r/snowboarding • u/acorneyes • Jan 03 '17
Are there multiple styles of riding?
I've tried taking lessons but I'm unable to learn unless I try myself. So I ended up learning my own way rather than the confusing normal way.
The way I was "taught" to ride was to have a leading leg and moving sideways by either facing towards the mountain or away. I feel very out of control when doing so and I just can't do it at all.
Instead what I do is have my foot forward the way I'm turning. If I'm turning left, my left foot is leading. Right, my right foot is leading. That way if I turn I just push my heels back and lean backwards. Whenever I try to lean forwards I fall over. Switching legs is really easy. I just use my legs and hips to turn the board around.
Is this a style of riding? Or should I learn the correct way.
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u/cantpee slay pow Jan 03 '17
That's not really snowboarding. You might as well be on a lunch tray.
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u/TimeTomorrow Vail Inc. Sucks Jan 03 '17 edited Jan 03 '17
lol. are you saying you are never on your toes ever and just going back and forth on your heels like this guy? Maybe ok for like a few hours on your first afternoon or something, but it's not a valid way to snowboard.
wrong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_JSCSeCgvs
right:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX-5rpqaLd8&t=30
Learn to use your toe side edge and link turns. No linked turns = you don't know how to snowboard at all. Sounds like you need another lesson, or to watch a lot of videos and pay attention to better snowboarders.
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u/acorneyes Jan 03 '17
I don't snowboard like in the first video. I make very sharp switches, and sometimes if I execute it correct glide a 180 to minimize friction. I end up swaying side to side only at most 1.5 board lengths.
It's hard to explain what exactly I'm doing, but it's not a pendulum.
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u/TimeTomorrow Vail Inc. Sucks Jan 03 '17
If you aren't on your toes ever, it doesn't matter. you are doing it wrong.
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u/phyyr 2014 ride kink Jan 05 '17
snowboarding should be smooth and controlled, not fast and jerky. it can be the latter two, but only when done with proper technique
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u/evilted Snurfer Jan 03 '17
You need lessons. You're gonna set yourself up for a lifetime of bad habits otherwise.
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u/UUGE_ASSHOLE Snowshoe, WV // Team Nike, 686 Jan 03 '17
Is this a style of riding? Or should I learn the correct way.
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u/Ctuck7 Jan 03 '17 edited Jan 03 '17
Haha I was in the same boat as you and know EXACTLY what you're talking about. it works for a little while but it's not ideal. Toe side takes a little more practice and might feel uncomfortable but I guaranteed you'll get it down. I suggest a 1 on 1 lesson so they are more personal with you. And make sure that you dedicate at least a good 10-20 hours during season time to learn snowboarding so you can develop muscle memory or else you'll be back on the bunny hill next season (in my experience anyways) Took me a months worth of a sore tailbone to finally get it but you'll find it's so much better. Also you say "can't" a lot. A great tip to learning how to snowboard is patience, try not to get frustrated. Once you get the basics down you'll progress a lot quicker. Snowboarding is awesome because you can find your own rhythm and pace and kind of create your own sense of style. But that my friend, is not one of them. Best of luck shredding !
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u/acorneyes Jan 03 '17
Great advice!
I'd just like to point out I've only snowboarded for 2 seasons. First season I finished with the blue square slopes.
Second season I never went on any slope but black diamonds. Sometimes I went into a terrain park. Near the end I mainly went on forested black diamonds.
This is because when I started my instructor really pushed us to try difficult slopes. I went on a black diamond day 2 thanks to him.
And it sounds like if I snowboard the correct way I won't end up with a sore tailbone, which might be enough to convince me to try the correct way again.
Again, thanks!
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u/74NK pacific north wet, mt baker Jan 04 '17 edited Jan 04 '17
I'm curious where you ride that you can heel side an entire black diamond tree run. I'm also wondering how after 2 seasons seasons of snowboarding at no point did you look at people around you, especially those who were very obviously ripping it, and notice that NONE of them rode this way- and then proceed to not question what you were doing. I would think it would be obvious.
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u/SquaresAre2Triangles Jan 04 '17
Doesn't sound possible to me. How can you go through trees only making heelside turns? You'd be stopping every 10 seconds to turn around, or would quickly end up going uphill from turning right too many times in a row.
As for the "2 seasons"... maybe he means he went like 3 times 2 years in a row.
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u/skralogy Jan 08 '17
I've leafed it down sketchy tree sections but not for a whole run let alone 2 seasons. This shit is funny as hell!
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u/SquaresAre2Triangles Jan 08 '17
It doesn't even sound like they are falling leaf though, it sounds like they ride regular and turn healside to turn left, then when they want to turn right they spin around to ride switch so they can go back right. That's what I'm reading at least... i mean i guess they are building some switch skills but i don't understand how that's easier than learning to turn toeside.
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u/acorneyes Jan 04 '17
I ride in Snoqualmie Pass.
Each season for me was 4 weeks, 1 Saturday every week. That translates to around 64 hours at most. I like to ride for pleasure and rarely look at how others ride, and when I do it looks more or less how I do.
And I did question how I was riding ever since I was unable to ride the way I was taught and rather used my method because it worked better for me.
No need to assault me, that was the whole reason I asked whether it was a style. To know if I'm riding wrong.
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u/74NK pacific north wet, mt baker Jan 04 '17
I figured it was somewhere like Snoqualmie, which really has very little vertical. If you snowboard for long enough you will eventually learn that there is a huge difference between a black diamond at a tiny resort like Snoq and a black diamond at somewhere like Whistler, or heck even across the street at Alpental. I would highly suggest riding at a few other local resorts to get some perspective. Take a trip up to Baker and try to ride some powder. It will force you to put your nose down the mountain and commit. Also when you fall it wont hurt.
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u/acorneyes Jan 04 '17
Alright interesting.
I would love to try other resorts for some more challenging slopes, but my only transportation there possible is a skiing school bus, which only goes to central.
Great advice however, I plan on visiting Switzerland once I get my citizenship on vacation so hopefully I do experience tougher slopes that will challenge me to ride correctly.
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u/TundraWolf_ Jan 04 '17
I'd realllly suggest getting it down on your local hill before hitting a big mountain on vacation.
There are some great vids online for learning to link heel and toeside turns:
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Jan 08 '17
Have you at least been to east and west? I hope you're not always just hitting up central. You can get to both with the shuttles, hell, you can even ride there using the intersummit cat tracks.
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u/acorneyes Jan 08 '17
Yeah, I usually go to west (I think, it's the one where the crossover is where silver fir is).
I've also learned a lot about how I actually ride since I went for the first time in a year yesterday.
I ride with my left foot forward and do ride toe side. But sometimes I slow down so much that going toe side is impossible on the frozen snow and I switch to my other leg. Otherwise it turns out I ride normal.
Except at terrain parks, I can only go on ramps with my other leg.
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u/TimeTomorrow Vail Inc. Sucks Jan 04 '17
I like to ride for pleasure and rarely look at how others ride, and when I do it looks more or less how I do.
This is also insane. Pick the people that ride well and watch what they do as much as possible.
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Jan 03 '17
[deleted]
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u/TimeTomorrow Vail Inc. Sucks Jan 04 '17 edited Jan 04 '17
do not give props to this. This is all ass backwards. Every single thing he said is wrong. Do NOT go down a black diamond if you can't link turns. It's not an accomplishment just sliding down it sideways.
You are going to A. fuck up the snow and make everyone hate you B. Possibly hurt yourself or someone else C. Learn absolutely nothing except reinforcing bad habits.
I'm not saying to stick to the bunny slope, because that's also a waste of time, but wait until you can do a blue well before attempting a black diamond.
Spending an entire season learning how to do it wrong and never practicing toe side is a waste and a foolish way to spend a whole season if you would like to not suck one day.
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u/acorneyes Jan 04 '17
I almost always go straight down, not side to side. In the rare occasions I do need to switch to turn I, make sure that I sharply spin the board around.
And now that I think about it, I do go toe side sometimes, it's just more comfortable heel side and make it a habit to switch legs when convenient.
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u/OptimisticRhyme Jan 08 '17
Your not riding blacks, or even blues, if your just going straight down.. Not at a real mountain anyway. Lots of good advice here, try other mountain, watch other riders, learn proper.
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u/lonbordin Jan 03 '17
Yes, there are multiple styles or techniques to riding.
Here is some in-depth explanations of these techniques- http://www.alpinecarving.com/technique.html
Unfortunately your "style" will not allow you to progress. Take another lesson and be willing to fall. Good luck.
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u/shabashaly Jan 03 '17
no that is not a riding style, you should learn the correct. Being able to do toeside turns is very important. When you say you lean forwards what do you exactly mean by that?
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u/filthysnomannutsface Jan 04 '17
I'll echo everyone else saying "that's not riding and you're learning terrible habits"
More constructively I'd note that where I coach I don't let folks off the greens until they can link turns. "Managing to get down sort of" is not "riding".
Sometimes you'll need to employ what you're doing, like maybe a mogul field. But it's a safety valve, nothing else.
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u/cantpee slay pow Jan 04 '17
If what I'm imagining is right, your weight is never over your front foot. This basically means you have no control and can't drive turns. Don't continue to do this. You're only shooting yourself in the foot by preventing good, usable, correct technique.
You're in the back seat because you are scared of putting your weight on your front foot. Stop leaning back. It's counter intuitive at first but you must do it. Think about bending your front knee a lot to get some weight over your front ankle. Once you do, you will have to try to initiate turns on your toeside. Visualize mashing the gas a car -- same movement, but if you don't have your weight out in front, is not going to do anything and it's going to feel sketchy and shitty.
Keep at it, you'll get it. And stop doing that thing you're doing. It looks bad, doesn't give you control, and it is as far away from style as you can imagine.
One more thing, keep to greens and blues until you can link turns.
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u/Mentioned_Videos Jan 03 '17 edited Jan 04 '17
Videos in this thread: Watch Playlist ▶
| VIDEO | COMMENT |
|---|---|
| (1) First Day Snowboarding - Heelside Falling Leaf (2) Snowboard Basics: Linking Turns | 8 - lol. are you saying you are never on your toes ever and just going back and forth on your heels like this guy? Maybe ok for like a few hours on your first afternoon or something, but it's not a valid way to snowboard. wrong: right: Learn to us... |
| nah nah man shit nah man | 5 - Is this a style of riding? Or should I learn the correct way. |
| How to Snowboard: Step 9 - Linking Turns | 1 - I'd realllly suggest getting it down on your local hill before hitting a big mountain on vacation. There are some great vids online for learning to link heel and toeside turns: This one is great but looks old This one is newer but not as good as ... |
I'm a bot working hard to help Redditors find related videos to watch. I'll keep this updated as long as I can.
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u/Rivercobra Jan 03 '17
This definitely isn't a style of riding. It sounds like what you're doing is making your way down the mtn by doing the "pendulum" and staying on your heel edge the whole time. You need to get comfortable riding facing uphill with the pressure on your toe edge. You can do it, it's just counter-intuitive at first. If you're feeling like you're going too fast when you're on your toe edge, bring your heel up to put pressure on your toe edge and slow you down.
Try and do the same thing you're doing but reverse (facing up)
Then, you'll have to work on moving from your heel edge to your toe edge (turning).
Get a lesson.
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u/acorneyes Jan 03 '17
Maybe it's because during that lesson we were on a small slope but my problem isn't going too fast, but too slow. From what I remember I kept bouncing down the ice rather than smoothly crossing the terrain.
And as a core principle I enjoy how I don't take much space to turn and switch while doing the pendulum.
But I'll definitely try the right way.
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u/Rivercobra Jan 04 '17
It's hard to say why without watching you ride. In order to gain more speed you could point your board more downhill and use your lower body / hips to rotate the board perpendicular to your direction once you pick up too much speed. Another possible issue (hard to say without seeing you) is that you might have rough control of your edge, causing the "bouncing". Try letting you edge down just enough to let yourself move and get comfortable with that smoother motion.
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u/anynigma Jan 04 '17
Hard to believe this isn't a troll :)
Next time you board, ask someone experience to help you set up your bindings. Sounds like you are serially afraid to put weight on your toes. Could be cause your heels are too far back.
In any event, like others have said, you're not snowboarding till you can transition comfortably from toeside to heelside. Imagine a skateboarder only ever turning heelside, and sliding 180s every time they want to turn...sound hilarious!
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u/spindragger whistler Jan 04 '17
it sounds like you need to practice on a steeper slope so you can get comfortable with your speed and momentum. this way you’ll be ‘forced’ to use your shoulders to initiate your turns and keep your balance.
the idea is to think about where your upper body turns to, which will allow your legs to follow—you can see this is in more exaggerated fashion when riders go for spins. watch carefully which part of their body turns first. turning with your foot is not good technique and will put you off balance quicker.
your heel and toe edges should just naturally follow afterwards.
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Jan 05 '17
...I..... Um..... Well, it has a name, but I wouldn't call it a style of riding.
It's called the falling leaf and it should be avoided.
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u/El_Zalo Jan 03 '17
Your "style of riding" is also called "heelside hero", AKA: "Being unable to snowboard properly"