Understanding the Fall Line
You might have heard of the fall line when you first started snowboarding or have heard instructors or fellow snowboarders talk about it. In your early stages of Snowboarding, it is important to know what the fall line is.
The fall line is the straightest way down the hill. It refers to the imaginary line down a mountain or hill which is usually directly downwards. This is also the natural path wherein gravity makes an object to roll down. Simply said, if you let a ball or snowball roll down a hill or mountain, it would go down the fall line. If you point a slippery board down the fall line, you will gain an amazing amount of speed.
There is a rule of thumb when it comes to the fall line. Keep in mind that the more parallel your Snowboard’s position is to the fall line, the faster you will go. If it is perpendicular, the slower you will go. Likewise, if your board is perpendicular to the fall line, you will come to a complete stop.
As you learn to use your Snowboard, knowing the fall line and understanding it will keep you in control.
Moving Across the Fall Line
This part will really get you into Snowboarding because at this point, you’ll learn how to move down the slopes. Now that you are able to glide down the fall line, you can go to the next level by learning how to move left and right across the fall line.
Moving across the fall line is not that difficult and you already did some changes while practicing how to glide down the fall line. Do the same thing you did previously: stand up on your Snowboard while maintaining your balance. Shift your weight to front or back side of your board and bend the knee to the direction you want to travel to. Straighten your arms so that your upper body forms a "T". Now move your upper body in the direction you want to glide to. You will notice that you'll glide in the direction that you are putting your weight into.
Now practice the following:
- Stand up straight.
- Move your weight to the left.
- Then, bend your knees.
As you progress to the left, pick up some speed. Then slow down by moving your weight back and try to end up in standing position again. Now move your weight to the right and glide to that direction. Try to move down the slope by making a "Z" pattern, moving from left to right. By this time, you are now able to move left, right, straight down, and brake.
Once you have mastered this, you have already learned a large part of basic Snowboarding!
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Below you can find all the lessons of our Learn Snowboarding Online Course:
Done? Try our Snowboarding Tricks section.
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