericp64 said:


> Something like a 150-152-154 ish (max!) would sound much more appropriate for your height.


his height?

op, i am about 190 and i have three boards - a 158, a 159 and a 161. for all-mountain riding at your weight, i think a 160 is fine.

alasdair


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## fredericp64 (Jan 4, 2010)

Yeah brah, I have my own facebook fan page, wanna join? I'd love to see your smart ass posts along with that fancy signature of yours on my wall.


Yes height, I research my shit before posting so agree/disagree, but you can't say I don't try: 

-Lighter people should have shorter, more flexible boards. This is because a lighter person on a longer board commonly has a hard time controlling the board and initiating turns.

-For an averagely built person, the board length should reach somewhere between the chin and your nose.

(Snowboard Buying Guide & Shop - How & Where to buy a Snowboard)


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## crazyface (Mar 1, 2008)

fredericp64 said:


> Yeah brah, I have my own facebook fan page, wanna join? I'd love to see that fancy signature of yours on my wall.
> 
> 
> Yes height, I research my shit before posting so agree/disagree, but you can't say I don't try:
> ...


you NEVER go by height anymore. its all weight. that article is 2004 its really outdated. you are wrong.


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## fredericp64 (Jan 4, 2010)

Even the guy at the shop asked me for my height. He must have been just as much of a newb as I am at this huh, it's possible I guess. 

I'll know from now on, thx!!


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## Guest (Feb 22, 2010)

two people are exactly the same height (5'2"). one is a 350lb guy and the other a 95lb woman. they should ride the same length board?

:\

alasdair


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## fredericp64 (Jan 4, 2010)

Seen as how I was asking for the weight as well obviously means I'm not relying SOLELY on height. C'mon this is just getting retarded now.


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## Surrendermonkey (Jan 14, 2010)

fredericp64 said:


> Even the guy at the shop asked me for my height. He must have been just as much of a newb as I am at this huh, it's possible I guess.
> 
> I'll know from now on, thx!!


Or maybe he knew that he was actually wrong, but was lazy enough to just want you out the the shop faster?

I honestly think that most rental shops do know that height is a bad measure, but they also know that their customers don't - and if they can use that to get ten more people through the shop per hour, they will.


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## Jameus (Jan 20, 2010)

I think that most rental shops just take a guestimate anyways lol. How many kids even know their weight? How many women want to divulge it? It's just easier to ask their height lol. If a person is in the "normal weight"
range for their height it follows a very predictable pattern. And like Snowolf said, if a person is tall and lanky then they'd want the longer board for the larger stance. For a person that is out for the very 1st time does a few cm's make a difference? A 10cm difference would have an impact but under 5, doubtful.


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## ChuChu (Dec 28, 2009)

*Carving*

Back to the OP, on top of everything Snowolf mentioned the one little tip I would give when making the move from skidded to carved turns is to not rush your turns. I noticed when I was initially learning I had a habit of doing carve-skid-carve-skid-carve-skid down the hill where my toeside turns were nice clean carves and my heelsides were windshield wiper skids. I went through this again when I first learned switch and basically in both cases what I was doing is rushing my heelside turns and forcing the board around rather than allowing enough time for a nice clean turn to develop. As soon as I starting being a little more patient the problem went away.


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## Lives2fly (Feb 8, 2010)

This is my first season riding. i'm just starting to make use of carved turns aswell.

I find that i use them when travelling at speed on lower angle slopes of green and blue runs (i'm in Europe, I dont know if you guys use the same grading system in the states and canada)

I just tip the board from one edge to the other by leaning forward and lifting my heels while straightening my legs a little for toeside carves, then bending my knees and lifting my toes to carve to heelside.

I do long shallow S shapes this way - leaves very thin tracks and scrubs off very little speed.

I can carve on steeper stuff if its wide and the point that Snowolf made about waiting until the board is traveling a little uphill was key to me starting to get the hang of it. You end up doing big C shaped turns on either side of the fall line.

Mostly on steeper runs i do dynamic skidded turns though cos i feel the need to do quicker turns and control my speed. And if the route is narrow i can't see how else you put your turns in. Just keep leaning downhill!!!

Anyway thats my experience over the couple of months i have been boarding. obviously i'm a beginner so i dont know much.

And what the dude said about just believe you can do it and you can - he's kinda right. if you know the basic principles and you use them you can trust your board to do what it's supposed to do


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## Guest (Feb 23, 2010)

fredericp64 said:


> C'mon this is just getting retarded now.


yep



alasdair


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