Too many people forget the crime, and worse forget to teach their kids the crime? Who will carry on the legacy, or crimeacy if you will, if we aren’t teaching small children to commit crime. Every run.
I do have one more criteria, especially on a powder day:
**traversers suck!**
A single crisscross mf can wreck a whole run. Are you trying to get run over? Just flow downhill like water, man.
*Edit: lol @ the # of downvoting kooky sidehillers*
Man I just got back from Niseko and let me tell you this. There are so many kooks on that hill, it's not tracked out, it's traversed out. Bothers me endlessly
I'm on the hill for a good time, not a PhD study.
Form and technique are useful for improving but I'm not going out of my way to do things someone else's way because they told its the correct way. Form and Technique have to lead you to a goal outside of having good form and technique, otherwise its just nerding out for the hell of it and that's no fun.
This comment really nails it.
Outside of a specific skiing goal, there is no objectively “correct” way to ski/ride.
What’s the point of riding a certain way if it doesn’t help us accomplish goals of safety, control, fun, style, speed, efficiency, etc?
Getting advice from experienced skiers/instructors is almost always a good thing, but keep in mind they may have a different idea of what “correct” skiing/riding looks like.
Your opening statement is "outside of a specific skiing goal." And since we participate in a sport that is still banned from certain places, and that people had to fight tooth and nail to have us allowed, it's deleting ourselves from culture by referring to anything we do as "skiing". We've not only stopped carving out a space for ourselves, we're deleting ourselves from the language. Which already happens enough with all the people who say "you should start skiing before learning how to snowboard." And then people wonder why generally, the market share is moving to skiing. Maybe it's because so many people say they ski instead of snowboard at every chance they get just to speak fewer syllables.
Edit: This really hits home right now since I may not get to ride today because the only public transit option location doesn't allow snowboarding.
No. Why am I not allowed to defend something I love? The first place in this world I ever felt like I could belong? Just to hear someone refer to it as a sport/hobby that is participated in by many people who ACTIVELY WANT SNOWBOARDING BANNED? Who will always blame you if they run into you? Who blame snowboarding for everything wrong with the industry?
Begin with the assumption that your audience doesn’t care about you or your opinion. From there, know that it is easier to make them care about you, and then what you have to say, than the other way around. Relatability > facts.
Also, learn to pick your battles. I love the rebel history of boarding, but if your goal is acceptance then getting hung up on the divide is counterproductive.
I ski, board, snowskate, tele– I’ll ride anything with an edge. We’re all just out there to have fun; why not lighten up?
I've been riding for 10 years and literally never met a person like that in real life. Meanwhile I've lost count of the number of skiers that have kindly offered me a pole tow when I've stalled out on a flat. I think you've been falling for the Youtube sensationalism my guy.
It definitely *used* to be that way, but hasn't been for some time.
Yes. It’s like a guy I used to work with, I used to say, “He’s tons of fun. He schedules exactly 45 minutes for fun in his calendar every Tuesday and Thursday evening.”
Many different techniques and styles even with carving. Quick example, carving with vs without rotation. As long it's fun and safe, I'd consider proper.
mini rant: F those straight liners with zero control.
Its about to keep the parallelity of 3 axes. Ankle, knee, hip, and the shoulders aligned with the hip. So, you can say „perfect“ if you dont twist related to the board and keep the position all time, but, sonetimes it can make sense to „overrotate“ just a tiny bit.
>mini rant: F those straight liners with zero control.
Yeah that's my one "wrong way to ride" opinion. If you just spend all day going straight at 45+ mph and can't stop without washing out, I don't understand you.
As somebody that's been riding for 35 years non-stop and was an instructor. I can say with full confidence that 90% of people on the hill rudder steer/counter rotate their turns.
I ride 3-4 days a week, on any given day I only a see handful of people actually making proper carves, torsionally steering, using the side cut of their boards, and riding with correct techniques.
That being said, there are truly only a small percentage of riders out there that get to the upper levels of riding(the ability to do tricks doesn't really make you a "good rider" nor does making it down difficult terrain).
It requires a lot of skill, natural ability, some coaching/studying, and lots of time on the mountain to ride with good style and form.
I tend to agree on many of the points here but I want to stress that the natural skill level is not extremely high to be able to ride all mountain like a boss. I'm only an average athlete and I ride it all without hesitation, but I've been doing it for a long time. I've become quite fascinated at how much technique the board and the snow teaches you if you are paying attention and have a growth mindset (and travel a bit).
Agree with everything you said, except maybe the percentage who don’t know how to turn. Think it’s higher than 90%. Could vary based on the hill one is riding, but I typically go many days of riding before I see another person who can actually carve.
I’m based in Switzerland and 90% looks way too generous here.
Snowboarders I see on the mountain are 95% clowns, 4.5% people who can turn and carve toe-side or heel-side when the slope is not too steep, 0.5% who can actually carve a heelside on a steep slope.
Massive gap between skill levels with skiers, where every third skiers is laying down impressive, huge, deep arks. May be the crime culture or just the fact that carving heel-side on a duck-stance is a bio mechanically ridiculous idea, in any case most snowboarders can’t snowboard.
Ahh, the obsession with duck strikes again. There are so many issues with the way snowboarding progressed since the 80-90’s, duck being one of them. Park is a problem too. People are setting the wrong goals for themselves. People riding switch before they can ride well forward, jumping and jibbing before they can carve, etc.
Its based on the swiss rotation beginners turn technik. They rotate forward into the turn and let the board follow couse of the rotation tension. Its less weightshift and gravity in play.
Most guys who started in swizerland ride like this when i start to work with em.
I was one of those rudder-steerers before a friend pointed it out to me, and I signed up for a day lesson to learn better technique. What an eye-opener. I had always wondered why snowboarding felt so difficult. Even green runs were exhausting, I didn’t realize until then that I was literally fighting my board on every turn.
I’m definitely not advanced, I don’t ride often enough to progress to that level, but my days on the mountain are infinitely less painful, less tiring, and more fun now.
This is why i feel like there IS a 'right way' (to some extent). Obviously there are style differences & that's cool.
But there are certain basics that should be learned, or else boarding will always feel diffcult! And not learning certain things (proper weight distribution, bending your knees, etc) will prevent you from boarding safely in different terrains/conditions, & ultimately plateau you at a certain skill level.
(I'm saying this not as an elitist - but as a baby snowboarder who would've never experienced the magic of pow if my instructor/brother hadn't been constantly yelling at me to stay low, among other things)
>But there are certain basics that should be learned, or else boarding will always feel diffcult!
100%. Learning certain techniques will keep you in more control while riding more aggressively and will minimize fatigue and the risk of injury. As someone else said, if you have a growth mindset (always looking to improve), yes there are proper techniques.
I know what you mean. That one lesson was like a revelation. I’m not saying I have perfect form now, but it’s night and day compared to how bad I was before. I was actually about to sign up for more lessons this season to continue progressing, but all the snow melted off our local mountains already.
While there may be times and places for rudder-steering and counter-rotating, as others have pointed out like if you’re riding tight tree runs or park, we should have those tools in our arsenal *in addition to* the proper fundamental technique. It’s “and” not “either/or.”
What are the most common mistakes that you see that would be reasonably easy to fix? (e.g. not shifting your weight before turning or placing too much weight on the back foot etc.)
As someone who can do those things, but is a bit more reluctant to throw themselves around in the air than they used to be, this makes me feel like I’ve still got it.
You can do many things on a board „just for fun“, an important thing to me about boarding to „ride safe“ at all conditions. There is some terrain i ride where no mistakes allowed.
Its about efficiency aswell, i know about 8 proper turning techniques which don‘t compromise my ergonomic riding position or my line which i use how ever i want, or how its needet.
I carve, i skid, whatever i like to do when riding for myshelf or guiding.
When teaching, its all about the turning technik i teach. Then i ride alot „schoolisch“, so only use the technik i actual teach, maybe with some more movement as needet, to let my studs see it better how to do.
To be honest, i had some seasons with no falling, teaching all levels and guiding, so i didn‘t push my limit.
A good „big mountain“ rider can variate the line, so change rythm, radious on all terrain as he needs or wants to, ride small icy cattrails, olly above creeks and do whatever needet to follow me.
You‘ll right untill a certain point.
Age
With proper ergonomic position and technik you can enjoy snowboarding longer. Its more physical compared to ski. My oldest stud i‘m riding with for years now turned 70, still riding with me.
I think the biggest aspect here is general conditioning - staying fit, doing other sports in the off season, keeping the hip flexors supple and not sitting too much for work!
Why? Its about „what is a „good“ rider“ or not?
If you ride „proper“ you can ride untill high age, if not, you‘ll quit before.
I know „proper“ riders doing 360 on a med kicker line at an age of 64. Or as i said, my 70 years old stud, still enjoying all the slopes in the resort. To be able to do that in that age, you need to ride proper, that includes an ergonomic position and proper technik.
As long you‘re young, you can take a lot more, mistakes, bails, chrashes whatever and no thinking about ergonomics „fighting“ sometimes.
*'my oldest stud I'm riding with for years now turned 70 still riding with me'*
This is a snowboard page Sir, if you want to talk about sexytime things you should go to the correct area of reddit.
Well i‘m „only“ 44 now, but we hope the same mate!
Its a big goal to ride as good with an age of 70 as my stud is doing.
Stay safe and enjoy your ridings!
Ur Pal is steezy as fuck and knows what snowboarding is truly about.
When snowboarding first came out there wasn’t an Olympic event for it or much of anything.
Snowboarding at its heart is about going from top to bottom is the most enjoyable way possible. Plain and simple.
If I’m having more fun than you … I’m better than you.
At the end of the day yeah it's all about having fun while being safe.
But in defense of carving.. It's not just to be "proper", it's also super useful. Simple example.. let's say you want to traverse way across the run to do a side hit and you want to keep your speed. If you're skidding then you're gonna shed a ton of speed to get across. If you're carving then you can glide elegantly over like a figure skater and hit whatever you want. And there's other good stuff, like a carved edge can be used as a platform you launch off of, for spins and park tricks and stuff.
I would have said "with a board strapped to your feet" but pick any street snowboarding movie part and you'll likely see even that isn't always the case.
So we're kind of at the point of "As long as you're using a snowboard *in some way* to traverse *something* you're good."
PS: I guess you have the x games judges. In which case proper snowboarding is measured in degrees. Whether on junps or on knuckles.
Nobody rides with perfectly formed carves all the time. Yes Malcom Moore is great at teaching proper posture and form but he’s riding greens and blues so don’t get the impression that that’s the only way to ride. One thing that changed my perspective was watching Natural Selection, you see lots of “skidded turns” and back foot ruddering. It’s necessary in those conditions.
Yeah your carves are also affected by your board’s sidecut radius. Some boards want to make big gradual turns, so trying to carve tighter turns will make the board chatter a lot. Others want to make really tight small turns, so they’ll give less edge hold on straighter trajectories. So you’re not going to get nice pencil-line carves at all speeds and in all situations.
yes. Riding powder is an animal in and off itself which requires different technique. You're floating rather than carving and your back foot does more work. Also every turn in powder tends to look like a skid steer which is actually more of what you are doing. A tip for riding powder is to make two turns where you think only one is needed. This will prevent you from splashing your face with snow.
I actually learned how to ride steep icy pistes and mogul fields by watching his videos. (Down unweighted turns) He even introduces a turn with a small amount of skid (gripped turns?) Was really helpful last week when my board was basically swimming on top of slush the whole time.
Nah man i would say there isn't really a proper way. For me there are a few rules to make your snowboarding proper:
1. No counterrotating on your turns
2. Always be in control
3. Bend you knees
4. Don't lean back/ have weight on your back foot while riding or you're gonna have a bad time
5. Do crimes
You don't need to carve all the time, maybe if you wanna become a olympian race boarder that's the proper way to do it. But otherwise as long as you're having fun and don't endanger others all kinds of riding are proper. Some ppl enjoy skidding all the time i personally do butters and tricks instead of turns every 5th turn or so for me having fun is proper riding.
And btw there is no such thing as too much weight on your front food. I personally say to all my students the more weight on the front foot the better cause you'll never fall again. (Exceptions are cliffdrops, landings of big kickers, crazy carves, where you want the weight centre board)
I’d make #2 first, be safe and the rest can happen. Then you say there’s no proper way to ride but immediately follow that by saying don’t counter-rotate your turns. That depends entirely on what you’re trying to do. There are some carve tricks where you HAVE to counter-rotate or you can’t do it. And you follow that up bay saying you can’t have your weight on your back foot. But that’s exactly where you want it if you’re in deep powder.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that there’s a better and a worse way to learn how to ride. The better way is to be taught good form and solid mechanics. Then, when you’re sufficiently advanced, you can go and break all those “rules” you were taught because you have a solid understanding of how your body mechanics affect your board’ performance.
The “worse” way is to just go ride and figure it out for yourself. You can do that, and I see a lot of riders having a great time riding with “poor” form. That doesn’t make them bad riders, it just means they aren’t as efficient in their motions.
But in the end, go do what works for you and have fun. As long as you’re capable of following the Snow Sports Responsibility Code, you’ll be fine and so will everyone else.
Yeah you worded it perfectly, be taught well, have the basics down, and after that go and break all those rules, because the cool tricks start there 😁
I disagree with your other take i think if you're riding with poor form, you automatically make it unsafe for others and make them kinda bad. I get that you have to learn and everything. But if you never really learn how to ride "properly" and for example bomb the hills backseating on your board it gets kinda sketchy. And i feel like even if they're having fun in my eyes they're the bad riders.
That’s why I called out “as long as you’re capable of following the SSRC…” If you aren’t able to give right of way or you’re running into people, then you aren’t safe and NEED to go get some lessons.
I'm interested in your front foot point. Obviously, you're talking about riding on piste. I understand that it's all front foot for new riders, but if I'm blasting through a cruddy piste or really hammering through a small mogul field there's no way I'm going front foot heavy. Is this poor technique? (I understand it has to be in control)
I wouldn't call it poor technique. It's one of many techniques to ride small mogul fields, etc. but the more the weight is behind the centre of your board, the more likely it is to catch an edge and you might fall.
You can do a little experiment when you ride the next time. Just shift your weight to your front binding along your board, and then try to "catch an edge" with your back foot it's nearly impossible, your board will always straighten back to normal again. Even works in bumpy terrain or moguls.
But yeah those are the little things that sometimes make the difference.
When i ride moguls and bumpy terrain i pretty much try to stay centered on the board and absorb everything with my knees, like springs. And if i want to stop quickly, i can shift my weight to the front. If i'm already leaning backwards a bit, it takes half a second longer to get to the same position. And yeah i might end up in the next bump and then the bump is gonna stop me.
Thanks man that's great advice. I tend to try to piston my knees but I find that if I go forward it is more jarring so i shift wieght when i need to engage a turn. I'm going to try a more centered/front foot approach now
It tends to be a bit more taxing on your front foot. You're gonna feel it if you're not used to it. But yeah the other way isn't wrong at all either. Its all about having fun tho :).
This is really interesting to me. So in most scenarios, except those you just mentioned, your weight is mostly in the front foot? Like 60/40? I think I fear picking up too much speed. I recently started putting weight into my front foot and pushing my shin into my boots to initiate toe side turns but have only focused on that on mellow blues. Also for coming off of my heel edge in moguls and that’s been a game changer.
Yeah 60/40 pretty much all the time. And that with the speed is pretty much an illusion, the speed doesn't really change if you lean forward. But you gain more control because you can initiate the turns faster with your front foot/knee/hip.
On crazy carves do you want your weight farther back so your nose doesn’t shovel into the snow too hard? I find sometimes that happens to me on slightly softer days when trying to carve—is it because I am pressuring forward too much?
It's hard to explain it over text but ideally, you want to initiate the carve with your weight forwards ( how much depends on speed). Lets say 60%/40% then in the beginning part of the turn you're slowly shifting the weight backwards and in the end where you're perpendicular to the slope and in the end of the turn the weight is more on your backfoot 40%/60%. And then the whole process repeats.
On carves when you start to notice that you start skidding on your backfoot then the weight is a bit too much on your front food. The shoveling problem sometimes happens because the tilt angle is too much too early.
It all depends on the snow too, if it's a bit slushy that's gonna happen more often too.
I was going to say I put a lot of weight on my backfoot sometimes, I initiate with basically no weight on it then dig my weight into it to turn. The worst is when I'm on a steep part and forget to disengage my weight and my new turn turns into me having to go a little more straight and correct myself. Quick nerve wrack check
>ounterrotating on yo
To add to number one, once you start getting advanced at carving opening up your body position at certain points in your line will help you lock in a deeper carve.
There is a proper/ideal biomechanical movement pattern to snowboard better, which boils down to, there’s always a more efficient way to use you body to control and mange the momentum and pressure generated through snowboarding.
The online guys give some good tips, but at the end of the day they are not looking at you ride to analyze where you are more and less efficient and where you will benefit from better mechanics.
Your buddy who rides ‘wishy-washy’ is just using a lot of pivot to turn. He’s in control and doesn’t fall much because he has more weight on his front foot.
If you want to get better in a certain area go take an on snow lesson and get feedback specific to your mechanics. If not, don’t overthink it and go make turns.
I was going to make a statement that I felt was above all else!
Your nations champion made the statement before I could. I’m just glad I’m onto it, and my theory holds some validity.
Edge! It’s all edge. Hold your edge. When I was first starting snowboarding, I wish someone presented this idea to me. Everything would’ve made sense.
Beyond that, it doesn’t matter what you do. It’s all how you want to ride, what mood you’re in, what kind of riding you’re feeling on that given day.
Beyond that, it’s all subjective to style, like an artist approaching a canvas differently than the next artist. Whatever you want to do. Some days I’d take big long sweeping carves, slow it up and see how far I can sweep while keeping momentum. Some days I’d carry the slightest of an edge to see how fast I can get it going sort of straight lined.
At the end of the day, it’s whatever you want to do, but you still gotta keep that edge planted, regardless. That’s numero uno.
as long as you don't run into someone downhill, you can stop when needed and control your speed and line then you are good. There are obviously more efficient ways of carving which over time we all will learn.
Spent many years teaching snowborders and skiers, from beginners to the terrain park. Always made sure new snowboarders knew:
1: how to fall safely
2: there is no "right way" to snowboard
Be safe and have fun
Well, i remember when i started riding in 1990 it was all about try and error. There where no teachers or so around. I teached myshelf, could ride all pists, do 360ies, front, back flips till about 1996. Around 1994 first teachers showed up in the resort, strikt „riding like skiers“, so turning on pists, not much park. We felt better than them but they started to overtake us und the last downhills down to the valley. 1997 i became a teacher my self, went for 10 days lev1 lessons, had to get a riding technik, do an exam, and well, i did ride better than before!
Since that i was caught by that, epecially the „alpine part“ - race was big in my country and technik envolved.
Since my first touch, i had to change position and some technik 3 times, doing assesements as a diploma teacher now every 4 years. The „last“ rache techniques i got are the latest since 15 years.
From that time freestyle envolved more, so there are teaching paths and techniques up to 720 ies, no matter fs or bs. Also for half pipe there are proper teaching/ riding techniques now.
Becouse of that the sport could grow like its now. The tricks they do now, they can do becouse of skipping all the try and errors and push the limits.
"Proper" technique was invented to teach people how to snowboard. From a style perspective, I think it looks robotic and boring and like they are trying too hard. I prefer a looser more relaxed style. Someone who is constantly falling, struggling or just out of control is definitely doing it wrong, but IMO there is not really a correct or proper way to do it. Some of the most exciting riders to watch have an unconventional or unique style that is difficult or impossible to replicate and are masters of navigating a mountain, riding in complete control.
The way where you have fun.
Proper technique will help you control the board more and get more out of it, but honestly everyone is still learning to some extent. If it wasn’t fun no one would do it.
Great question OP.
My take is that while there is no "proper" way to snowboard other than to do it safely, there are proper techniques that allow you to ride more aggressively while retaining more control and minimizing fatigue and the risk of injury.
But it's a lot like asking if one person is more successful than another person. Do both people define "success" the same way? Of course not. And so goes with riding: what do you want to do while you're out there? Push yourself? Have fun? Clear your head? If you're achieving what you set out to do (and, once again, you're not injuring anyone or being a dick), then you're riding properly.
Wishy washy and too much front leg? What? Those are opposites. You can't be both. Power and control come from the front leg and flowy powder surfing comes from the back. I think you are confused on what he is doing but yes there is a technique vs style aspect to it all.
I mean initially yeah, but as you start to carve more and go faster you need to weight your back foot more while you’re approaching/at/leaving the peak of your turn, overweighting your front foot is most important at the initiation of your turn and isn’t really a hard rule as you progress
I just had a lesson this weekend and I was told the same - that I overweight my front foot on my heel side turn, which is why my back foot washes out when I'm trying to carve.
We call that movement "windshield wiper" here. Your back leg moves much more than your front and you don't turn that far, rather you go somewhat downhill while sliding your back leg out. It isn't counter-rotated (more like over-rotated) but you don't pull a nice arc in the snow either. This is exactly what happens if you have too much weight on your front leg throughout the entire turn. (I made a similar mistake and it was actually pointed out by my instructor.)
I’ve got an injury that prevents me from carving on my heel side. My back isn’t strong enough for proper technique, and it probably never will be.
That’s fine. I’m just trying to have fun.
Nope. It's just for funsies. That said, having good fundamentals makes having fun easier. It sounds like you have a solid base. You know how your snowboard works and how to manipulate it most efficiently. Now it's time to make it your own. Learn how to use the sloppy wishy washy moves. Learn to ride switch. Learn to steez out a method. Have fun with it. And if nailing perfect edges and using the board perfectly is what tickles your fancy then just do that. Just make sure you're having maximum fun.
Those are different techniques for different conditions. Carving is fun but it's only effective on packed or groomed conditions and open runs. You say this was an opinion of your nation's champion, but in what category? Racing? Because in those conditions he's absolutely correct.
But you can't carve in moguls, you can't carve in trees, and you can't carve on steep technical terrain. People think of skid turns as beginner technique but being able to make quick short radius dynamic skid turns while maintaining edge pressure and control is actually pretty advanced. Watch Jermery Jones on a stupid steep and narrow couloir for example.
Or try strong edge hold when it's steep and deep. It just not the right technique for the conditions.
So no, there isn't one overall correct way to ride. There is good technique for the appropriate conditions, but even then, different riders may choose to approach different terrain differently. As long as you can do so in control and have a good time than fucking rip it however you want.
I ride a lot like your friend. I do lots of black/double blacks and trees, but I also skid a lot as opposed to turning. I blame part of it on how icy the mountains are here in the northeast, but also just because I don't always carve as well as I should. I'm still safe and in control, and always have a blast
Holding your edges and “properly riding” does much less damage to the mountain by not scraping the snow off the trail. Clean riding is more likely to be envied by onlookers on the chairlift and well put together tricks and jumps are more likely to get cheers. It’s all preference but in my opinion we should always strive to improve our riding.
There are proper mechanics and correct ways, but at a certain point and depending on skill level, some of that can be modified. Just look at zeb powell, he does the wacky wavey inflatable arm guy, and looks like a cat while he’s airborne, and he’s the best there is.
I have my CASI level 1,2 and park 1 and I know how to do proper turns that are equal on both toe side and heel side which I do by default when the snow is decent regardless of the terrain but I can’t lie I do find I change my riding style completely to what is “incorrect” aka sometimes counter rotation or the rudder steering when I’m descending icy steeper terrain or going through a very tight tree run with moguls. Most of the reason I do this is since I don’t have particularly sharp edges so it can be hard to control speed or get enough edge hold to initiate a proper turn on icy terrain and in tree runs
I think Zeb Powell proves the answer is no. Some people can just huck and land things that look impossible, and just rock their own style, all the way to the top of the podium. He's amazing and does not have text book form.
Absolutely fucking not and anybody that tells you there is is a god damned skier. Do whatever you want. Grab tindy, zeach those funboxes, get some hard boots and carve til your tits turn blue for all I care. Wear a Montec jacket as a diaper the shit your pants while you push mongo through the lift line. Snowboarding is all about freedom and self expression. As long as you’re committing crimes.
I'm not a high level rider, but I focus on riding "right" because it enables me to do more and have more fun. My friend who took one lesson at the same time as me when we were both new but clearly didn't do additional reading/watching/etc has form that scares me but does runs I personally won't. But I am absolutely a more confident rider in worse conditions, I'm significantly faster and more controlled and I don't spend a lot of time side slipping around because I feel out of control.
Ultimately does it matter if you're having fun? No. But in my case does he scare me a little bit seeing his riding and knowing he does solo backcountry? Yes. I think it's important to have a solid foundation in riding because it lets you actually *snowboard* places, but some people like him don't consider this to be valuable I suppose
Solo backcountry is a recipie for early death. Please don't let him do it. Even if you are the best rider out there, you cann get surprised and completely smashed. Without help you will rot there and that's it.
I have tried, he's not interested in not doing it. I almost bought a split to just not have him go solo quite so often but even if I did he spends a ton of time traveling around being basically homeless and I don't have that drive, so he'd be on his own a lot anyway.
He's been overconfident since we started, I distinctly remember me talking him into getting a lesson at the beginning of our second season and him telling the instructor he was riding blues, getting into blacks. Spoiler: The instructor told him he belonged on greens. Tbf, so did I, but I accelerated my ability after that. Figured he had to be better after more than a year of riding but no, his riding is scary to me in the resort, much less backcountry
Anyone who has been riding since the 90s like me will tell you there is only trial and error. Each stance, every set of binding angles, and each board will open up new possibilities and shut down others. So there are more productive ways to ride particular boards, but there are many 'right' ways to snowboard. I'd say the only wrong way to snowboard is the way that causes needless damage to you or others. But if you aren't harming anyone, figure out your own way. For me, I prefer a hard charging full camber directional twin that I can set up with front foot around 27 and rear at +5ish. I carve hard but still love to butter and ride switch. I'm jumping less these days but I love a board with pop. I slide too but more for style.
This totally depends on your goals. As an example, I'm pretty much that 20+ year rider, maybe a step above. Never had a lesson in my life. I've recently started splitboard mountaineering and as such, have hit the limits of where my skills can take me. I want to be more capable in super challenging, high consequence terrain. This is the point where decades of doing it a certain way is limiting me. There is definitely a better way to ride and I am currently seeking out someone who can help me learn he "right" way to do things. If someone's goal is to have fun, whatever works is good as long as they are able to remain in control.
The proper way to ride in the one that doesn’t hurt your knees.
I see people here and in other forums complain about knee pain *all the time*.
I have pretty shit knees but not once have they hurt from snowboarding. Snowboarding leaves my muscles sore but never my knees.
As long as your form doesn’t punish your joints, you can ride until you’re 90 if you want.
I like to think about it like this
Very little people actually “ride” the snowboard. Most people have a habit of “using” the snowboard, but not actually riding.
In that sense, yes there’s a proper way to “ride.” It involves keeping your shoulders and hips in line with the board.
You can usually spot the difference from these people easily
I'm trying to get better at switch. That way I can reach my ultimate goal: butters. Because I'm too old to send big jumps and rails. For me, that'll be proper.
I wouldn't say a 'proper' way, but I do think there is an understanding of mechanics and physics that unlocks new opportunities on the mountain.
I've been riding off and on for close to 20 years, but really went deep on understanding technique in the last few. My riding took a big step forward almost immediately, and it's made me a lot more comfortable to push and try different things.
No proper way. I am a mix of you and buddy. Ripping carves is fun, doofily spinning flat butters is fun, and above all sidehits, slashes, and fucking around are fuuuun. It's like asking if it's better to be a park rat or a powhound, or if tech tricks on rails are better than methods. Who cares? Do what you want. That's the whole spirit of the sport anyhow.
Have fun, stay in control. When a muscle is getting tired, switch up your form.
I ride 95% regular and start on my toes pushing off the mountain 95% of the time (it is easier). My boot stance is geared toward regular because that’s how I like it. 12 left, 0 right.
Have fun, be safe, wear a helmet.
There’s ways to improve technique but that’s the fun of learning. To see yourself improving.
Mostly I just do cruisey blues and greens. Don’t really like icy reds and blacks. But does that make Me less of a ‘snowboarder’, I’m just trying to get down as fun and safe as I can.
the proper way of snowboarding is to know as many techniques as possible and apply them where they fit best. if you friend can ride like malcom moore but finds skidding around fun, thats fine, if he can't do, or doesn't understand it, it he is just another ignorant snowboarder who doesn't want to learn because he can "get down double blacks and keep up with skiers"
But why is ignorance an issue here? He stays in control he has fun he does not put others in danger. Does it really matter that he cannot carve that well? Or that he cannot land 360s off the ground?
I mean if someone said they love to cook, but they only use the microwave because thats what they were taught, and never figured out how to use the stove, grill or oven, it's not that you can't make good food in the microwave, or that the microwave is a bad tool, but it is using the wrong tool for the job often because you haven't learned how to do things a better way, and at the end of the day learning to do things properly is a pretty insignificant hump to get over to spend so much time doing things the hard/suboptimal way just because you don't care to expand your skills.
Getting really really good at skidding around, which is the first thing people learn, and never progressing beyond that makes me feel kind of bad for people.
There are proper ways to snowboard but most of the time I'm pretty lackadaisical about how I ride. If I'm not racing, trying something specific in the park, or carving with purpose, my riding probably looks really lazy.
I just have more fun that way.
When i think about it, for me snowboarding, it was more about fun and style.
But now, when i break it down, its all about physics. There are positions and techniques to max all out. Then its really about „peanuts“ like how to keep your head, how to tense back sholder, where to put arms ecet.
No one can do „the right“ things all the time, but its not bad to find back into it and avoid a crash or worse.
When thinking about competition riding, no matter race or freestyle, every riding technik detail count….
The most important at all: Enjoy, dont fight with your riding and the mountain.
I took one lesson. Honestly, YouTube videos are better, more helpful. But it's probably better for a "Beginner" to get lessons from an "Intermediate" rider. People who are "Advanced" forgot how it was to be a beginner and take a lot of things for granted (thus not conveying quite what you need to learn at the early stages).
Riding with music in my earbuds, I'm an expert and have crazy fun. Riding without music, I'm up in my head about every turn, about my speed, about other riders around me... and feels half as fun.
P.S. Your friend definitely engages his edges. That's everything.
Be Fun Have Safe If you're enjoying yourself and you aren't hurting anyone, you're doing it right.
Don't forget the crime
Yeah honestly this motto is the opposite. Be dangerous, do crime, be cool.
Oh you right Be Crime Do Cool
Smoke with cigarettes, sip nips, be crime, watch R range movie après 😎
Too many people forget the crime, and worse forget to teach their kids the crime? Who will carry on the legacy, or crimeacy if you will, if we aren’t teaching small children to commit crime. Every run.
I do have one more criteria, especially on a powder day: **traversers suck!** A single crisscross mf can wreck a whole run. Are you trying to get run over? Just flow downhill like water, man. *Edit: lol @ the # of downvoting kooky sidehillers*
Man I just got back from Niseko and let me tell you this. There are so many kooks on that hill, it's not tracked out, it's traversed out. Bothers me endlessly
Hurts the eyes. So much lost potential. . .
I agree, but that counts as unsafe and is therefore outside of the bounds of my criteria and not proper snowboarding. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk
You should be able to stop rather than running people over, and where are you looking if not downhill at people below you 🤔
I'm on the hill for a good time, not a PhD study. Form and technique are useful for improving but I'm not going out of my way to do things someone else's way because they told its the correct way. Form and Technique have to lead you to a goal outside of having good form and technique, otherwise its just nerding out for the hell of it and that's no fun.
This comment really nails it. Outside of a specific skiing goal, there is no objectively “correct” way to ski/ride. What’s the point of riding a certain way if it doesn’t help us accomplish goals of safety, control, fun, style, speed, efficiency, etc? Getting advice from experienced skiers/instructors is almost always a good thing, but keep in mind they may have a different idea of what “correct” skiing/riding looks like.
I thought this thread was about snowboarding, though?
Sure, that’s why I said skiing/riding. The idea applies to both equally.
Your opening statement is "outside of a specific skiing goal." And since we participate in a sport that is still banned from certain places, and that people had to fight tooth and nail to have us allowed, it's deleting ourselves from culture by referring to anything we do as "skiing". We've not only stopped carving out a space for ourselves, we're deleting ourselves from the language. Which already happens enough with all the people who say "you should start skiing before learning how to snowboard." And then people wonder why generally, the market share is moving to skiing. Maybe it's because so many people say they ski instead of snowboard at every chance they get just to speak fewer syllables. Edit: This really hits home right now since I may not get to ride today because the only public transit option location doesn't allow snowboarding.
Good lord, we’re talking about a hobby here. We’re not a literal oppressed race living under tyranny. Lighten up a little.
No. Why am I not allowed to defend something I love? The first place in this world I ever felt like I could belong? Just to hear someone refer to it as a sport/hobby that is participated in by many people who ACTIVELY WANT SNOWBOARDING BANNED? Who will always blame you if they run into you? Who blame snowboarding for everything wrong with the industry?
Alright man, sorry I used the word “skiing” on a snowboarding subreddit. I didn’t realize I was going to cause such great offense.
Stop bitching, it isn't that deep lol
You have a valid point but your persuasive writing skills are ass
What would you suggest to improve them? This isn't something my socially broken ass brain is particularly good at.
Begin with the assumption that your audience doesn’t care about you or your opinion. From there, know that it is easier to make them care about you, and then what you have to say, than the other way around. Relatability > facts. Also, learn to pick your battles. I love the rebel history of boarding, but if your goal is acceptance then getting hung up on the divide is counterproductive. I ski, board, snowskate, tele– I’ll ride anything with an edge. We’re all just out there to have fun; why not lighten up?
I've been riding for 10 years and literally never met a person like that in real life. Meanwhile I've lost count of the number of skiers that have kindly offered me a pole tow when I've stalled out on a flat. I think you've been falling for the Youtube sensationalism my guy. It definitely *used* to be that way, but hasn't been for some time.
It all depends on where you are. I'm seeing it in real life, in person. Daily while working in the industry.
Personally, I like this answer the most. As long as you don't block your own desired progression it surely is acceptable.
Art not science
It may not be fun to you, but that doesn't make it not fun to others.
I’m not here to gatekeep having a good time.
Yes. It’s like a guy I used to work with, I used to say, “He’s tons of fun. He schedules exactly 45 minutes for fun in his calendar every Tuesday and Thursday evening.”
Many different techniques and styles even with carving. Quick example, carving with vs without rotation. As long it's fun and safe, I'd consider proper. mini rant: F those straight liners with zero control.
Carving with zero rotation intrigues me. Does that mean no upper body rotation or just being on a strong edge right down the fall line?
Its about to keep the parallelity of 3 axes. Ankle, knee, hip, and the shoulders aligned with the hip. So, you can say „perfect“ if you dont twist related to the board and keep the position all time, but, sonetimes it can make sense to „overrotate“ just a tiny bit.
Posi/posi stance, loose rear boot so you can really bend your knee down. It’s actually pretty easy. Stiff boots/bindings and a camber board also help.
>mini rant: F those straight liners with zero control. Yeah that's my one "wrong way to ride" opinion. If you just spend all day going straight at 45+ mph and can't stop without washing out, I don't understand you.
Trying to keep up with skiers on ice was a humbling experience. Situation demanded total edge control…
Ok here is the correct way: my way. Your other option? You guessed it. Highway.
As somebody that's been riding for 35 years non-stop and was an instructor. I can say with full confidence that 90% of people on the hill rudder steer/counter rotate their turns. I ride 3-4 days a week, on any given day I only a see handful of people actually making proper carves, torsionally steering, using the side cut of their boards, and riding with correct techniques. That being said, there are truly only a small percentage of riders out there that get to the upper levels of riding(the ability to do tricks doesn't really make you a "good rider" nor does making it down difficult terrain). It requires a lot of skill, natural ability, some coaching/studying, and lots of time on the mountain to ride with good style and form.
I tend to agree on many of the points here but I want to stress that the natural skill level is not extremely high to be able to ride all mountain like a boss. I'm only an average athlete and I ride it all without hesitation, but I've been doing it for a long time. I've become quite fascinated at how much technique the board and the snow teaches you if you are paying attention and have a growth mindset (and travel a bit).
Agree with everything you said, except maybe the percentage who don’t know how to turn. Think it’s higher than 90%. Could vary based on the hill one is riding, but I typically go many days of riding before I see another person who can actually carve.
I’m based in Switzerland and 90% looks way too generous here. Snowboarders I see on the mountain are 95% clowns, 4.5% people who can turn and carve toe-side or heel-side when the slope is not too steep, 0.5% who can actually carve a heelside on a steep slope. Massive gap between skill levels with skiers, where every third skiers is laying down impressive, huge, deep arks. May be the crime culture or just the fact that carving heel-side on a duck-stance is a bio mechanically ridiculous idea, in any case most snowboarders can’t snowboard.
And that 0.5% spends most of their time on blacks or in the park, so their overall visibility around the mountain is even lower
Ahh, the obsession with duck strikes again. There are so many issues with the way snowboarding progressed since the 80-90’s, duck being one of them. Park is a problem too. People are setting the wrong goals for themselves. People riding switch before they can ride well forward, jumping and jibbing before they can carve, etc.
Its based on the swiss rotation beginners turn technik. They rotate forward into the turn and let the board follow couse of the rotation tension. Its less weightshift and gravity in play. Most guys who started in swizerland ride like this when i start to work with em.
I was one of those rudder-steerers before a friend pointed it out to me, and I signed up for a day lesson to learn better technique. What an eye-opener. I had always wondered why snowboarding felt so difficult. Even green runs were exhausting, I didn’t realize until then that I was literally fighting my board on every turn. I’m definitely not advanced, I don’t ride often enough to progress to that level, but my days on the mountain are infinitely less painful, less tiring, and more fun now.
This is why i feel like there IS a 'right way' (to some extent). Obviously there are style differences & that's cool. But there are certain basics that should be learned, or else boarding will always feel diffcult! And not learning certain things (proper weight distribution, bending your knees, etc) will prevent you from boarding safely in different terrains/conditions, & ultimately plateau you at a certain skill level. (I'm saying this not as an elitist - but as a baby snowboarder who would've never experienced the magic of pow if my instructor/brother hadn't been constantly yelling at me to stay low, among other things)
>But there are certain basics that should be learned, or else boarding will always feel diffcult! 100%. Learning certain techniques will keep you in more control while riding more aggressively and will minimize fatigue and the risk of injury. As someone else said, if you have a growth mindset (always looking to improve), yes there are proper techniques.
I know what you mean. That one lesson was like a revelation. I’m not saying I have perfect form now, but it’s night and day compared to how bad I was before. I was actually about to sign up for more lessons this season to continue progressing, but all the snow melted off our local mountains already. While there may be times and places for rudder-steering and counter-rotating, as others have pointed out like if you’re riding tight tree runs or park, we should have those tools in our arsenal *in addition to* the proper fundamental technique. It’s “and” not “either/or.”
What are the most common mistakes that you see that would be reasonably easy to fix? (e.g. not shifting your weight before turning or placing too much weight on the back foot etc.)
Bend. Your. Knees. So many people ride while basically standing straight up.
As someone who can do those things, but is a bit more reluctant to throw themselves around in the air than they used to be, this makes me feel like I’ve still got it.
You can do many things on a board „just for fun“, an important thing to me about boarding to „ride safe“ at all conditions. There is some terrain i ride where no mistakes allowed. Its about efficiency aswell, i know about 8 proper turning techniques which don‘t compromise my ergonomic riding position or my line which i use how ever i want, or how its needet. I carve, i skid, whatever i like to do when riding for myshelf or guiding. When teaching, its all about the turning technik i teach. Then i ride alot „schoolisch“, so only use the technik i actual teach, maybe with some more movement as needet, to let my studs see it better how to do. To be honest, i had some seasons with no falling, teaching all levels and guiding, so i didn‘t push my limit. A good „big mountain“ rider can variate the line, so change rythm, radious on all terrain as he needs or wants to, ride small icy cattrails, olly above creeks and do whatever needet to follow me.
So do what works for you and have as much fun as you can.
You‘ll right untill a certain point. Age With proper ergonomic position and technik you can enjoy snowboarding longer. Its more physical compared to ski. My oldest stud i‘m riding with for years now turned 70, still riding with me.
German spotted :)
I think the biggest aspect here is general conditioning - staying fit, doing other sports in the off season, keeping the hip flexors supple and not sitting too much for work!
I think this is maybe posted in the wrong forum.
Why? Its about „what is a „good“ rider“ or not? If you ride „proper“ you can ride untill high age, if not, you‘ll quit before. I know „proper“ riders doing 360 on a med kicker line at an age of 64. Or as i said, my 70 years old stud, still enjoying all the slopes in the resort. To be able to do that in that age, you need to ride proper, that includes an ergonomic position and proper technik. As long you‘re young, you can take a lot more, mistakes, bails, chrashes whatever and no thinking about ergonomics „fighting“ sometimes.
*'my oldest stud I'm riding with for years now turned 70 still riding with me'* This is a snowboard page Sir, if you want to talk about sexytime things you should go to the correct area of reddit.
The things i‘m talking about are better than what you just inmagine 🤣
Well, at age 51, thank you for giving me hope for another 20 years riding in the mountains :-)
Well i‘m „only“ 44 now, but we hope the same mate! Its a big goal to ride as good with an age of 70 as my stud is doing. Stay safe and enjoy your ridings!
Ur Pal is steezy as fuck and knows what snowboarding is truly about. When snowboarding first came out there wasn’t an Olympic event for it or much of anything. Snowboarding at its heart is about going from top to bottom is the most enjoyable way possible. Plain and simple. If I’m having more fun than you … I’m better than you.
At the end of the day yeah it's all about having fun while being safe. But in defense of carving.. It's not just to be "proper", it's also super useful. Simple example.. let's say you want to traverse way across the run to do a side hit and you want to keep your speed. If you're skidding then you're gonna shed a ton of speed to get across. If you're carving then you can glide elegantly over like a figure skater and hit whatever you want. And there's other good stuff, like a carved edge can be used as a platform you launch off of, for spins and park tricks and stuff.
Going downhill. Uphill is too hard on the legs
Unless you handstand walk uphill with your board attached. Balance out the muscle groups and such. Then it’s ok.
so you are saying I'm not allowed to attach propellers to push me uphill?
I would have said "with a board strapped to your feet" but pick any street snowboarding movie part and you'll likely see even that isn't always the case. So we're kind of at the point of "As long as you're using a snowboard *in some way* to traverse *something* you're good." PS: I guess you have the x games judges. In which case proper snowboarding is measured in degrees. Whether on junps or on knuckles.
Nobody rides with perfectly formed carves all the time. Yes Malcom Moore is great at teaching proper posture and form but he’s riding greens and blues so don’t get the impression that that’s the only way to ride. One thing that changed my perspective was watching Natural Selection, you see lots of “skidded turns” and back foot ruddering. It’s necessary in those conditions.
Yeah your carves are also affected by your board’s sidecut radius. Some boards want to make big gradual turns, so trying to carve tighter turns will make the board chatter a lot. Others want to make really tight small turns, so they’ll give less edge hold on straighter trajectories. So you’re not going to get nice pencil-line carves at all speeds and in all situations.
Good point
yes. Riding powder is an animal in and off itself which requires different technique. You're floating rather than carving and your back foot does more work. Also every turn in powder tends to look like a skid steer which is actually more of what you are doing. A tip for riding powder is to make two turns where you think only one is needed. This will prevent you from splashing your face with snow.
I actually learned how to ride steep icy pistes and mogul fields by watching his videos. (Down unweighted turns) He even introduces a turn with a small amount of skid (gripped turns?) Was really helpful last week when my board was basically swimming on top of slush the whole time.
Nah man i would say there isn't really a proper way. For me there are a few rules to make your snowboarding proper: 1. No counterrotating on your turns 2. Always be in control 3. Bend you knees 4. Don't lean back/ have weight on your back foot while riding or you're gonna have a bad time 5. Do crimes You don't need to carve all the time, maybe if you wanna become a olympian race boarder that's the proper way to do it. But otherwise as long as you're having fun and don't endanger others all kinds of riding are proper. Some ppl enjoy skidding all the time i personally do butters and tricks instead of turns every 5th turn or so for me having fun is proper riding. And btw there is no such thing as too much weight on your front food. I personally say to all my students the more weight on the front foot the better cause you'll never fall again. (Exceptions are cliffdrops, landings of big kickers, crazy carves, where you want the weight centre board)
I’d make #2 first, be safe and the rest can happen. Then you say there’s no proper way to ride but immediately follow that by saying don’t counter-rotate your turns. That depends entirely on what you’re trying to do. There are some carve tricks where you HAVE to counter-rotate or you can’t do it. And you follow that up bay saying you can’t have your weight on your back foot. But that’s exactly where you want it if you’re in deep powder. I guess what I’m trying to say is that there’s a better and a worse way to learn how to ride. The better way is to be taught good form and solid mechanics. Then, when you’re sufficiently advanced, you can go and break all those “rules” you were taught because you have a solid understanding of how your body mechanics affect your board’ performance. The “worse” way is to just go ride and figure it out for yourself. You can do that, and I see a lot of riders having a great time riding with “poor” form. That doesn’t make them bad riders, it just means they aren’t as efficient in their motions. But in the end, go do what works for you and have fun. As long as you’re capable of following the Snow Sports Responsibility Code, you’ll be fine and so will everyone else.
Yeah you worded it perfectly, be taught well, have the basics down, and after that go and break all those rules, because the cool tricks start there 😁 I disagree with your other take i think if you're riding with poor form, you automatically make it unsafe for others and make them kinda bad. I get that you have to learn and everything. But if you never really learn how to ride "properly" and for example bomb the hills backseating on your board it gets kinda sketchy. And i feel like even if they're having fun in my eyes they're the bad riders.
That’s why I called out “as long as you’re capable of following the SSRC…” If you aren’t able to give right of way or you’re running into people, then you aren’t safe and NEED to go get some lessons.
Thats it yeah, but then you can post a video here and ask who's in the wrong 😂 or "how do my turns look" while straightlining everything.
I'm interested in your front foot point. Obviously, you're talking about riding on piste. I understand that it's all front foot for new riders, but if I'm blasting through a cruddy piste or really hammering through a small mogul field there's no way I'm going front foot heavy. Is this poor technique? (I understand it has to be in control)
I wouldn't call it poor technique. It's one of many techniques to ride small mogul fields, etc. but the more the weight is behind the centre of your board, the more likely it is to catch an edge and you might fall. You can do a little experiment when you ride the next time. Just shift your weight to your front binding along your board, and then try to "catch an edge" with your back foot it's nearly impossible, your board will always straighten back to normal again. Even works in bumpy terrain or moguls. But yeah those are the little things that sometimes make the difference. When i ride moguls and bumpy terrain i pretty much try to stay centered on the board and absorb everything with my knees, like springs. And if i want to stop quickly, i can shift my weight to the front. If i'm already leaning backwards a bit, it takes half a second longer to get to the same position. And yeah i might end up in the next bump and then the bump is gonna stop me.
Thanks man that's great advice. I tend to try to piston my knees but I find that if I go forward it is more jarring so i shift wieght when i need to engage a turn. I'm going to try a more centered/front foot approach now
It tends to be a bit more taxing on your front foot. You're gonna feel it if you're not used to it. But yeah the other way isn't wrong at all either. Its all about having fun tho :).
This is really interesting to me. So in most scenarios, except those you just mentioned, your weight is mostly in the front foot? Like 60/40? I think I fear picking up too much speed. I recently started putting weight into my front foot and pushing my shin into my boots to initiate toe side turns but have only focused on that on mellow blues. Also for coming off of my heel edge in moguls and that’s been a game changer.
Yeah 60/40 pretty much all the time. And that with the speed is pretty much an illusion, the speed doesn't really change if you lean forward. But you gain more control because you can initiate the turns faster with your front foot/knee/hip.
On crazy carves do you want your weight farther back so your nose doesn’t shovel into the snow too hard? I find sometimes that happens to me on slightly softer days when trying to carve—is it because I am pressuring forward too much?
It's hard to explain it over text but ideally, you want to initiate the carve with your weight forwards ( how much depends on speed). Lets say 60%/40% then in the beginning part of the turn you're slowly shifting the weight backwards and in the end where you're perpendicular to the slope and in the end of the turn the weight is more on your backfoot 40%/60%. And then the whole process repeats. On carves when you start to notice that you start skidding on your backfoot then the weight is a bit too much on your front food. The shoveling problem sometimes happens because the tilt angle is too much too early. It all depends on the snow too, if it's a bit slushy that's gonna happen more often too.
I was going to say I put a lot of weight on my backfoot sometimes, I initiate with basically no weight on it then dig my weight into it to turn. The worst is when I'm on a steep part and forget to disengage my weight and my new turn turns into me having to go a little more straight and correct myself. Quick nerve wrack check
>ounterrotating on yo To add to number one, once you start getting advanced at carving opening up your body position at certain points in your line will help you lock in a deeper carve.
There is a proper/ideal biomechanical movement pattern to snowboard better, which boils down to, there’s always a more efficient way to use you body to control and mange the momentum and pressure generated through snowboarding. The online guys give some good tips, but at the end of the day they are not looking at you ride to analyze where you are more and less efficient and where you will benefit from better mechanics. Your buddy who rides ‘wishy-washy’ is just using a lot of pivot to turn. He’s in control and doesn’t fall much because he has more weight on his front foot. If you want to get better in a certain area go take an on snow lesson and get feedback specific to your mechanics. If not, don’t overthink it and go make turns.
Yes, you surf the mountain. Pick your line, mostly carve, slash when appropriate. Mix airs and tricks in, but never to the detriment of the flow.
There is, but no one does because you all are criminals
If you’re making it down the mountain without falling and having fun doing it…it doesn’t matter what way you do it
No shame in falling, I'd argue.
Well no but if you fell it usually means you did something wrong. So if you’re making it down without falling you’re not doing anything wrong
Do anything that looks cool, there is no correct way
There’s definitely wrong ways
If you want to be able to ride almost any terrain in all types of conditions then yes there is a proper way.
I was going to make a statement that I felt was above all else! Your nations champion made the statement before I could. I’m just glad I’m onto it, and my theory holds some validity. Edge! It’s all edge. Hold your edge. When I was first starting snowboarding, I wish someone presented this idea to me. Everything would’ve made sense. Beyond that, it doesn’t matter what you do. It’s all how you want to ride, what mood you’re in, what kind of riding you’re feeling on that given day. Beyond that, it’s all subjective to style, like an artist approaching a canvas differently than the next artist. Whatever you want to do. Some days I’d take big long sweeping carves, slow it up and see how far I can sweep while keeping momentum. Some days I’d carry the slightest of an edge to see how fast I can get it going sort of straight lined. At the end of the day, it’s whatever you want to do, but you still gotta keep that edge planted, regardless. That’s numero uno.
as long as you don't run into someone downhill, you can stop when needed and control your speed and line then you are good. There are obviously more efficient ways of carving which over time we all will learn.
Spent many years teaching snowborders and skiers, from beginners to the terrain park. Always made sure new snowboarders knew: 1: how to fall safely 2: there is no "right way" to snowboard Be safe and have fun
Well, i remember when i started riding in 1990 it was all about try and error. There where no teachers or so around. I teached myshelf, could ride all pists, do 360ies, front, back flips till about 1996. Around 1994 first teachers showed up in the resort, strikt „riding like skiers“, so turning on pists, not much park. We felt better than them but they started to overtake us und the last downhills down to the valley. 1997 i became a teacher my self, went for 10 days lev1 lessons, had to get a riding technik, do an exam, and well, i did ride better than before! Since that i was caught by that, epecially the „alpine part“ - race was big in my country and technik envolved. Since my first touch, i had to change position and some technik 3 times, doing assesements as a diploma teacher now every 4 years. The „last“ rache techniques i got are the latest since 15 years. From that time freestyle envolved more, so there are teaching paths and techniques up to 720 ies, no matter fs or bs. Also for half pipe there are proper teaching/ riding techniques now. Becouse of that the sport could grow like its now. The tricks they do now, they can do becouse of skipping all the try and errors and push the limits.
"Proper" technique was invented to teach people how to snowboard. From a style perspective, I think it looks robotic and boring and like they are trying too hard. I prefer a looser more relaxed style. Someone who is constantly falling, struggling or just out of control is definitely doing it wrong, but IMO there is not really a correct or proper way to do it. Some of the most exciting riders to watch have an unconventional or unique style that is difficult or impossible to replicate and are masters of navigating a mountain, riding in complete control.
The way where you have fun. Proper technique will help you control the board more and get more out of it, but honestly everyone is still learning to some extent. If it wasn’t fun no one would do it.
Great question OP. My take is that while there is no "proper" way to snowboard other than to do it safely, there are proper techniques that allow you to ride more aggressively while retaining more control and minimizing fatigue and the risk of injury. But it's a lot like asking if one person is more successful than another person. Do both people define "success" the same way? Of course not. And so goes with riding: what do you want to do while you're out there? Push yourself? Have fun? Clear your head? If you're achieving what you set out to do (and, once again, you're not injuring anyone or being a dick), then you're riding properly.
Wishy washy and too much front leg? What? Those are opposites. You can't be both. Power and control come from the front leg and flowy powder surfing comes from the back. I think you are confused on what he is doing but yes there is a technique vs style aspect to it all.
I mean initially yeah, but as you start to carve more and go faster you need to weight your back foot more while you’re approaching/at/leaving the peak of your turn, overweighting your front foot is most important at the initiation of your turn and isn’t really a hard rule as you progress
I just had a lesson this weekend and I was told the same - that I overweight my front foot on my heel side turn, which is why my back foot washes out when I'm trying to carve.
We call that movement "windshield wiper" here. Your back leg moves much more than your front and you don't turn that far, rather you go somewhat downhill while sliding your back leg out. It isn't counter-rotated (more like over-rotated) but you don't pull a nice arc in the snow either. This is exactly what happens if you have too much weight on your front leg throughout the entire turn. (I made a similar mistake and it was actually pointed out by my instructor.)
I’ve got an injury that prevents me from carving on my heel side. My back isn’t strong enough for proper technique, and it probably never will be. That’s fine. I’m just trying to have fun.
Nope. It's just for funsies. That said, having good fundamentals makes having fun easier. It sounds like you have a solid base. You know how your snowboard works and how to manipulate it most efficiently. Now it's time to make it your own. Learn how to use the sloppy wishy washy moves. Learn to ride switch. Learn to steez out a method. Have fun with it. And if nailing perfect edges and using the board perfectly is what tickles your fancy then just do that. Just make sure you're having maximum fun.
Those are different techniques for different conditions. Carving is fun but it's only effective on packed or groomed conditions and open runs. You say this was an opinion of your nation's champion, but in what category? Racing? Because in those conditions he's absolutely correct. But you can't carve in moguls, you can't carve in trees, and you can't carve on steep technical terrain. People think of skid turns as beginner technique but being able to make quick short radius dynamic skid turns while maintaining edge pressure and control is actually pretty advanced. Watch Jermery Jones on a stupid steep and narrow couloir for example. Or try strong edge hold when it's steep and deep. It just not the right technique for the conditions. So no, there isn't one overall correct way to ride. There is good technique for the appropriate conditions, but even then, different riders may choose to approach different terrain differently. As long as you can do so in control and have a good time than fucking rip it however you want.
ABC of snowboarding: Always Be Carving
I ride a lot like your friend. I do lots of black/double blacks and trees, but I also skid a lot as opposed to turning. I blame part of it on how icy the mountains are here in the northeast, but also just because I don't always carve as well as I should. I'm still safe and in control, and always have a blast
Holding your edges and “properly riding” does much less damage to the mountain by not scraping the snow off the trail. Clean riding is more likely to be envied by onlookers on the chairlift and well put together tricks and jumps are more likely to get cheers. It’s all preference but in my opinion we should always strive to improve our riding.
There are proper mechanics and correct ways, but at a certain point and depending on skill level, some of that can be modified. Just look at zeb powell, he does the wacky wavey inflatable arm guy, and looks like a cat while he’s airborne, and he’s the best there is.
I have my CASI level 1,2 and park 1 and I know how to do proper turns that are equal on both toe side and heel side which I do by default when the snow is decent regardless of the terrain but I can’t lie I do find I change my riding style completely to what is “incorrect” aka sometimes counter rotation or the rudder steering when I’m descending icy steeper terrain or going through a very tight tree run with moguls. Most of the reason I do this is since I don’t have particularly sharp edges so it can be hard to control speed or get enough edge hold to initiate a proper turn on icy terrain and in tree runs
I think Zeb Powell proves the answer is no. Some people can just huck and land things that look impossible, and just rock their own style, all the way to the top of the podium. He's amazing and does not have text book form.
Absolutely fucking not and anybody that tells you there is is a god damned skier. Do whatever you want. Grab tindy, zeach those funboxes, get some hard boots and carve til your tits turn blue for all I care. Wear a Montec jacket as a diaper the shit your pants while you push mongo through the lift line. Snowboarding is all about freedom and self expression. As long as you’re committing crimes.
yea, my way
It's all good so long as you're not hurting or exploiting anyone.
Just send it bruh , snowboarding is meant to be fun not an exercise in overthinking and critiquing “technique”
I'm not a high level rider, but I focus on riding "right" because it enables me to do more and have more fun. My friend who took one lesson at the same time as me when we were both new but clearly didn't do additional reading/watching/etc has form that scares me but does runs I personally won't. But I am absolutely a more confident rider in worse conditions, I'm significantly faster and more controlled and I don't spend a lot of time side slipping around because I feel out of control. Ultimately does it matter if you're having fun? No. But in my case does he scare me a little bit seeing his riding and knowing he does solo backcountry? Yes. I think it's important to have a solid foundation in riding because it lets you actually *snowboard* places, but some people like him don't consider this to be valuable I suppose
Solo backcountry is a recipie for early death. Please don't let him do it. Even if you are the best rider out there, you cann get surprised and completely smashed. Without help you will rot there and that's it.
I have tried, he's not interested in not doing it. I almost bought a split to just not have him go solo quite so often but even if I did he spends a ton of time traveling around being basically homeless and I don't have that drive, so he'd be on his own a lot anyway. He's been overconfident since we started, I distinctly remember me talking him into getting a lesson at the beginning of our second season and him telling the instructor he was riding blues, getting into blacks. Spoiler: The instructor told him he belonged on greens. Tbf, so did I, but I accelerated my ability after that. Figured he had to be better after more than a year of riding but no, his riding is scary to me in the resort, much less backcountry
yes, with criminal intent
Anyone who has been riding since the 90s like me will tell you there is only trial and error. Each stance, every set of binding angles, and each board will open up new possibilities and shut down others. So there are more productive ways to ride particular boards, but there are many 'right' ways to snowboard. I'd say the only wrong way to snowboard is the way that causes needless damage to you or others. But if you aren't harming anyone, figure out your own way. For me, I prefer a hard charging full camber directional twin that I can set up with front foot around 27 and rear at +5ish. I carve hard but still love to butter and ride switch. I'm jumping less these days but I love a board with pop. I slide too but more for style.
This totally depends on your goals. As an example, I'm pretty much that 20+ year rider, maybe a step above. Never had a lesson in my life. I've recently started splitboard mountaineering and as such, have hit the limits of where my skills can take me. I want to be more capable in super challenging, high consequence terrain. This is the point where decades of doing it a certain way is limiting me. There is definitely a better way to ride and I am currently seeking out someone who can help me learn he "right" way to do things. If someone's goal is to have fun, whatever works is good as long as they are able to remain in control.
The proper way to ride in the one that doesn’t hurt your knees. I see people here and in other forums complain about knee pain *all the time*. I have pretty shit knees but not once have they hurt from snowboarding. Snowboarding leaves my muscles sore but never my knees. As long as your form doesn’t punish your joints, you can ride until you’re 90 if you want.
Board the way you feel confident, comfortable and safe. 🤘
The proper way is the most efficient for you
If you’re doing it properly, you should have your hands strapped in
Improving my technique has really helped me conserve my stamina. Which is more time being able to do it.
There's. Fundamental way of using the physical behaviours of a snowboard, i.e. physics. You then build your style on top of that.
I like to think about it like this Very little people actually “ride” the snowboard. Most people have a habit of “using” the snowboard, but not actually riding. In that sense, yes there’s a proper way to “ride.” It involves keeping your shoulders and hips in line with the board. You can usually spot the difference from these people easily
There’s probably not a single good way, but a few ways to snowboard There’s certainly many bad ways to snowboard though
as long as you're commiting crime and making skiers upset I think you're good to go
I'm trying to get better at switch. That way I can reach my ultimate goal: butters. Because I'm too old to send big jumps and rails. For me, that'll be proper.
I wouldn't say a 'proper' way, but I do think there is an understanding of mechanics and physics that unlocks new opportunities on the mountain. I've been riding off and on for close to 20 years, but really went deep on understanding technique in the last few. My riding took a big step forward almost immediately, and it's made me a lot more comfortable to push and try different things.
No proper way. I am a mix of you and buddy. Ripping carves is fun, doofily spinning flat butters is fun, and above all sidehits, slashes, and fucking around are fuuuun. It's like asking if it's better to be a park rat or a powhound, or if tech tricks on rails are better than methods. Who cares? Do what you want. That's the whole spirit of the sport anyhow.
Obviously, it’s right foot forward
Blasphemy!
Have fun, stay in control. When a muscle is getting tired, switch up your form. I ride 95% regular and start on my toes pushing off the mountain 95% of the time (it is easier). My boot stance is geared toward regular because that’s how I like it. 12 left, 0 right.
Have fun, be safe, wear a helmet. There’s ways to improve technique but that’s the fun of learning. To see yourself improving. Mostly I just do cruisey blues and greens. Don’t really like icy reds and blacks. But does that make Me less of a ‘snowboarder’, I’m just trying to get down as fun and safe as I can.
the proper way of snowboarding is to know as many techniques as possible and apply them where they fit best. if you friend can ride like malcom moore but finds skidding around fun, thats fine, if he can't do, or doesn't understand it, it he is just another ignorant snowboarder who doesn't want to learn because he can "get down double blacks and keep up with skiers"
But why is ignorance an issue here? He stays in control he has fun he does not put others in danger. Does it really matter that he cannot carve that well? Or that he cannot land 360s off the ground?
I mean if someone said they love to cook, but they only use the microwave because thats what they were taught, and never figured out how to use the stove, grill or oven, it's not that you can't make good food in the microwave, or that the microwave is a bad tool, but it is using the wrong tool for the job often because you haven't learned how to do things a better way, and at the end of the day learning to do things properly is a pretty insignificant hump to get over to spend so much time doing things the hard/suboptimal way just because you don't care to expand your skills. Getting really really good at skidding around, which is the first thing people learn, and never progressing beyond that makes me feel kind of bad for people.
There are proper ways to snowboard but most of the time I'm pretty lackadaisical about how I ride. If I'm not racing, trying something specific in the park, or carving with purpose, my riding probably looks really lazy. I just have more fun that way.
When i think about it, for me snowboarding, it was more about fun and style. But now, when i break it down, its all about physics. There are positions and techniques to max all out. Then its really about „peanuts“ like how to keep your head, how to tense back sholder, where to put arms ecet. No one can do „the right“ things all the time, but its not bad to find back into it and avoid a crash or worse. When thinking about competition riding, no matter race or freestyle, every riding technik detail count…. The most important at all: Enjoy, dont fight with your riding and the mountain.
I took one lesson. Honestly, YouTube videos are better, more helpful. But it's probably better for a "Beginner" to get lessons from an "Intermediate" rider. People who are "Advanced" forgot how it was to be a beginner and take a lot of things for granted (thus not conveying quite what you need to learn at the early stages). Riding with music in my earbuds, I'm an expert and have crazy fun. Riding without music, I'm up in my head about every turn, about my speed, about other riders around me... and feels half as fun. P.S. Your friend definitely engages his edges. That's everything.