How to carve on a snowboard??? - Techniques & Styles Forum

Monday 17th September 2007 at 4:08:08 AM

boardergirl
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Can anyone teach me how to carve on a snowboard?

Monday 17th September 2007 at 8:48:59 AM

Snow Wolf
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Well, I`m an instructor so I`ll take a stab at it.

First off, before your are ready to carve, you should be riding comfortably on blue terrain and be comfortable with some speed. Good carving is all about maintaining a high edge angle and being able to balance well. A carved turn requires that you carry a bit more speed than you do in a skidded turn. You will find that a carved turn has some advantages in that you do not bleed off speed in the turn like you do when skidding. Also, if the surface is really chunky and uneven, your ride is much smoother becasue the board is on edge and it cuts through that crud instead of bouncing over it.

To practice your first carved turns, get going down a nice wide green or blue run. At first, use the entire width of the run to get comfortable carving and keep an eye for other people. Pick up a little bit of speed and to initiate a heelside, carved turn, begin by lifting the toes of the front foot, rocking your lead shoulder over the heel edge of the board and flex your knees. As soon as the board begins to turn, lift the toes of the back foot as well. The idea here is that you will be riding with the board completely on edge. This is a bit of a balancing act and at first it will feel pretty weird. This gets super easy with practice. Anyhow, since you are riding with a high edge angle, the snowboard`s sidecut will now naturally turn you pretty quick, You will feel it grab and accelerate when you get the true carve going. There will be a natural tendancy to fall backward, so be ready to use your upper body to shift your weight toward the toe edge of the board to stay balanced (dont flatten your board out though, keep the toes lifted.

As the board travels across the fall line, begin to relax this carving posture, by relaxing the front foot gradually to quit turning. When the board is traveling straight toward the edge of the run, you need to set up to carve toeside. To do this, you now begin to flatten the front foot out so the nose of the board starts to drift down the hill. As this happens, begin to shift your posture to go into a toeside carve, by rotating your lead sholder over the toe edge of the board, lean a little farther forward (toward front binding) and beign to slowly push down on the toes of the front foot. Once the turn is established, follow through with the rear foot to get on the toe edge of the board. Ideally, you should be pointed straight down the fall line about the time you really get that board up on it`s toe edge. You will feel the sidecut bite and accelerate you through the turn. Again, there will be forces pulling on you (centrifugal force will pull you to the outside of the turn, while gravity will pull you toeard the inside of the turn) so be ready to shift your upper bady as neede to maintain balance. Ride this turn out across the hill and repeat.

Generally, when practicing your first few carved turns, there will be a tendancy to fall to the inside of the turn due to the high edge angle and more radical lean in the turn. Imagine being on a high performance bike and really laying that bike down in the turns, This is why to make good carved turns you need to maintain a higher speed. That higher speed adds stability and also increases centrifugal force allowing you to maintain balance while leaning so far over.

When you have made a good carved turn, your track in the snow will be pencil thin because the tail does not skid to the outside of the turn.

Once you get good at that, then comes dynamic carved turns, where you switch to your downhill edge as the board is traveling accross the fall line. This is where you can really maintain some serious speed.

Thursday 20th September 2007 at 3:44:59 AM

boardergirl
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what is dynamic carved turns? Is it different from carved turn

Saturday 22nd September 2007 at 6:54:14 AM

Snow Wolf
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What a dynamic carved turn is, is a carved turn, where you switch to your new edge before the nose of the board drifts toward the fall line. So in other words, lets say I am in the middle of a heel edged carved turn, leaving that pencil thin line in the snow. I am cutting across the slope perpendicular to the fall line and starting to carve back up the hill. I will make a transition to my toe edge while it is still very much the downhill edge and begin an agressive toeside carved turn. The thing about dynamic carving is this...your snowboard really does`nt care about whether an edge is uphill or downhill, the only thing that matters is that the board is travelling in a straight line tip to tail with no sideslip going on. If that is the case, you can very safely switch to your downhill edge and turn down the hill, cross the fall line and traverse across. The idea here is to be able to make rapid, positive edge changes anytime you want on any pitch. It takes a little practice, but once you get them down they`re a lot of fun and you do not loose any speed by turning; in fact, you will gain speed in the turn.

Friday 28th September 2007 at 12:38:49 AM

boardergirl
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So, carved turn is diff. from dynamic carved turn? right?!?

Monday 8th October 2007 at 3:58:45 AM

snowaddict23
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Carved turn is turning one direction only (uphill, or down hill) and dynamic carved turn is were you change your direction while carving (from uphill, to downhill).

Initially, carved turn is JUST a turn, and dynamic turn is turning and changing direction.

Dynamic turn = those beautiful S Curves down your line.

Thats what I got from it, was I right wulf?

They call me Willie (Vee-lay), and Im here to ride..

Friday 23rd November 2007 at 2:26:59 AM

zurichguy
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what u need to remember is to keep your upper body parallel with the board. u shouldn’t move your upper body at all while turning, this will over-balance u. u gotta also be careful not to bend at the waist, or crouch as this will cause you to lose your balance.

Friday 23rd November 2007 at 2:42:23 AM

snowaddict23
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zurichguy posted the following on Friday 23rd November 2007
what u need to remember is to keep your upper body parallel with the board. u shouldn’t move your upper body at all while turning, this will over-balance u. u gotta also be careful not to bend at the waist, or crouch as this will cause you to lose your balance.

Thats not true, there are times when you need to make a mean jerk to get out of a route or change direction violently (like that one time you ride really fast, and come up to a chute you didnt want to go down, so you do a spaztic panic carve to evade it). Just maintain center of gravity and you'll be fine while carving. Youll knw when you nail carving. Everything will just flow and link together, and it feels awesome.

Tuesday 27th November 2007 at 9:54:08 AM

zurichguy
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snowaddict23 posted the following on Friday 23rd November 2007

zurichguy posted the following on Friday 23rd November 2007
what u need to remember is to keep your upper body parallel with the board. u shouldn’t move your upper body at all while turning, this will over-balance u. u gotta also be careful not to bend at the waist, or crouch as this will cause you to lose your balance.

Thats not true, there are times when you need to make a mean jerk to get out of a route or change direction violently (like that one time you ride really fast, and come up to a chute you didnt want to go down, so you do a spaztic panic carve to evade it). Just maintain center of gravity and you'll be fine while carving. Youll knw when you nail carving. Everything will just flow and link together, and it feels awesome.

Oh really?

But that's what i normally do and it works perfectly for me.

Tuesday 27th November 2007 at 5:01:20 PM

bordin rules
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hey the best way i think to learn is not typing it in to your compiter get out there and ride

good luck while u do that I will be boarding

Saturday 1st December 2007 at 12:47:57 PM

Snow Wolf
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^^^ well good for you, this is of course the ideal, but sometimes people like to get some tips to keep in mind before they head out. As an instructor, I do`nt just go ride, I have to read and do movement analysis and technical work to become better.

In a good carving turn, your upper body is used to control balance and your lower body to control the board. The shoulders will rotate slightly in conjuction with utitlizing torsional flex to initaite the carved turn. you will bend at the waist as needed to control balance and forces are constantly changing (the steepnes of the slope will change the way gravity affects you in the turn and your speed affects centrifugal force that pulls you to the ouside of the turn. A rider who reamins in a static position when carving is not riding properly. The entire body should be moving thoughout the turns, flexing, extending, leaning and rotating, all to maintain a smooth rythem.

Saturday 1st December 2007 at 12:57:20 PM

Snow Wolf
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snowaddict23 posted the following on Monday 8th October 2007
Carved turn is turning one direction only (uphill, or down hill) and dynamic carved turn is were you change your direction while carving (from uphill, to downhill).

Initially, carved turn is JUST a turn, and dynamic turn is turning and changing direction.

Dynamic turn = those beautiful S Curves down your line.

Thats what I got from it, was I right wulf?

Yeah pretty much....

there are basically 4 types of turns:

Skidded Turns: basic turn that uses flexion and extension of the legs along with body rotation to "push" the tail around at the apex of the turn causing a skid.

Dynamic Skidded Turns: Same as above, but the rider will initiate the turn prior to the nose of the board finding the fall line. In other words, the ride will transition to the down hill edge while traversing in the turn.

Carved Turns: A turn that is initiated, maintained and copleted soly by the use of the sidecut of the board. The body movements of this turn involve flexion and extension to twist the board torsionally thau allowing the sidecut to engaege the snow. These turns require higher speed for stability as the rider will utlilze a much higher edge angle.

Dynamic Carved Turns: Same as above, but the rider will will make positive edge cahnges prior to the nose reaching the fall line. These turns generate more speed and will accelerate the rider throughout the turn sequence.

Some other turn techniques used in specific situations are Pivot turns and unweighted pivot turns. These are effective for dealing with moguls. Basically you sort of unweight the board and pop up and spin the board so you land on the new edge. Down unweighting is extremely effective in moguls.

Saturday 1st December 2007 at 1:39:52 PM

snowaddict23
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Yea, I thaught it would be awkward if someone was parrellel with their board the WHOLE time. That would be like a statue sliding down a hill.

Sunday 2nd December 2007 at 12:20:56 AM

zepp
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most of you have a general idea of what carving is. but are a ways off on the definition on the difference between basic and dynamic carved turns.

The definition of a carved turn is where the tip and tail of the snowboard follow the same path. Leaves a path in the snow narrower than that of the width of the snowboard.

Now a basic carved turn(usually a long radius turn)is when a snowboarder just leans on teh edge of a snowboard and allows the sidecut of the board to do what it is designed to do.

A dynamic carved turn a rider actually uses his or hers body to make the snowboard do what they want it to do. the definition of a dynamic carved turn is where the snowboard and the center of mass take a different path of travel. this is accomplished by building angles at the joints of you ankles, knees and hips while maintain and upright upper body. You creat and regulate pressure by use the flexion and extension in you legs and hips.

What you will see differently is in a basic carved turn will look like they are leaning or banking the turn. In a dynamic carved they will look like the board is out away from the body with the upright upper body similiar to sitting in a chair and lifting you feet out in front of you.

This is a very difficult concept to explain without pics or videos. I hope this helps a little. If you are still confused post a response and I will try to explain it in a different manner.

later

Sunday 2nd December 2007 at 3:57:36 AM

snowaddict23
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No, I got it 100%. It was the best way to dexcribe a dynamic turn from a carved turn. An aggressive rider (I take it) will do alot more dynamic turns than other riders. I know when your doing a dynamic turn, its a quick and very aggressive motion, and as other riders i see will simply carve.

When I said you need to change your body when your making an aggressive change in direction, (like dodging something, and changing a course of travel quickly) you cannot be parrellel with your board, your legs will extend and flex away as you lean and jerk to make that "dynamic turn" possible. If your parellel with the board your you make sudden or aggressive turns, the turn will not be sudden, or aggressive.