# Toeside turns on steeps



## ShredLife (Feb 6, 2010)

Jeremy Jones just uses ice axes.


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## baconzoo (Nov 12, 2010)

Bend Zee Knees!


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## Qball (Jun 22, 2010)

baconzoo said:


> Bend Zee Knees!


Oh I thought I was supposed keep my legs straight  I'm talking actual steeps here, not east coast "steeps"

Thanks for the tips wolf. Definitely going to work on the down unweighting technique and try to focus on staying relaxed. I'm for sure more tense when I get on really steep terrain. The conditions where pretty rough yesterday too, the snow was really chopped up, but it just makes it that much easier in good conditions.


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## baconzoo (Nov 12, 2010)

"Bend zee knees" is a fun way of saying lower body flexion and extension.

What I taught in Jackson Hole: 
Was to start the turn with an upper body movement. On a heal-side, you would reach that lead hand toward where you wanted to go.
Picking up the board comes next, or retraction. Basically pick up that edge and set it down on the new one. This is not a jump turn, but a suck it up turn.

Once you're there on that toe-side edge you better be flexed to the point that your knees might be touching the mountain. But keep the upper body tall. So only break at the knees and ankles.

Keeping your upper body tall keeps you balanced. Flexing your knees and ankles lowers your center of mass and gives you a higher edge angle. This takes a lot of muscle conditioning.

While stopped on any slope: if you were to kneel down with your upper leg in line with your chest, you would be in the correct position. Your base might be at a 80* angle to the slope. Your center would be about two feet off the ground. How low can you go? That's how low. Once you master riding from that position to a standing position: you'll have a broad range of motion. And you'll be unstoppable. (unless you pearl):laugh:
Somewhat of a visual example


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## Qball (Jun 22, 2010)

Oh, now that makes sense, I will definitely work on this. So down unweighting is sucking the legs up towards the body to turn and extending the legs to apply pressure to the edge, correct?


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## Qball (Jun 22, 2010)

Snowolf said:


> If it makes you feel any better...I took a hysterical header down Elevator off of MHX. My second turn, I hit that Sastrugi shit and the nose buried itself and I did two front flips before landing upright on my board.....:laugh:


haha I saw some guy do something like that on 2 bowl. He did a somersault to drop in and pulled it off only to dig his nose in and do two more flips :laugh:


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## Qball (Jun 22, 2010)

Snowolf said:


> That is pretty much it....
> 
> Try this at home.... While standing, simply collapse your lower body like sucking up your legs. What happens, is before your upper body begins to fall down toward the floor, there is split second where your feet are weightless. You have just unweighted your feet by dropping your upper body.
> 
> ...


I tried this out yesterday and I could really tell a difference when I did it right. I was feeling much more confident than I was the other day :thumbsup: What days are you normally at Meadows?


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## andrewboktor (Nov 11, 2010)

I am a fairly new rider. Only 5 times on the slopes with a snowboard. Saturday, I had the exact samr problem, I usually caught an edge trying to engage the toeside. And it felt pretty hard to move from heel to toe edge. I had no problems with moving from toe to heel. I thought this might be because my bindings are set too much near the heel edge making it easier to engage that edge. I moved my bindings 1 notch FW. It was slightly easier afterwords, but nowhere as easy as moving from toe to heel. When I was back home, I set my bindings another notch FW.
My question is, how to know if my feet are centered correctly over the board? In other words, how to know if it's a settings problem or a skill problem?

Thanks


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## jmacphee9 (Nov 11, 2008)

one thing to note that i feel gets left out with making transititons is that binding placement can effect it as well..i remember one time i went too wide when i was a beginner and had to slide down the hill cuz i couldnt transition, and i was transitioning on a regular basis at this point


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## andrewboktor (Nov 11, 2010)

jmacphee9 said:


> one thing to note that i feel gets left out with making transititons is that binding placement can effect it as well..i remember one time i went too wide when i was a beginner and had to slide down the hill cuz i couldnt transition, and i was transitioning on a regular basis at this point


I am 5'8" and my stance width is 19.7 inches. Is this considered too wide or that's fine?


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## InfiniteEclipse (Jan 2, 2009)

andrewboktor said:


> I am 5'8" and my stance width is 19.7 inches. Is this considered too wide or that's fine?


It's all about personal preference, however as a guideline, you would take the width of your shoulders give or take 1-2 inches and that would be your width. I'm of similar height and have similar stance, if that helps.


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## baconzoo (Nov 12, 2010)

I measure from the top of the knee to the bottom of the foot. Theory: perfect triangle (if my knees were together.) 

So at 6' I've got 23"


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## InfiniteEclipse (Jan 2, 2009)

^Coincidently, both our measurements are supposed to be taken together and the stance would fall in the middle...but I've come to trust personal preference over guidelines haha


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