# NEED TIPS ON CARVING ANY ADVICE HELPS!!



## Deejay10 (Aug 11, 2020)

Hey y’all I’ve been snowboarding for a couple years now pretty casually and I’ve just started to get serious about it and really want to be able to become proficient at carving. I have footage of myself (which I will attach) that I think shows me skidding my heel side carves. I’m grateful to anyone who wants to help give me as much criticism and tips as they can because anything helps!!


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## Deejay10 (Aug 11, 2020)

Ok so the video wouldn’t upload so here’s the link to the YouTube video I made instead.


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## Yeahti87 (Jan 17, 2019)

The first thing to improve is to get rid off the back foot ruddering. Both the heelside and the toeside carves are initiated by a pivot of the back foot instead of digging in the edge from the front foot at the initiation phase.

This is very common to self-learners. There is plenty of instructional videos on Youtube.

What I’ve found helpful while teaching my friends (that I still forced to work on the basics with an instructor for the first 2 days to have their first turns) is to keep your both hands at all times over the tips of the board. At all times. This greatly reduces the counter rotation that results in ruddering and makes you bend your knees more (you do bend them already).
You need to go back to the basics for a short time to silence the upper body a bit.

When you have it corrected, imagine that your turn starts from the toes and heel on your front foot. You need more weight distribution there. You can help yourself with pointing with the front hand the front part of the sidecut that you want to engage to start the turn (the widest part of the nose). The back hand should be still over the tip. You’ll start scarving the turns.
The next step will be to start feeling the balance on edge. To do so you need to overexaggerate multiple times with your butt low so it doesn’t hurt and you are ‚calibrating yourself’ between riding not enough edge and going too far over it.

As you seem to be stoked on snowboarding and motivated to improve, you should be able to actually start some carving within several days on snow if you take it back to mellow runs and fix those basics.


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## Deejay10 (Aug 11, 2020)

Thank you very much, the back foot ruttering as you put it is something I’ve noticed myself doing for awhile and since I wasn’t falling anymore I kind of assumed that it was ok. Im thinking that that’s the reason as to why Im not going as fast as some of my other friends on the slopes. 

So following your explanation I should be initiating the turn with my front foot rather than my back, but while I’m doing that what am I doing with my back foot? Do I just allow it to follow ?

In a couple months when the slopes open back up in my area I’m going to have my friends record me again so you can see the difference your tips have made!!


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## Deejay10 (Aug 11, 2020)

Ooo also as you might notice in the video I have a hard time on straights when I guess as my friends tell me I’m supposed to just let my board go flat on the snow, are there any tips for that or is it as simple as standing evenly on my board?


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## Yeahti87 (Jan 17, 2019)

Yes, the back foot should follow. You initiate the turn with the front foot and then keep it more centered but at the begining you’ll feel like being centered is like leaning forward. Finishing the turn with more weight on the backfoot is for using the rebound to change the edge/make more drawn out carve but it’s more complex. You will progress there later on.

The for-aft movement (weight shifting) is also a more complex concept that you’ll work on later on. Don’t bother it now. You have it in the link I posted.
This ruddering also has its use but it’s for freestyle and speed checks.

As far as straight lining is concerned, you need to keep your body aligned with the snowboard, with knees and ankles slightly bent and keep the weight centered. The board plays an important role here, especially the profile with camber being the best. If I bomb like that I usually still keep my board ever so slightly on edge so in case I lose full control or the board starts to drift, I know what edge it’s on (I’ve chosen it, not the drifting) so I know where to move my weight if I need to regain balance without catching an edge.

That’s a nice full instructor guide:


https://www.nzsia.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/SBINZ_Manual_2017.pdf


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## drblast (Feb 28, 2017)

It looks like you're on a board that's flat to rocker or at least camrock with a significant amount of rocker. You seem to be turning using the middle of the board and the tips (mostly the tail) are sliding around. This is going to be particularly pronounced on flats.

Part of this is the nature of non-camber boards when they're not on edge; you're not using the sidecut at all and it's going to be really difficult to turn using the tips when the tips aren't touching the snow. To fix that without getting a camber board you're going to have to lean that board over enough so that the tips dig in and the middle of the board comes off of the snow a bit.

Grab the board now and put it on your living room floor. Put a little pressure on the middle and when it's flat, see where the board is touching the floor. Imagine the board is turning using these contact points.

Now tilt the board up on edge until it's about 30 degrees up on the toe or heel side. Because of the sidecut, the tip and tail will now be the only parts contacting the floor. This is the point where you can start to carve using the sidecut instead of pivoting the base around. If you flex the board in the middle, you'll see the middle of the board can also touch the ground so depending on board flex you'll have to increase the angle even higher to engage the tips.

Now watch your own video again, and see how often you even have the board at enough of an angle to engage the sidecut. It's probably not very often, and this is one of the reasons your tail is sliding around.

To carve, you have to have enough energy to keep the board's sidecut fully engaged which means you have to lean over. This requires riding more aggressively which means either more speed or quicker turns. Have you ever ridden a bike where you wiggle the handlebars to steer left/right/left/right really quickly so that you're constantly on the edge of tipping over but don't? Same idea with carving at slower speeds. If you're doing it right, your body will be leaned at an angle where if you weren't moving, you'd fall down.

As for flats, the only thing that's going to get you through those without the board feeling squirrely is a full camber board or a lot of momentum. On a rocker board sometimes it helps to twist the board with your feet so your front heel edge and back toe edge are slightly engaged or vice-versa. If I have to go slow on flats my weight is on the front foot and I'm lifting my back heel a tiny bit to keep the tail from sliding around. But really, just don't go slow on flats.


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## lbs123 (Jan 24, 2017)

Not sure if it was mentioned already, but I've noticed that as you change edges you immediately try to point board down the fall line. There is no time for the edge to dig into the snow as your snowboard accelerates too quickly and the forces are already too big. Instead, you should change the edge as you traverse the fall line, wait until the opposite edge is engaged and let the sidecut do its job. 

Also bend your knees more and avoid bending in the waist.


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## MrDavey2Shoes (Mar 5, 2018)

Ok Here it is, and I’m sure the posters above me said it already as they’re good members to have in this thread. Get lower (Bend your knees) and get on the front foot to initiate turns. You’ve got to move your weight forward and back on the board in addition to toeside and heelside.


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## bazman (Jan 15, 2017)

Lots of good advice already. Also be aware that if you are carving all the way down the slope, you will be slower than your friends if they are bombing down.

There are loads of riders that can bomb but can't carve properly. Nice to see you are interested in learning the right way


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## Snowdaddy (Feb 2, 2018)

Not being an advance rider I would still add two things. First thing is to slow down a little. The other thing is an unpopular advice. You might want to initiate your turns on your front foot, but it's not necessary. The carving takes place along the entire edge and you need to apply pressure with your back foot as well. That doesn't mean you need to ride on your back foot, but you can't keep too much weight on your front foot either. Lots of riders who are ruddering seem to be riding very front foot heavy.

Snowboard addiction has very good videos on this. It's very much about when you engage your edge.

I would also recommend the "pressure through turns" and "round smooth turns" video.


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## kimchijajonshim (Aug 19, 2007)

Deejay10 said:


> ...since I wasn’t falling anymore I kind of assumed that it was ok.


Get lessons. You're clearly self-taught or taught by folks who are not strong riders. Your problems go well beyond "skidding ... heel side carves". I didn't see a single proficient toe side carve in that entire video, which makes sense if you weren't aware you need to drive turns off the front foot.

This thread has some good advice, but it's not like you're a few steps away... your fundamentals are just off. Your body weight is wrong, you're initiating by counter rotating your shoulders rather than driving off the front foot, you're not bending your knees enough, you have zero involvement from your ankles... all of that is going to be much easier to fix with real time feedback.

If lessons are prohibitive expensive, videos can be helpful. I found Snowboard Addiction videos to be pretty solid, and I believe there's a good number of Youtube based lessons out there now.

Most self-taught folks have awful fundamentals and a lot of bad habits to overcome to become competent riders. I speak from experience, I mostly taught myself and had a lot of hurdles to becoming a decent riding. A few well-timed lessons would have taken a ton off the learning curve.


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

Agree with @kimchijajonshim. You have to get the fundamentals first before you think of carving. Get a lesson first.

You first need to get a feel for riding on edge for longer stretches before you want to do carved turns. ATM, you're very insecure on your heel edge. So exercise riding ON that heel edge. Do whatever skidded turn to get heelside, and then ride +/- perpendicular ON that heel edge keeping the same tilt. Bend knees. Next time, bend lower. Keep the board on edge longer, lower, longer, longer, lower, and lower. Give your muscles time to learn to hold and balance that position. Get as low as to even grab the front edge between your feet. Not by bending over in waist, but having KNEES and ankles bent. This will take several days. Keep doing it. The body only learns through repetition.

Then do things like riding on toe edge, or heel edge, and bend knees super low, then stand tall upright, low, up, low, hop, wave your arms, swing those arms, hop a.s.o. all the while try keeping the very same wide turn on edge. With such things, you develop a real feel for the edge which your knees n ankles control automatically and independently from upper body. Once there, then work on carved turns. Learn to walk, before you run


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## Deejay10 (Aug 11, 2020)

, in regards to lessons it’s been something I want to do but just can’t afford, I’ll watch these videos and do my best to apoly it to my boarding. If any of y’all are interested in giving more tips I’ll be sure to post another video in this thread in around 2-3 months where I’m hopefully using these tips to properly carve! I didn’t expect to get this much help but I’m so grateful for it seeing as paid lessons are a bit out of reach. Thank you all and anyone else who may stumble upon my improper carving video so much


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## MrDavey2Shoes (Mar 5, 2018)

bazman said:


> Lots of good advice already. Also be aware that if you are carving all the way down the slope, you will be slower than your friends if they are bombing down.
> 
> There are loads of riders that can bomb but can't carve properly. Nice to see you are interested in learning the right way


I don’t know if I agree with that as an absolute. Sure it’ll take longer to cover the same distance but proper carving generates speed, or at least the sensation of.


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## drblast (Feb 28, 2017)

neni said:


> You first need to get a feel for riding on edge for longer stretches before you want to do carved turns. Atm, you're very insecure on your heel edge. So exercise riding on that heel edge. Do whatever skidded turn to get heelside, and then ride +/- perpendicular ON that heel edge keeping the same tilt. Bend knees. Next time, bend lower. Keep the board on edge longer, longer, longer, lower, lower, lower. Give your muscles time to learn to hold and balance that position. Get as low as to even grab the front edge between feet. Bot by bending over, but having KNESS and ankles bent. This will take several days. Keep doing it. The body only learns through repetition.


This is really good advice. I taught my daughter to grab her toe side edge in a heel side carve as a fun "trick" to do, but if you can do that and hold that position you know that you're balanced and actually carving. To do it for "real" you have to bend your knees and get low and be pretty committed to the carve.


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

There's a lot of good advice on this thread, the best item being to nail the fundamentals before trying more advanced techniques.

One thing that needs clarifying is the advice to put your weight on your front foot. That's good general advice because a lot of self-taught people unconsciously lean back, and then compensate by throwing their weight around to turn. However, it's possible to have your weight forward and still be throwing the tail around. But in that case, it's an actual technique, done purposely.

More generally, there are situations where you want your weight forward, and situations where you want your weight centered. There are even situations (at the end of a C turn, for instance), where you want your weight to end up on your back foot. But these are all advanced techniques, and you need to get the basics nailed first.

Regarding the question of edge control, it depends on speed mostly. At low speeds, you'll tend to steer with your front foot, pressing up or down with the toe to engage the heel or toe edge, and then following with the back foot. At higher speeds, that's not only unnecessary, but probably impossible to control. At higher speeds, you tilt the whole board and either follow the edge radius with a full carve or let the back slide a bit for a scarve. You control which one you're doing by shifting your weight appropriately.

The point though is that there are a lot of subtleties in play, but you can only use those if your basics are nailed. It's unfortunate that you can't do lessons, but next best is to either video yourself or get a buddy to do it, then spend time evaluating your riding and correcting issues. And/or post the vids here and we'll be glad to trash you. 😁


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## Tooningin (Feb 19, 2020)

Snowdaddy said:


> Not being an advance rider I would still add two things. First thing is to slow down a little. The other thing is an unpopular advice. You might want to initiate your turns on your front foot, but it's not necessary. The carving takes place along the entire edge and you need to apply pressure with your back foot as well. That doesn't mean you need to ride on your back foot, but you can't keep too much weight on your front foot either. Lots of riders who are ruddering seem to be riding very front foot heavy.
> 
> Snowboard addiction has very good videos on this. It's very much about when you engage your edge.
> 
> I would also recommend the "pressure through turns" and "round smooth turns" video.


I like this advice. I hear the que to initiate with the front foot and this make work in certain situations. But I like to think of generating weight into the board equivalently. Imagine yourself performing a basic barbell squat. With generation of leg drive through both legs you ensure that the centre of the board is pushed into the ground. This results in the side cut being completely utilized (I speak specifically for classic camber). The result with time and practise is precision that literally will allow you to target chunks of snow and you cutting them in half with either edge you choose! This technique took me 33 days to fully understand and articulate but once it begins to work, your riding will be admirable even among veterans of the sport. Carving properly simply feels, looks beautiful as you display athletic capability with practical understanding of using the edge to shed. 

Another note I would recommend is increasing the angle on your bindings. This will train proper foot positions as it will precede the initiation of the squat to set the edge into the ground. 

Your curiosity will pay off. Have faith in yourself and trust the process. One day that light bulb will go off and that's it, your going to shredding until your an old man as the sport becomes smooth and 'real easy on the knees.'

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## Nivek (Jan 24, 2008)

TL;DR

Go watch some instagram of toy313 and the whole Korua Yearning for Turning series. Watch closely, pay attention to their weight distribution over the board and how they initiate the board more or less from the middle. Keeping your weight a little more centered will help to ensure both tip and tail stay engaged. 

End of the day, caring is by and far a style. Take the advice of us to get going, then ignor any and all other than watching some guys you want to emulate. Learning too much of the "right" way means you don't develop a personal style, which is sad.


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## NT.Thunder (Jan 4, 2020)

Nivek said:


> TL;DR
> 
> Go watch some instagram of toy313 and the whole *Korua Yearning for Turning series*. Watch closely, pay attention to their weight distribution over the board and how they initiate the board more or less from the middle. Keeping your weight a little more centered will help to ensure both tip and tail stay engaged.
> 
> End of the day, caring is by and far a style. Take the advice of us to get going, then ignor any and all other than watching some guys you want to emulate. Learning too much of the "right" way means you don't develop a personal style, which is sad.


Thanks for this, just watched the first one and I know what i'll be doing the rest if the day, awesome vid


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## bazman (Jan 15, 2017)

MrDavey2Shoes said:


> I don’t know if I agree with that as an absolute. Sure it’ll take longer to cover the same distance but proper carving generates speed, or at least the sensation of.


It is a generalisation based on a wide slope. the carver will cover a lot more distance than the bomber due to using the whole width of slope.


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## 16gkid (Dec 5, 2012)

Nivek said:


> Learning too much of the "right" way means you don't develop a personal style, which is sad.


Hey I like the CASI robot style


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## Rip154 (Sep 23, 2017)

There's something special about that warm and fuzzy feeling when you straightline perfect groomers.


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## Deejay10 (Aug 11, 2020)

Im not sure how I forgot to give the details of my board to you guys but here it is. I’m not sure if the tips y’all give will defer knowing this info but just in case !


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## Yeahti87 (Jan 17, 2019)

As already pointed out, you need to go back and dial in your basics to start carving and you can do it on any board, including this beginner/low intermediate Rossi District. For more powerful riding techniques you’ll find it lacking but don’t bother it now. It has an extruded base so it’s one of the reasons you’re slower flat basing. Don’t forget to upload your progression vid here and how it went with the advice in this thread!


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

Deejay10 said:


> Im not sure how I forgot to give the details of my board to you guys but here it is. I’m not sure if the tips y’all give will defer knowing this info but just in case !
> View attachment 154509


imho, it is a very shitty board profile for learning to carve.
LoL, the catch free..."auto turn" the Elon Musk of snowboarding. It is pretty much the opposite of what you want for carving...in that you want the edges to catch and DIG in, you want it stiff (not soft) to rail carves and the side-cut is pretty small.
Get a traditional cambered mid-to-full stiffy.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

Rip154 said:


> There's something special about that warm and fuzzy feeling when you straightline perfect groomers.


Yup, there is something to be said about getting comfortable with straight-lining groomers. That is, it helps you get comfortable with speed, so that speed is no longer the issue. Then you can work on using carves to manage your speed; followed by the pursuit of doing perfect carves given your intended style, speed, using the conditions and terrain given/available....whether it be deep pow, groomer or ice carves.


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## kimchijajonshim (Aug 19, 2007)

wrathfuldeity said:


> imho, it is a very shitty board profile for learning to carve.
> LoL, the catch free..."auto turn" the Elon Musk of snowboarding. It is pretty much the opposite of what you want for carving...in that you want the edges to catch and DIG in, you want it stiff (not soft) to rail carves and the side-cut is pretty small.
> Get a traditional cambered mid-to-full stiffy.


You're right that the board isn't great for railing high speed carves, but it's fine for OP's current situation and progression. He needs to learn how to turn before he can carve and that board is more than enough. Someone with those fundamentals is going to get demolished by a stiff, directional cambered board.


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## Tooningin (Feb 19, 2020)

I don't agree.

Learning on boards with the catch free style will only teach and reinforce improper body mechanics. Riding the classic camber both regular and switch will allow good body mechanics to develop. 

Bombing down the hill is 'cool' sometimes but it's more enjoyable to be able to complete an entire run cutting edge to edge down the entire Hill only using the base to ride on for more mellow, slower portions of the mountain. Learning how to ride the classic camber is a MUST if you're pursuit is caring and riding with total control and precision. The no catch edge and the style of riding that it promotes looks sketchy and to me not entirely safe. 



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## Manicmouse (Apr 7, 2014)

Tooningin said:


> Bombing down the hill is 'cool' sometimes but it's more enjoyable to be able to complete an entire run cutting edge to edge down the entire Hill only using the base to ride on for more mellow, slower portions of the mountain.


I think you'll find what is most enjoyable is subjective. Each to their own.


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## NT.Thunder (Jan 4, 2020)

Manicmouse said:


> I think you'll find what is most enjoyable is subjective. Each to their own.


Absolutely, I'm not a bombing fan but seeing the smiles on some bombers faces after straightlining a groomer makes me think many love it


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## Tooningin (Feb 19, 2020)

Hell yeah brotha, I can agree to that. 

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## drblast (Feb 28, 2017)

I love carving and I love bombing too. If you can get going so fast that you feel downward G forces when the slope mellows out that's incredibly fun.

But OP, you _can_ learn to carve on a mostly rocker board like that, but it's not going to be a board that teaches you to carve. Get on a stiffer full camber board and you will no longer be able to cheat and get away with the things you're doing wrong. You will definitely learn proper riding technique faster that way; if you're off-balance or trying to skip around it will be immediately apparent.


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## drblast (Feb 28, 2017)

BTW you can get traditional camber boards to learn on for dirt cheap used.


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

I managed to learn bad habits on a camber board. It was just a different set of bad habits.


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## Deejay10 (Aug 11, 2020)

Thanks everyone, so I’m seeing the popular idea is to get a full camber board and spend some time on that, I’ll look into getting a used one in order to try and establish my habits and feel the difference between the boards.


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## Tooningin (Feb 19, 2020)

What were some of the bad habits you learned from riding a cambered board? 

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## Tooningin (Feb 19, 2020)

Donutz said:


> I managed to learn bad habits on a camber board. It was just a different set of bad habits.


What were some of the bad habits you've learned from a cambered board? 

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## bazman (Jan 15, 2017)

Deejay10 said:


> Thanks everyone, so I’m seeing the popular idea is to get a full camber board and spend some time on that, I’ll look into getting a used one in order to try and establish my habits and feel the difference between the boards.


This board is full of oldies like myself who learned to carve on full camber boards. But once you can carve, you can carve any board.

I don't think you need to change your board. You will get more value out of lessons


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

Tooningin said:


> What were some of the bad habits you've learned from a cambered board?
> 
> Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk


All the usuals, actually. The weird profiles were just starting to come into vogue when I was in my early snowboarding years. By the time I had my first non-camber board (a 2010 Heritage), I was already ruddering, bending at the waist, counter-rotating, and the rest. The only real difference I think would be that I learned early about keeping my downhill edge up.

The point is, it may be that rocker and other boards allow you to get sloppy on some specific techniques, but I don't see how riding a camber board is automatically going to make you a significantly better rider. Lessons are still worth their weight in gold.


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## Tooningin (Feb 19, 2020)

Nice. Yeah, I'm not intentionally criticising just staying true to the original topic of the forum (carving). 

I agree camber with a rocker can get some nice carves in. 

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## Deejay10 (Aug 11, 2020)

Ok y’all the season is quickly approaching amidst all this corona BS (we’ll see how that goes) and so I’ve gotten a new board using tips from you guys and also some research I’ve been doing on the side. I landed on the GNU Antigravity C3 2020, let me know what you guys think. I’m also trying to find some lower profile boots (mine are falling apart) for this season as I wear a size 11 and can get quite paranoid about the toe and heel drag, if anyone has any reccomendations boot wise that’d be great! Thanks guys. Can’t wait to get y’all a more updated video of my carving !!


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## MCrides (Feb 25, 2019)

That board is fine, but if you want to improve your carving and are worried about toe and heel drag, I'd worry more about the width of your board than the profile of your boot.



Deejay10 said:


> I’m also trying to find some lower profile boots (mine are falling apart) for this season as I wear a size 11 and can get quite paranoid about the toe and heel drag, if anyone has any reccomendations boot wise that’d be great!


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## Deejay10 (Aug 11, 2020)

Deejay10 said:


> Ok so the video wouldn’t upload so here’s the link to the YouTube video I made instead.


ok yall here's me at my local mountain trying my best to use your tips. some slip ups and close calls along the way but I'm definitely feeling more confident this season. let me know what else needs to be worked on what and you guys think! (New board is the gnu antigravity 1920)


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## Manicmouse (Apr 7, 2014)

Looks like you're having fun 👍

You're steering with your back foot, get your weight forward on your front foot a lot more.


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## MCrides (Feb 25, 2019)

Deejay10 said:


> ok yall here's me at my local mountain trying my best to use your tips. some slip ups and close calls along the way but I'm definitely feeling more confident this season. let me know what else needs to be worked on what and you guys think! (New board is the gnu antigravity 1920)


Glad you're back and still interested in improving your riding, but I'm going to give you some pretty blunt feedback: IMO, your riding in this video is significantly worse than in the first one you posted. You're ruddering more with your back foot, not less. In your first vid you'd eliminated at least some of the ruddering on your toe edge, but now it's all you're doing on both edges. You're _way_ in the back seat--at about the 1:00 mark as the filmer passes you, you can see that almost 100% of your weight is on your back foot. You also spend quite a lot of the video with your torso twisted so your chest is pointing forward instead of being aligned with your board.

What all of these issues add up to, and the reason I'm being so blunt, is that you're clearly riding too fast for how little control you have. You come like 6" from crashing into a tree at the :10 mark and almost take out a skier a few seconds later.

You would really, really, really benefit from a lesson. If you absolutely can't afford one, I'd suggest spending at least a few days slowing down and practicing fundamentals. I'd also _strongly_ recommend that you eliminate flat-basing from your riding completely. You can bring it back into your arsenal a few years from now if you want, but at the moment it's doing you more harm than good, and you need to learn to ride your edges instead in order to get to a higher level of control.
*____*

Not trying to come across like a dickhead. Happy to get into the details of technique a little more with you if you want.


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## Deejay10 (Aug 11, 2020)

MCrides said:


> Glad you're back and still interested in improving your riding, but I'm going to give you some pretty blunt feedback: IMO, your riding in this video is significantly worse than in the first one you posted. You're ruddering more with your back foot, not less. In your first vid you'd eliminated at least some of the ruddering on your toe edge, but now it's all you're doing on both edges. You're _way_ in the back seat--at about the 1:00 mark as the filmer passes you, you can see that almost 100% of your weight is on your back foot. You also spend quite a lot of the video with your torso twisted so your chest is pointing forward instead of being aligned with your board.
> 
> What all of these issues add up to, and the reason I'm being so blunt, is that you're clearly riding too fast for how little control you have. You come like 6" from crashing into a tree at the :10 mark and almost take out a skier a few seconds later.
> 
> ...


exactly what im looking for, everything helps!


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## bseracka (Nov 14, 2011)

From the video your front foot looks oddly positioned ie not much angle. What angles are you running? Potentially opening up your front knee will will help you get your weight more forward. Out of curiosity what is your stance width? There's definitely a Goldilocks element to getting stance width and angle right. Since you're focused on carving and improving your turns you may even want to go double positive on the stance angles.

Other than that; your weight is center to rear on the board, you're initiating turns from your back foot and you've got minimal bend in the front knee. Personally I would recommend taking a step back, go back to mellower runs and really focus on getting your weight forward and initiating turns from the front. Start with good C turns to warm up and then start opening them up so you're continuously moving down hill and from edge to edge.


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## BoardieK (Dec 21, 2015)

Man alive that took me back a bit, I was wincing all the way through just waiting for the slam. 

Slow down
Gain control
Get a lesson
And what the others said.

ps. Great entertainment though, sort if like watching a horror movie.


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## MCrides (Feb 25, 2019)

Deejay10 said:


> exactly what im looking for, everything helps!


Ok. I think there are two things I'd focus on before anything else:

1. Move to a mellow slope and spend some time getting your skidded turns dialed in. Do suuuper slow, complete turns focusing on pushing your weight to your front foot, initiating the turn with your front foot or knee, and then skidding to stop by applying pressure as the board comes around. You'll have to focus hard before every turn on pushing your weight onto your front foot. While you do this, hold onto the side seem of your pants and don't let go--this will prevent you from rotating your torso. Spend a lot of time on this. Getting it down will make everyday riding way more fun and you simply won't be able to carve until you fix some of this stuff.

2. Learn to subtly pressure your edges instead of riding flat based. This video talks about pushing your shins forward against the front of your boots--strap in on flat ground and try this while not moving and you'll notice how when you push your shins forward, the board tilts up onto the toe edge. _That_ is your new default "going straight" position. You'll be much more in control and won't have to worry about catching edges, and it's also the first step towards making actual carved turns when you're ready for them.


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## BoardieK (Dec 21, 2015)

Yes, focus on what you are doing over the next 30 feet.


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## Manicmouse (Apr 7, 2014)

You are also counter-rotating a lot, every time you try to turn you push your trailing arm out and twist your body the opposite direction. Point your front arm the direction you want to go (you can drop this once you get it working). This will align your body better.


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

Oi... good advice already from others.

And... I'd also suggest to get a camber board. I'm usually not the one to suggest this to beginners. But in your case, a bit of edge revenge would force you to slow down and concentrate on learning the basics of edge control. You're riding way too fast, not at all in control. 
You'll progress fast as you have the guts. But you really - REALLY - need to first learn to use your edges. Right now, you're just zig-zag along the fall line wherever gravity takes you. Your aim should be to ride where YOU want the board to go.

So... rent or lend a camber board, go to a mellow slope and practice C and S turns, being ON edge; slowly, concentrated and in control all of the time. Learn to balance on thst edge doing a wiiiiiide C turn, going perpendicular to the slop all the way. Once toe edge works, concentrate on heel edge a.s.o. The guys already hinted on the main issues (weight distribution, twisting, ruddering).


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## Paxford (Jan 7, 2019)

You got close to a toeside carve at ~ 2 minutes in the second vid. That was the only moment where your weight was trending forward, and you fought it, hands flailing, especially behind you. Clearly you aren't comfortable there balance wise, but that is where you need to be.

Try this, put both hands in front of you *and keep them there all day*. Imagine diving head first in to every carve leading with your two hands. With your hands (and weight which follows your hands) in front at all times you will be forced to ride off the front foot and learn to use the leading edge to turn. You won't always ride this way (hands locked forward), but you need to get your weight forward before continuing. I can see hands trending forward at various carves in the vid below, to give you an idea of what I am referring to.


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## Scalpelman (Dec 5, 2017)

Paxford said:


> You got close to a toeside carve at ~ 2 minutes in the second vid. That was the only moment where your weight was trending forward, and you fought it, hands flailing, especially behind you. Clearly you aren't comfortable there balance wise, but that is where you need to be.
> 
> Try this, put both hands in front of you *and keep them there all day*. Imagine diving head first in to every carve leading with your two hands. With your hands (and weight which follows your hands) in front at all times you will be forced to ride off the front foot and learn to use the leading edge to turn. You won't always ride this way (hands locked forward), but you need to get your weight forward before continuing. I can see hands trending forward at various carves in the vid below, to give you an idea of what I am referring to.


This was one of the best pieces of carving advice someone gave me a few years ago. I believe it was @wrathfuldeity ;One season of carving with my hands leading the way helped me progress immensely.


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## WigMar (Mar 17, 2019)

I've always liked that Fullbag video.


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## Scalpelman (Dec 5, 2017)

WigMar said:


> I've always liked that Fullbag video.


Yes! More my style. High speed trenches. Can’t wait to get back on my diamond blade. I bet that pentaquark rides similar.


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## WigMar (Mar 17, 2019)

I really wanted a diamond blade. Missed the boat on that one. I'd agree the pentaquark is probably quite similar. High speed trenches all day!


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## Paxford (Jan 7, 2019)

You guys are killing me with the Amplid hype. Their decks don't match my specs, frustrating.


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## NT.Thunder (Jan 4, 2020)

Paxford said:


> You guys are killing me with the Amplid hype. Their decks don't match my specs, frustrating.


Surely there's something there.....................dig a bit deeper 😂


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

DJ the board is riding you. Get more dynamic, widen your stance, first isolate your upper body and lower body movements, your are riding stiff legged, quiet your upper body and get it compacted around the vertical axis....glue your elbows to your ribs. Get back to basics...find creepy basement video...you are not really stacked nor aligned. You are going too fast without control you also need to look further down the hill and ride that way.

Don't worry about the Amplid, you are not ready for it.


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## MCrides (Feb 25, 2019)

Scalpelman said:


> This was one of the best pieces of carving advice someone gave me a few years ago. I believe it was @wrathfuldeity ;One season of carving with my hands leading the way helped me progress immensely.


@Scalpelman, you mean both hands over the nose of the board, correct? Is the idea that it forces you into the front seat?


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## WigMar (Mar 17, 2019)

There's some good gems in here, even if it's aimed largely at hardbooters. 
Alpine carving


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

MCrides said:


> @Scalpelman, you mean both hands over the nose of the board, correct? Is the idea that it forces you into the front seat?


 Imo it depends on your angles and stance...if you are like Craig Kelley with ++ angles...yes. If duck then you point your leading shoulder/hand.


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## Scalpelman (Dec 5, 2017)

MCrides said:


> @Scalpelman, you mean both hands over the nose of the board, correct? Is the idea that it forces you into the front seat?


That’s exactly it. In the front seat. The hand motion helps you to keep your weight centered over the board. That way you’re always ready for what comes next. I feel like my edge to edge control is WAY better. Better anticipation. 

I’m getting pumped. Tomorrow is my cherry popping day for the season.


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