# From toe to heel (when slope is on heel side)



## United (Dec 13, 2010)

Make the edge transition faster and more affirmative. Just get that board onto your backside (heelside) edge period. What is probably happening with the left to right slope is the sensation of falling to the inside which keeps you from getting there. Next time, aggressively get there to the heel side and if you feel like you are going to fall to the inside of the turn, push hard with your back foot to slide the tail of the board out and check (slow) your speed.


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## surfinsnow (Feb 4, 2010)

Practice.

Seriously, that's all there is to it. When you first start, you tend to favor the edge that you feel more comfortable with...I always liked leaning back on my heel edge, because if I fell it was better than a face plant. Sooner or later you'll get it, it will become natural.

For the turns you're talking about, you need to pull up that front foot and push down your back foot to slow you down, and use your upper body strength combined with your hips to help swing the board around. I'm probably even describing it all wrong from an instructional point of view --- it's hard telling someone how to snowboard. Thus the practice. Just keep going out, don't get discouraged.


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## naklik (Dec 30, 2010)

Thanks soo much for the super quick response. It all seems like very sound advice.

I'm going to the hills tomorrow and will put this into practice. I will post back when done.


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## purpleian907 (Dec 21, 2010)

make sure your not leaning back at all. really pay attention when you are doing to see if as you turn you lean towards the tail, because a lot of people do. really try and keep your weight in the center of the board. practice is everything


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## United (Dec 13, 2010)

leaning back is okay as long as it is toward the heelside of your board between your feet, but as purple ian says, you definitely do not want to be leaning "back" toward the tail. so if you are goofy/right foot foward the last place you want to be leaning is to your left, toward the tail of the board...that will just create speed and loss of edge control. Have fun and just keep at it!


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## boarderaholic (Aug 13, 2007)

I try to think of doing toe to heel turns as squatting, and drawing a rainbow from your back binding to your front one so that your upper and lower body is forced to rotate in a sequential sort of way. It's super important when you do these turns to NOT lean back on your back foot. What I also do in terms of weight distribution for going toe to heel is to keep everything on the front foot. While, I don't actually do that myself, with my students they subconsciously keep their weight about 50/50 between front and back, and that usually solves the leaning onto the tail issues. Good luck with that.


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## naklik (Dec 30, 2010)

Ok, so I'm back from the slopes with a bitter sweet feeling. I followed the advice given and I'm now much better at making the switch. So thanks to everyone for taking the time to help! 

However, I painfully found out that going from toe to heel or vice-versa at higher speeds meant catching the edge even more often. When the slope is not so steep, I can consistently link turns (mostly carving ones). But when the hill gets steeper and I gain speed, trying to quickly make the turns meant a painful forward fall.

Any ideas what I could be doing wrong? I know without seeing is quite hard, so I'm hoping next weekend I can get myself taped. But in the meantime, any tips are most welcomed!

Thanks again to all for taking the time to read, write and share. 

And by the way h*appy new year*!!!!


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## naklik (Dec 30, 2010)

Thanks Snowolf!

Will definitely try it next week. I'm still a bit scared to put the nose down the fall-line as completing the turn is still taking longer than wanted. Nonetheless with all the advice I've received, everything seems to be falling into place and progress seems to be right down the corner. I need to force myself to just go for it.

This forum has really helped me a lot. Much more than the teachers I've had, which don't understand what I'm telling them (or don't want to hear/pay attention).


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## purpleian907 (Dec 21, 2010)

united, yea i meant dont lean back toward the tail.

also good job naklik, seems like you are learning quick, if you are carving confidently on shallow slopes, and are learning the steeper stuff.

just keep practicing that really the most important thing.


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## MODO (May 2, 2019)

Turn your head and body and look in the direction u want to go. 🏂🏂🤙🏻🤙🏻 Start out kinda slow, your board will come around. Good luck bra from COLORADO


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## tanscrazydaisy (Mar 11, 2013)

MODO said:


> Turn your head and body and look in the direction u want to go. [emoji473][emoji473][emoji1689][emoji1689] Start out kinda slow, your board will come around. Good luck bra from COLORADO


You responded to a 10 year old thread and the OP hasn't posted in 9 years

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk


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