I just got the hang of it last year. For the 2 years before that, they had told me that I should have my left foot forward and I couldn't stay up for more than a second. Last year I put my right foot forward finally could make like three turns without falling... The feeling the first few times I made a turn to slow down after barreling straight down the mountain scared shitless was a crazy feeling... I got dizzy it was such a sharp turn... what a freakin rush!! I still suck though

Can't wait for this winter!!

its all toe and heel

the best way to learn is basically just go to the top and make your way down by yourself. it's hard to have a friend teach you because 1-you'll fall alot and dont want to make the friend wait for you 2-it's pretty much an on-your-own sport.

the whole idea of carving is to imagine yourself as a falling leaf, how it sways from side to side. yea i know, sounds easy, hard as shit when you actually do it and it's clearly not as graceful as you imagined. the more you ride the better you become. i love to ride but i'm definitely no pro. i can get air off of jumps but i can't land on my opposite stance nor can i ride on my opposite stance. it always takes practice....

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I PUT TRADEMARKS AROUND YO MOTHAFUCKIN EYE
JUST ME N YOU

Riding "switch" or backwards can be tricky to learn. The way I learned was to place my self in switch and work on turning out of switch into regular with one turn (kinda carve back up the hill in that turn) then do it to the opposite side. Its all muscle memory and confidence, after you can get confident in the big turn work on swapping from the big turn into the opposite turn mid turn. At first you will be forcing the board to do what you want and it will not feel fluid. Eventually you will become accustomed to the awkward feeling and it will become smooth and the board will do the work! On our eastern US slopes it is quite a bit more difficult with the icy conditions because the board wants to dig so much more and it hurts a lot more when you do fall usually a down hill pancake! Ohhhh my ears are ringing just thinking about it! As with anything stick with it you will learn it! After you learn it do not stop using it you will forget it and start from scratch again! It will be one more level of freedom for you! I got good (at one point) riding switch but I could never approach any jump in switch I just sketched out! But carving out of a landing switch and the lack of fear of landing switch made me that much more confident in the spins not fearing landing switch and falling out of the landing.

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Take the red pill!

quote:

Originally posted by Sublime-elation *Raises Hand* Floating powder is unparalleled no matter how good you can ski as soon as you surf powder on a board you would never go back!

That's definitely one reason I'd give snowboarding a try - to get all the lift they do in the powder. But quite frankly I just don't want to put the effort into learning to board just to get to that point. And it's not like powder isn't awesome on skis either...

It's a shame you quit skiing in the early nineties though, especially if you're into big air and tricks. It wasn't until the mid to late 90s that skiers actually started branching out of the standard bag of mogul skiing tricks. Now take a look at the Xgames. If you ask me (and I'm probably biased), the skiers there are throwing down tricks that are as impressive and often more impressive than what's in a snowboarder's trick arsenal. I mean they're throwing tweaked grabs with their skis all crossed up, poles flailing, all in different rotations.

The 90s also saw the widespread use of carving skis. This was a huge deal in skiing but many don't even realize this. A lot of people complain that skiing doesn't have as much flow as snowboarding. I attribute that to the fact that almost everyone is first taught to ski the old fashioned way - the way people did when there were no carving skis - edge your skis and slide. This is totally not what carving skis were designed to do and the fact that people don't learn how to carve greatly reduces their skiing fun. Once you do learn how to carve on skis though, how to hold your edge and smoothly transfer your weight, it's a totally different world.

There one more reason I choose skiing over snowboarding - moguls. I have never seen a snowboarder who could board throw a tight field of moguls with the kind of rhythm and pace that a skier can. This alone is actually reason enough for me to stick with skiing...

Edit: Vermont just got a big snow dump. Let's go bitches!