target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#fb3_img_img_1f77c0c5-6721-5135-88f6-abe306cfae06.jpg" alt="Image"/>typical heel-edge positionFigure 2. Edging (sideslipping)
Golden Rule of Snowboarding
Golden Rule: Always control a snowboard with the uphill edge. Never let the downhill (forward) edge take any weight or dig into the snow. Catching this edge will instantly catapult you onto your face or onto the back of your head. Everyone learns this rule the hard way. But if you understand the principle behind this rule, you will instantly recognize when you’ve neglected it, and you can keep from doing it again. Falls from letting the leading edge dig in and catch are abrupt and violent.
Very little muscular effort is required to ride a snowboard flat (not on an edge), especially straight-legged. Also a snowboard goes the fastest when it is ridden flat, but avoid the urge to do this when you are feeling lazy or tired. You have no way of controlling a flat board, and if a rut knocks you one way and the board the other way, you crash.
Golden Rule (short form): Think edges!
Falling
In falling, remember two things:
1. Ride low. Being low will reduce impact distance and reduce the risk to your knees by keeping them bent.
2. Fall sideways—the direction your toes and heels point. This protects your ankles, especially the front one.
Falls to the knees and hands, or to the rump and hands, can be done all day long in soft snow with little consequence. If at all possible, do not go out your first time in icy, hard-packed conditions. If you have no choice, expect to have less fun and more bruises. Wear wrist guards in addition to protective padding. This is important.
Falls directly forward over the tip of the board are not too common (except from jumping), but they must be avoided. If you are losing control, getting low may allow you to recover. Also, getting forward will usually improve your chances of a recovery. Together, these two actions will at least make the fall over the side edges rather than over the tip or back of the board.
Be wary of finger and wrist injuries. You may want to protect your thumbs by putting them inside your gloves or mittens. Let your arms or trunk take the brunt of any impact. A more detailed discussion of falling is included in the section on safety (see page 146).
Traversing
Traversing means crossing the hill from side to side. A series of starts and stops in one direction creates a garland pattern. The purpose of practicing traversing is to reinforce your edging skills, to gain more speed in a controlled manner, and to improve your stopping ability.
Unlike the preliminary edging practice, you are now snowboarding. So focus on good posture: knees strongly bent, torso slightly twisted forward and shifted well over the front leg, both arms towards the front, and elbows bent. Launch as always, then ride the uphill edge across the slope until you feel like stopping or slowing. To stop or slow yourself, push or put weight on the back leg to bring the tail of the board down more perpendicular to the fall line or crosswise to your direction of travel. Do this gradually and try to maintain constant control. If you overdo it, the tail will point diagonally down the slope, and away you go again—backwards!
Rider: Kathy Allman Photo: Gregg Ledge
Heel-side traverse
Practice traversing in both directions. Go across one way on your heel edge, and return using your toe edge. When you come to the edge of the slope, you must either stop and maneuver the board into the opposite direction and start up again, or you must turn. After a few garland runs, you will be ready and able to learn how to turn.
Turning
There are three basic types of snowboarding turns: skidding turns (pivoting turns directed by the rear foot), carving turns (smooth arcs dependent upon weight shift and board shape), and jump turns (forced rotations while essentially airborne). Master skidded turns first. You will progress to the others naturally with practice and time.
For starters, return to a very shallow slope! Establish good posture, flash a big grin, and launch. With both arms out and somewhat forward, turn your head and point your lead shoulder in the direction you want to turn. Look where you want to go. This motion will throw a small amount of weight onto the edge that will become active (the soon-to-be uphill one). Your weight should be mostly on the front foot already.
1. Holding toe-edge traverse
2. Weight on front foot pushes nose downhill
3. Head and shoulders rotate in desired direction. With weight on front foot, hips and back foot forcefully push rear of board around during transition to new edge
4. Control stabilized on new edge
5. Holding heel-edge traverse
6. Weight on front foot pushes nose downhill
7. Head and shoulders rotate in desired direction. With weight on front foot, hips and back foot forcefully push rear of board around during transition to new edge
8. Control stabilized on new edge
9. Holding toe-edge traverse
Diagram: SLM Canada, Inc.
Figure 3. Turning sequence
Exaggerate it a bit now. Steer with your back foot. That is, simultaneously push with your partially unweighted back foot in the direction opposite to that of your shoulder shift. Wow!
Although a small paragraph is all that is required to outline turning technique, this is the crucial stumbling block to overcome, both literally and figuratively. This is the key to everything. It is not nearly as easy to do as it sounds. Regardless of your background, the movements will be foreign
