# heel side slippage



## rasmasyean (Jan 26, 2008)

Maybe you can adjust your stance more pointing forward. It also depends on your board. Carving boards are usually stiff and directional (the nose is longer than the tail).

When I used to use a freeriding board and wanted to carve, I would do a 30 / 15 stance (or was it 45 / 30 I don't remeber). But you can try different angles. I found this makes it easier as I can keep my shoulders alligned more perpendicular to the direction of travel while not having to "sit" as much. So my body leans more side to side than chest to butt while bending the knees.

Like this dude.









The Carver's Almanac - Hard booting and carving on an alpine snowboard


For a few years now I've been riding 0 / 0 or 9 / -9 with wide stance and a freestyle board and I've found it harder to lock in a hard carve even as my board is supposed to be pretty stiff. If I went too fast, it would slip out from the bumps in the snow.


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## Kingscare (Aug 13, 2009)

I don't think I'll go all the way to a forward stance as I do like my current set up... Though what I "discovered" last night was quite helpful in making my heel side feel more stable and I guess that'll have to do for me. I was riding a NS revolver...so I guess I'm really trying to have my cake and eat it too.

thanks for the input yo!


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## caneyhead (Jan 5, 2009)

I would like to chime in on this. I too slip out often on high speed heelside turns. On toe side can lean till Im almost touching the snow with my pelvis. Very frustating to wash out at high speed and send spray in your face. I've had a instructor tell me it was at least partially because of heel drag. I ride a NS legacy (wide) at -15+15 with 12.5 boots. Not sure how much I believe in the heel drag being the problem in my case but something to think about. 

I just don't feel that same progressive pressure arc with my heelside turns. When you figure it out let me know.


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## rasmasyean (Jan 26, 2008)

Snowolf said:


> Obviously, without watching you actually ride, this is all conjecture. Having said that, usually the reason that for most folks this is a worse problem for heel side than for toe side has to do with the inclination I mentioned. On you toe side edge, it is easier to edge the board while remaining over the top of it because of the way the human foot is designed:
> 
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> ...


And these positioning and force transfer issues can be aleviated quite a bit from adjusting to a forward stance rather than duck.


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## Kingscare (Aug 13, 2009)

FORWARD STANCE NEVER! 

Seriously, that's it snow wolf. I really feel like my problem was solved by bending at the hips and bringing my shoulders more to the inside of the turn and squatting a tad more in my turns (already do them low). The part that was troubling me was that I remember hearing that it's bad form to bend at the hips, so I tended to lean back in order to stay straight and stacked (so I thought).

Even though I did bend at the waist to get better heel side performance, I still felt like I was straight up and NOT bending over towards my toe edge. I guess I was confused because bending at the hips (which I thought was bad) led to such positive riding results.


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## rasmasyean (Jan 26, 2008)

Kingscare said:


> FORWARD STANCE NEVER!
> 
> Seriously, that's it snow wolf. I really feel like my problem was solved by bending at the hips and bringing my shoulders more to the inside of the turn and squatting a tad more in my turns (already do them low). The part that was troubling me was that I remember hearing that it's bad form to bend at the hips, so I tended to lean back in order to stay straight and stacked (so I thought).
> 
> Even though I did bend at the waist to get better heel side performance, I still felt like I was straight up and NOT bending over towards my toe edge. I guess I was confused because bending at the hips (which I thought was bad) led to such positive riding results.


I think that a lot of what you learn as a “beginner” does not always apply as you do different (more advanced) things. I’ve found that many “rule of thumbs” are useful in a small range of situations based on the particular scenarios those instructions were designed for. Even something as simple as “always bend your knees”… Often when I’m coasting, I straiten my knees because I find it reduces fatigue and “recharge” my muscles faster…and in effect, I’m MORE stable because I’m further away from an Iron Monk stance throughout the ride.  

Discover and use what works best for you. That’s what Bruce Lee said.


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