How to carve in snowboarding??

Question

Okay I have snowboarded at least ten times and i can plow, stop, and do heel side turns just fine. But when it comes to toes side turns my board always gets caught and i fall. Can anyone tell me how to comebind these two turns and tell me what im doing wrong that is making me fall.

Answer 1

What you are really asking about is linked turns - carving it something more advanced.

You turn on your toe side by pressing on your heel of your front foot when you are on your toe edge. This will release the edge at the front of the board and the nose will swing down the hill. After the board crosses the fall line (straight down the hill) you can transition to your heel side. Once you get good at turns on both heel side and toe side, you can start linking turns together - heel side to toe side again and again all the way down the hill.

The way that we first learn to link turns is the "skidded" turn - which is draging the back of the edge while letting the front of the edge slip which allows the board to rotate and turn. In this kind of turn, you must wait for the board to pass the fall line (straight down the hill) before transitioning your weight to the opposite edge. These are skidded linked turns. and they make a wide "skidded" track in the snow.

Carving does not involve any skidding or the board edge sliding down the hill. Carving requires you to put more pressure on the edge which arcs the board so the entire edge is in contact with the snow. This cause the board to track along its natural turn radius and the board will leave a narrow line in the snow - the entire edge will track through this same line without skidding sideways.

The interesting thing about carving is that the turns don't slow you down - each turn carries the speed from the previous turn and without skidding there is very little to slow you down.

Good Luck

Answer 2

You can't go immediately from your heel side to your toe side. You have to let the board go straight down the mountain a little before you turn toe side. It also helps a lot if you put your weight on your front foot. It will make it easier to turn. I would suggest you take a lesson. The instructor can tell what you're doing wrong and should have you up to speed on your toe side turns in no time.

Answer 3

I used to have that exact same problem. I think its just because you havn't found the right balance yet. If I were you I would either practice by going down a hill toeside, like you were to stop, but give a little bit until you reach the bottom, so that way, you find your balance; or just wax your board.

Hope I helped. -Chris

Answer 4

When it comes to learning toe side, try to think about kicking into the turn with your back foot when turning toe side until it comes more naturally.