# How to carve like a pro and setup recommendations?



## boarderaholic

There are many various factors that go into learning how to carve, and many of these techniques are best learned by taking lessons with a higher level instructor as the instructor can evaluate your riding and give you various pointers on how to get better.


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## Guest

It took me quite a while to carve with complete control and precision. I know what you mean by "plowing" or "skidding". Its more like braking with less power so it looks like you're trying to slow down and it's not smooth like a "snake" so to speak. 

The only way to get to a smooth carve is a) face your fear. Holding back on speed makes you skid/brake as opposed to just letting go and going fast. b) It's more like a rudder on a small motor boat. Eventually, the back foot moves to the left or to the right and that controls where you go. Of course, your whole body is needed to balance and what not. But once you get good, you should be able to move left right left right left right every couple feet so you're carving really light and smooth. 

Just practice. It's extremely easy to go from where you are to where you want to be.


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## boarderaholic

dlee427 said:


> b) It's more like a rudder on a small motor boat. Eventually, the back foot moves to the left or to the right and that controls where you go. Of course, your whole body is needed to balance and what not. But once you get good, you should be able to move left right left right left right every couple feet so you're carving really light and smooth.
> 
> Just practice. It's extremely easy to go from where you are to where you want to be.


Just to clarify, when you steer, you want to steer with your lead foot/hand/shoulder and not your back foot. Using your backfoot causes counter-rotation, which defeats the purpose of carving. You also want to remember to keep your front foot weighted and to use extension and compression.


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## Guest

boarderaholic said:


> Just to clarify, when you steer, you want to steer with your lead foot/hand/shoulder and not your back foot. Using your backfoot causes counter-rotation, which defeats the purpose of carving. You also want to remember to keep your front foot weighted and to use extension and compression.


Yeah I phrased it wrong. I didn't mean it like the front foot is not part of the operation. The front foot is used to steer and initiate the direction (heel or toe) but it works together with the back foot (which acts as a rudder sort of).


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## boarderaholic

dlee427 said:


> Yeah I phrased it wrong. I didn't mean it like the front foot is not part of the operation. The front foot is used to steer and initiate the direction (heel or toe) but it works together with the back foot (which acts as a rudder sort of).


Haha. Yeah, I had a feeling that's what you were saying and I just wanted to make sure.


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## pk_volt

hey guys, thankyou for replying.

I was also wondering what kind of angles you guys are using on your bindings, and any videos?

I'm just a little confused as to what exacly you do right when your board starts to turn, and how exactly do you initiate the turn? By lifting and pushing your ankles? or just pushing out with your knees?


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## Grimdog

I may be a little old school but on my cruiser board that carves real nice I actually go with a forward and a little narrower stance, +25 & +15. I find that when I can tuck my rear knee behind my front knee I can really lean into the turn and hold my edge really well. I feels like your accelerating through the turn. If you ever get the chance to see someone ride a GS board with hard boots, they always have a forward stance and they can lay down a carve with their body parallel to the hill.


YouTube - Ripping on a Carving Snowboard


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## Guest

Great response. I didn't really focus my brain power on the physics portion of it but everything else I read made perfect sense.

To original OP, just try to remember all the technical stuff before you get on the slope. But once you get on, th only thing you should try to keep in mind is the HIGHER SPEED part. Carving doesn't happen unless you face your fear and gain some speed. I'm not saying speed like, off a high jump kind of deal, but enough. And also, it WILL take wider coverage so you would need room and make sure you don't run into anyone. I've done that before and i'm fortunate that no one got hurt. Once you get better you can carve "Faster" and take up less space. 





Snowolf said:


> To start with, carved turns differ from skidded turns in that in a carved turn, the tail of the board travels in the same path as the nose; leaving a very thin line in the snow.
> 
> To carve, the rider must maintain higher speed throughout the series of turns. The reson for this is because it is difficult to balance on a high edge angle at slow speed. Centrifugal force tends to counteract gravity in the turn.
> 
> To begin a cared turn, the rider allows a moderate speed to build up then, using the front foot only, the rider will flext hips, knees and ankles to twist the snowboard torsionally so that whatever edge the rider is trying to carve on, begins to engage the snow. At this point, the board`s sidecut really kicks in to make the turn and once the rider feels the turn established, it is time to follow through with the rear foot. In the early stages of basic carving, it is easy for the rider to lean the entire body toward the inside of the turn. Try to avoid overdoing this as it will cause you to fall uphill if any speed decay occurrs. Use flexion of the hips and knees to keep upper body positioned over the effective edge.
> 
> The faster the carve, the more centrifugal force will tend to pull your upper boday towards the outside of the turn. This force is what allows the rider to maintain such a high edge angle and actually accelerate through the turn.
> 
> At the end of the carved turn, when the rider is ready to switch edges and carve to opposite direction, The turn initaiaton again begins with the front foot. Start gradually decreasing the pressure that kept you turning and when the board stops turning, begin to apply opposite pressure to the front foot to make the board twist and engage the other edge. As soon as the turn begins, you need to follow through with the rear foot and do this in a gradual but steady motion.
> 
> In the beginining, basic carved turns will take up a lot of the run, so be prepared to have plenty of room. Do not force the turn; there is a sweet spot for carved turns that is a balance between edge angle and centifugal force. If you try to force the turn too rapidly, the tail of the board will break free and skid. Keep your turns big and wide arcs as your perform the maneuver.


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## sedition

Snowolf said:


> Do not force the turn; there is a sweet spot for carved turns that is a balance between edge (angle) and (centifugal) force.


There is *so much* in that statement, it is almost a Zen Koan.

That sweet spot is _also_ the "balance" between a carve and a skid. Depending on your speed, your lean, and the snow conditions, any carve can quickly turn into a skid, or vise versa. One of the keys to linking carves is when the snow conditions _want_ you to switch edges. On powder, or a freshly groomed trail, you can do it almost when ever you want to. However, if they snow is a bit rough, bumpy, icy, etc, you need to be more mindful of when switch over. If you don't do it at the right time, the conditions can act as a "speed bump" (or ice, etc), that will cause the edge to no longer hold, sending you into a skid. In such cases you want to plan your line around, before, next to, or after, such conditions....or just plan to skid for a bit...there is nothing wrong with skidding when you need to!


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## pk_volt

So I tried again today on the slopes

I am able to minimize the skidding on my heal turn. I do this by getting down as low as I can and basically, sit down. Alothough I'm not skidding as much, it seems like I'm losing a lot of speed. the toe side turn is a little bit harder and I can't seem to minize the skidding as much. Perhaps I just need more speed and experiement with differnt leaning angles etc etc to find the balance between skidding and carving?

what exactly should I do to minimize the skidding?


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## Guest

Snowolf has explained the carve eloquently enough, although I'll share my thoughts on this and what has helped me:

1.) Use of hips to move weight towards the front instead of leaning (as mentioned). Think travolta on the saturday night fever cover, though not as extreme. It is almost like your rear leg straightens out moreso than your lead leg. 
2.) Not getting speed anxiety, while doing #1. When I got scared, I leaned back and that screwed me up.
3.) Carved turns are truly effortless when your weight is either towards your front foot, or balanced. Flexion allows you to deliver stronger pressure to the edges while extension "unweights" the board. In other words, your upper body stays relaxed while your feet direct the board. You can essentially turn the board with zero upper body movement by using the four pressure points on the board (McNab system) which are your toe and heel edges.

I recommend the Go Snowboarding DVD and book by Neil McNab. Don't worry, I'm in no way affiliated, but it really helped me understand how you can use your natural biomechanics to make turns. The dvd shows how the pressure of your heel and toe edges distributes throughout the board. It has great slow-motion clips that illustrate how to execute a turn properly. If you can't get lessons, get this dvd.


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## pk_volt

Aight, I think I know what it feels like to actually do a carve. I realized that I really had to learn forward and push down hard with my ankles and knees to dig the leading edge into the snow (for toe side) in order for the snow to grab the edge of my board. Adjusting the forward lean on my leading foot's binding definitely made a huge difference as well!

But the main problem is that while I'm going down the slope, it just seems hard to adjust my leaning position slightly foreward. Do I just have to find a smoothe spot on the snow to allow me to do so, or is there still some binding settings I can do to make this transition easier?


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## Kingscare

Like this?


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## jlm1976

The video above is a great example of some solid cross under turns...extending through the turn and compressing at the edge change. Notice that he does move his hip to the inside of the turn while keeping the back straight. This is really the key to getting that edge to bite.

For your toeside, you are probably keeping in that "sitting position" on toeside. Try to push your hips down to the inside of the toeside turn. I think of it as getting your body into a "banana" position(see my avatar pic). Your hips into the turn with your back arched. This will get your weight off of heelside and onto the toeside edge and should solidify your toeside. You can see the guy in the video above doing this right before he starts compressing for the next turn.
Really use your legs to press down against whichever edge is on the snow. Again, like the video above. This should help on both turns. 
Also, don't worry about your binding setup. In my avatar pic, I'm riding 15, -9.
As an aside, I generally use twisting to control the turn and make small changes to the radius of it. I find for changing edges, I get my weight forward and downhill of my snowboard and change edges with both feet at the same time. If I use twist to start the edge change, it inhibits me from dropping my weight downhill ahead of my edge...


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## xxfinnellxx

carving=fun and easy. 

toe side= let your edge cleave into the snow a little bit (easy on softpack) and then feel the pressure in the tips over your toes and as your going through that edge, try to push up very slightly with your knees

Heel Side= get your heel edge kinda in the snow, and as you initiate the turn, keep your hips low and feel the toe strap of your bindings press on the tops of your toes (this lets you know that theres resistance). From there, you slightly lift your hips up to add a little more pressure and as you lift, your center of gravity should start to shift more towards the center of your board so that you are able to set up your balance for your next turn

EDIT: Trust me, I race


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## AAA

Lots already said, but one thing I'll add is to commit early. If you're trying to initiate a carve when the board is pointed straight down the fall line, you won't be as committed to a carve (or be able to link them), so it's easy to cheat and let the board slide a little. Make sure to initiate your carves while still traversing the fall line on your downhill edge. 

For some drills, ride along your edge about 45 degrees or more to the fall line. (No skidding.) When you've picked up some speed, roll onto your downhill edge. As the edge bites and begins to carve, drop your hips to the inside and drive your knees towards the snow. You want to get the board high on edge and use your knees and hips to keep your torso fairly upright and centered over the board. When the board crosses the fall line, lower your edge angle and allow centifugal force to lift your hips up from the snow. Glide along that edge until you feel ready, then initiate the next carve. Soon you'll begin to link them seamlessly. 

Start on a nice green hill that you're comfortable on, nothing hard. Keep in mind that once you commit to the carve, you're going to accelerate quickly. Don't freak out. You'll slow down coming off the carve. Speed control in carving is managed starting at the beginning of the turn. The more the board is across the fall line when you initiate a carve, the higher the edge angle you use through the carve, and the longer you stay in the carve coming across the fall line, the slower your speed will be. When you get it down, skidding to speed check becomes much less neccessary except on the steepest slopes or narrow runs where you just run out of real estate.

When you have the feel for a fundemental carve, you can begin working on extension and compression techniques that work best for the conditions and riding style you're trying to achieve.


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## oceancurls

Toss out all the new school duck stance and straight stance crap. Go back to style and have your front foot angel just slightly and your back can be pretty much straight to a slight angle as well. 

Like someone else said being able to put your back knee feeling like it's doing into your front back leg bent down will get you laying down a carve on your back side speed is the key low and flow once you want to carve back move fast and lean into a front side carve you can tuck your back leg into as well and just keep carving front to back fast and flow if your sliding out your not carving your sliding to much keeping your feet flat so get up on your edge with your heels keep a tucked stance with your back legs into your back leg or at least that's the feeling low and on your heels. 

Next don't don't let your arms look like you are flying pull them in tight as well one in front and one right behind it helps your style.


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## Argo

oceancurls said:


> Toss out all the new school duck stance and straight stance crap. Go back to style and have your front foot angel just slightly and your back can be pretty much straight to a slight angle as well.
> 
> Like someone else said being able to put your back knee feeling like it's doing into your front back leg bent down will get you laying down a carve on your back side speed is the key low and flow once you want to carve back move fast and lean into a front side carve you can tuck your back leg into as well and just keep carving front to back fast and flow if your sliding out your not carving your sliding to much keeping your feet flat so get up on your edge with your heels keep a tucked stance with your back legs into your back leg or at least that's the feeling low and on your heels.
> 
> Next don't don't let your arms look like you are flying pull them in tight as well one in front and one right behind it helps your style.


Way to bring back a 6 year old dead thread for your first post. >


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