# steep chutes and big mountain lines



## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

No big mtn expert myself, but as I feel a bit in the same boat, and to give a little bump, here my thoughts. It needs two things for steep chutes: ability _and_ attitude. Both need/can be exercised to some degree. So two things could cause this blockade; it's either in your head or your level. Did you ride similar steeps in open terrain before? Did that work well?

I still fight with the psychological part. I well dare to ride fast in open steep terrain but still can get chickenshit when confined by rocks/cliffs/whatnot. One thing is to overcome the need for control = urge to stop _immediately_ wherever whenever I want and just _ride_. Don't get me wrong, you should always be in control of what you do, but if you feel this urge to stop all the time, you end up sidescreaping. Turns are easier if moving, get very hard if you stop. 

Your movements should be absolutely automatically. You need your head to read the terrain as things move quickly in steeps. Try to build up confidence in your abilities in open terrain and proceede slowly to more challenging ones. I exercised by choosing a line from above and trying to stay in exactly this line. Succeeding gives confidence to negociate narrow passages if necessary.

Oh, and theres a third thing: know your limits. There are always ppl who do crazy things and it looks so easy when they do it. It's good to challege yourself but also only in a manageble way. Have fun and stay save


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

op those look to be...not really chutes...but big open (assuming lookers right of the knob)...but lookers far left on the wall through the rocks, is another matter. For me its about snow condition and knowing the runout. I.e., if the snow condition is good and I know there is nothing to run into or to huck my self off the planet (assuming the vis is good)...then go. The first few times through an area its good to be cautious.

btw...what is...why?...lifted back foot

"It was way too steep and once I lifted my back foot even a bit, I lost the edge and got a ton of speed."


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## francium (Jan 12, 2013)

Hardcore riding chutes with one foot strapped in.


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

It takes practice and multiple times down steep, STEEP runs To be comfortable. You aren't advanced/experts, probably more like.most people that think they are.... You are advanced intermediate riders. I'm like wrath, the conditions are king, on a good soft day that's a 3 sweeping turn run. On a chopped or icey day that is more like good scenery. my 14 year old kid would likely ride it without issue in any conditions, he rides steep stuff 4 days a week now though.


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## CassMT (Mar 14, 2013)

Bad/So-So Conditions:

edging to keep speed under control you want a rocking motion from nose to tail. aggressively pushing the nose down to go into the turn, then thru the turn your weight shifts back some, repeat. board has to have sufficient effective, sharp edge to really do this right. search riding+steeps+snowboard on utube

Good Pow:

i look to the runout zone if there is one, or the gap in the trees of your choosing. it's good to know well the terrain already, 90% mental and visual, you bomb or make the fewest number of turns. i'm usually looking to make a huge heelside turn with weight to the back to dust off some of the speed coming out of the chute. was working this season on toeside dustoffs with a few horrendous, launching heel catches, haah, that was exciting!

practice, mental focus, LOOKING where you want to go, proper equipment...in that order IMLE


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## twowheeled (Jan 1, 2014)

wrathfuldeity said:


> op those look to be...not really chutes...but big open (assuming lookers right of the knob)...but lookers far left on the wall through the rocks, is another matter. For me its about snow condition and knowing the runout. I.e., if the snow condition is good and I know there is nothing to run into or to huck my self off the planet (assuming the vis is good)...then go. The first few times through an area its good to be cautious.
> 
> btw...what is...why?...lifted back foot
> 
> "It was way too steep and once I lifted my back foot even a bit, I lost the edge and got a ton of speed."


We were riding left of the knob. I think it's a mental thing. I don't ride this way normally but once it gets steep and there are some cliffs I will go into sidestep and smear mode. On a normal run I'm very aware of my edges and always start turns with my front edge, torsioning the board to transfer from nose to tail. My board doesn't turn very quick either when on edge so that is always on the back of my mind.. am I going to overshoot.

The run itself wasn't extremely difficult. I think it was a combination of ski patrol telling us to go back down and scope a line and rethink the run, and my friends backing out that led me to second guess myself. I have ridden stuff this steep on open runs, but they are always short enough to straight line and bleed off speed when it levels out.

here's a video of one of the first runs I did. I was really nervous the whole heelsiding bit is me still running though my line in my head even though I'm already committed. I switched edges to line up and lost my toe, slid way down the run before catching it again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m0Vk461NFI&feature=youtu.be


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## poutanen (Dec 22, 2011)

Currie headwall is STEEP, it's the far left of that picture. I've posted better pics of it on the forum here before, I can dig one up if you want.

You probably got spooked, but one thing to work on is solid short radius carves coming right across the fall line. Work on them on steep blues (The Bear run at Fernie comes to mind), then work on them on the Knot Chutes, then you'll be ready for the headwall methinks. I have not been on the headwall, but been on similar terrain at other resorts, and you've got to attack it, but you've got to also be ready to attack it!


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## SnowDogWax (Nov 8, 2013)

poutanen said:


> Currie headwall is STEEP, it's the far left of that picture. I've posted better pics of it on the forum here before, I can dig one up if you want.
> 
> You probably got spooked, but one thing to work on is solid short radius carves coming right across the fall line. Work on them on steep blues (The Bear run at Fernie comes to mind), then work on them on the Knot Chutes, then you'll be ready for the headwall methinks. I have not been on the headwall, but been on similar terrain at other resorts, and you've got to attack it, but you've got to also be ready to attack it!


+++1
looked at some video they had exactly same intructions as poutanen..:eusa_clap:


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## snowman55 (Feb 17, 2012)

Watch and study this video. He goes into what CassMT posted. Fore/Aft movements are very important when riding steeps. I watched this video like 50 times to learn the movements correctly and it really helped me with the steeps.


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## Steezus Christ (Jul 29, 2013)

come to red and ill show you how its done


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## twowheeled (Jan 1, 2014)

snowman55 said:


> Watch and study this video. He goes into what CassMT posted. Fore/Aft movements are very important when riding steeps. I watched this video like 50 times to learn the movements correctly and it really helped me with the steeps.


yea....the problem is that isn't steep. I can do those movements no sweat in that soft snow and black runs shown in the vid. But what happens if you are on hard snow or cornice and it's steep?


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## snowman55 (Feb 17, 2012)

twowheeled said:


> yea....the problem is that isn't steep. I can do those movements no sweat in that soft snow and black runs shown in the vid. But what happens if you are on hard snow or cornice and it's steep?


I agree it's not real steep in the video but the technique is still the same when riding on a real steep terrain. 

I don't recommend doing the hop thing on a hard snow but the fore/aft movement helps greatly with edge/speed control on hard/icy snow on the steeps. Before I learn to do them properly and in timely manner, I would just skid down hard and my board would chatter like crazy. Now I don't have that problem on hard icy snow.


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## Slush Puppie (Aug 15, 2011)

Be careful with the fore movement, you don't really need to actively use much fore, concentrate on the aft movement and you'll automatically get enough fore as the reciprocal. 

You want to have your peak aft pressure as you are finishing your turn, then reset to more centred just before initiating the new turn. In practice in pow, you're actually stacked over your rear foot (as rather than fully centred on groomers) and you are building aft pressure by pumping the back foot out and back in as you make turns, keeping stacked and balanced. The build up of pressure almost jumps you into the next turn if you do it right (not to be confused with jump turns, which is a very different technique) As it gets steep 35deg + it's really all about pressure management.


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## twowheeled (Jan 1, 2014)

Slush Puppie said:


> Be careful with the fore movement, you don't really need to actively use much fore, concentrate on the aft movement and you'll automatically get enough fore as the reciprocal.
> 
> You want to have your peak aft pressure as you are finishing your turn, then reset to more centred just before initiating the new turn. In practice in pow, you're actually stacked over your rear foot (as rather than fully centred on groomers) and you are building aft pressure by pumping the back foot out and back in as you make turns, keeping stacked and balanced. The build up of pressure almost jumps you into the next turn if you do it right (not to be confused with jump turns, which is a very different technique) As it gets steep 35deg + it's really all about pressure management.


thanks that's a really good description. I realized what i was doing wrong was pressuring the back foot too quickly not giving time to transfer the weight. I've gotten a lot better at letting the nose bite before pressuring back like you describe. That and fighting the urge to stop, keeping my board pointing down the hill has fixed the problem.


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## karkis (Jan 8, 2013)

for bombin steeps
-practice bombing not so steeps. go so fast on blue runs that you get really scared, that air resistance is slowing you down rather than your edges, and when terror turns to exhilaration, then head to the steeps.
-practice slow controlled turns on the steeps. yah its fun to rip tear shred a steep slope but often conditions are tough and you always have to be able to exercise precise control.
-turn on the soft snow! if you're sideslipping the chunder its gonna be rough, point thru the chop and dump speed where its soft.
-feel the line before you ride it, if you can't see visualize feel how its going to come together, it likely won't.


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