# Jumping/Air advice



## Dano (Sep 16, 2009)

Looking good man

First ditch those speed checks. Start from a stop kind of close to the jump and go straight at it with slight toe edge pressure. This way, instead of concentrating on how "too fast" you're going, you can concentrate on staying balanced and centered over your board. Look at the lip, and then look past it. Coast off and land. As you become more comfortable with the landing start from higher above or further away from the jump, and again, no speed checks. Just hit it straight. This will give you more and more speed as you straight-line towards the jump. If you feel intimidated by the speed remember some will be lost when you hit the setup. 

Next, bring your knees UP. This is different than bending at the waist and reaching DOWN. Once you're good with keeping balanced doing this you can start "popping" off the jump. Don't Ollie (not yet), just bend your knees as you hit the setup or ramp of the jump and extend your legs as you reach the lip. This will give you more air and youll have time to look around and register what's going on. Now you can see where you'll land and you can spot your landing.

Once you're comfortable with going straight at the jump, popping off the lip, bringing your knees up, and footing your landing, now you can play with different grabs. These steps will also help you step up to larger features


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## pnthr30 (Oct 25, 2010)

Thanks, Dano...

Starting closer to the jump and going directly at it is a great idea....don't know why I didn't think of that. :dunno: It sounds lame, but I do spend a lot of my pre-jump concentration on trying to regulate speed instead of looking at the lip/takeoff....which causes problems with being balanced/centered at takeoff. 

I don't have a problem with/fear of speed, per-se, is just the thought of landing.  With each landing, confidence is gained, right! haha 

Good point on bringing the knees up - I know how that should feel from wakeboarding. Likewise, I know how to pop (don't always do it well, but I am familiar with the concept) - just haven't starting doing this on the snow yet.


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## justdust (Jan 27, 2009)

If speed is an issue...maybe there is something to learn from my mistake. I was so focused on suppressing my fear to get the speed I needed for a longer jump that I forgot to focus on body position in the air. So, when I recover from my injuries:laugh: I will go back to the smaller jumps I am used to and hit them at higher speeds until I am comfortable approaching the lip of a jump at a higher speed. I think this should work, since the extra speed should just carry me farther down the landing zone on the smaller jump (and I am only comparing 10 foot and 15 foot jumps). Once I am comfortable with the higher speed, I'll head back to the 15 footer. We'll see what happens...


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## pnthr30 (Oct 25, 2010)

Point taken, justdust! :thumbsup: Hope your injuries didn't entail more than a few sore spots and a bruised ego!


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## slyder (Jan 18, 2010)

nothing worse then carrying too much speed and clearing the landing ramp and slamming hard. I would rather come up short. 
Always scout and watch the speed of others this is key. From the lift they look to be going slow, but if you pace yourself next to them they are sometimes going much faster than what you thought.


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## YoBrian (Jan 24, 2011)

I would watch other riders and see where they take off and how much speed they're using before taking off on a jump. This helps me gauge how much speed I will need and adjust accordingly. I hate to knuckle it but I really hate overshooting and landing flat bottom.

Also dont try to load up too much for ollies off the lip; it makes you go higher rather than longer. You'll need the length to clear the deck. So I usually just go for it and suck my knees up.

This works for me; adjust as needed. Good luck!


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## SAddiction (Feb 21, 2009)

Dano said:


> Looking good man
> 
> First ditch those speed checks. Start from a stop kind of close to the jump and go straight at it with slight toe edge pressure. This way, instead of concentrating on how "too fast" you're going, you can concentrate on staying balanced and centered over your board. Look at the lip, and then look past it. Coast off and land. As you become more comfortable with the landing start from higher above or further away from the jump, and again, no speed checks. Just hit it straight. This will give you more and more speed as you straight-line towards the jump. If you feel intimidated by the speed remember some will be lost when you hit the setup.
> 
> ...


Solid advice Dano

+1


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## TintedOut (Dec 21, 2009)

SAddiction said:


> Solid advice Dano
> 
> +1


Agreed with you.


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## Cobra (Jan 26, 2011)

Something I'm looking into getting better at as well, but I don't really have any backgrounds of jumping on sticks lol. good advices, but I'm noticing that beginner ramps don't offer much of a landing zone if taken at a higher speed. A simple triangular hump doesn't seem like a great idea to jump fast off of. Perhaps running into some real, dual or extended top ramps would help me figure this stuff out.


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## BliND KiNK (Feb 22, 2010)

I like that tail grab.. looks a lot like my grabs hahaha ... we have tiny kickers at my hill so... it pretty much ends up being me slapping where I would grab if I had two more seconds XD :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

looking good though man, just suck them up into your stomach and blast it.


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## john doe (Nov 6, 2009)

You're at one of the bad points of progressing on jumps. You are at a point where you have to go faster then you are comfortable with to clear the knuckle. That is combined with the fact that once you clear the knuckle you will be landing on a down slope instead of the flat top of the ramp. There will also be a big increase in time in the air that can be scary at first. To get past this you basicly need to just grow a pair a do it.


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## SnoRidr (Jan 7, 2009)

pnthr30 said:


> I am looking for some of the more seasoned/experienced riders to lend their insights.......
> 
> I am a realtively new rider who spends most of my time carving around with my 9 year old daughter (she skis), but I do enjoy hitting some of the smaller jumps.........I have wakeboard for many years, so when I began to go off jumps with my snowboard I had a tendency to turn my snowboard in the air a bit (i.e. coming across the wake) - clearly that doesn't work out so well for my landings....I also was reminded that the snow/ice is MUCH harder than the water.  Anyways, I think I have "fixed" that problem and I believe my next problem has to do with "growing a pair" and gaining more speed before I hit the jumps.....what else should I think about/work on? Any other insights would be appreciated. I know this is just a quick video, but maybe someone with a keen eye will catch something that will help me out.
> 
> ...


Looks like you have some good tips to get you started. Another thing I might add is to learn to ride your board flat and straight (just a tad on edge) and gradually gain speed. This will make you more comfortable at approaching the jump straight. You will hear people discourage against speed checks just before hitting the jump because the checks don't keep you straight and perpendicular to the jump. Most times if you speed check too late you hit the jump at an angle and bad things will happen. Try flat riding straight down greens/blues and get used to faster speeds to help with your approach. Once I progressed in riding flat on my board (just a tad on edge), my jumping skills really started to progress because it became easier for me to prepare for the jump. I then worked on keeping my self inline with the board, taking the jump, and spotting my landing. Jumps are one thing I still have a long way to progress on as well.

Take your time, learn off of the small stuff, and build up to the bigger jumps. Have fun riding too!

SnoRidr


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