Carving form

[CrazyBoy-1]

Hey guys, I'm looking for some input on body position and form for carving down the slopes. I've checked out some videos of other s-boarders and most seem to keep their feet close together. When I'm going down a slope and carving I tend to have my feet apart to balance myself. I'll dig hard with the lower leg and then push around with the upper leg to turn. I also tend to keep myself bent over to keep my center of gravity lower. However, I see other keeping their bodies fairly straight and just leaning over. Is it all just personal preference, or is there definitely a right and wrong way to do it?

I'm wondering if part of my style stems from my background in sportbike track riding. I'm used to attacking corners hanging off my bike to keep the COG low. Another part of it is that I'm a 6'3" rider on SnowJam 90's. (EMP's are ordered though) I feel as though the boards lack the appropriate leverage to balance my height.

Any input would be appreciated.

[Greco]

check out this thread on skiboards.com's message board. Gorilla vs. Upright, it's quite extensive.

g

[Ian.cap]

Yet another reason I love this forum. You can't even write the word SBOL on the "other site" but here Greco will link directly to their site.

[airdonut41]

I like getting low, just for the purpose of stability. I feel more comfortable when I'm flying down a mountain if I'm rather close to it and spread wide to catch myself if I make a mistake. When I'm going reasonably slow, I'll stand straighter and keep my boards together just because I can. Plus it's easier to spin from that position.

Dan

[Greco]

W i d e

[airdonut41]

It looks more like he's just laying there. That run doesn't look steep enought for that kind of carving, but that's just my opinion.

Dan

[Greco]

are you calling bullshit?

[airdonut41]

No, you can see the snow flying up behind his skiboards, indicating that he is in fact carving. I guess I should have mentioned in my other post that he looks like he's laying down but you can tell he's carving. I trust you, G.

Dan

[Mark]

greco wouldn't post a fake photo like that.

I used to carve like that but i dont anymore cause i found the downhill ski would chatter alot. i'll get a pic later this week of how i do it.

[Greco]

i was just wondering. i didn't take the pic. it's of kirk so hardcore might have taken it.

g

[Greco]

Originally posted by Mark
greco wouldn't post a fake photo like that.

I used to carve like that but i dont anymore cause i found the downhill ski would chatter alot. i'll get a pic later this week of how i do it.

oh it's definitely not fake.

[airdonut41]

Originally posted by Mark
greco wouldn't post a fake photo like that.

I used to carve like that but i dont anymore cause i found the downhill ski would chatter alot. i'll get a pic later this week of how i do it.

Yeah, I do notice that you get a lot of chatter when you do that, but I just assumed it was inevitable because no matter what I tried, it would always happen. I just kind of got used to it, and when I bought Revel8s it just got better.

Dan

[SkaFreak]

I personally get really low but have my boards closer than kirk does. I have found that when you get really wide like that you do end up taking really tight turns that end up killing speed because you end up going sideways down the run and take so much energy to get back up to vertical. That picture is definitely a legit carve, but I have a feeling that it was basically the end of that line. When I am trying to throw down hard carves I have my boards about shoulder width apart, crouch down a bit, but not all of the way, and lean into the carve to put my center of gravity off of my boards. Thanks to lovely physics, it makes the most sense for your body to be at the angle that makes it so that your center of gravity should be centered above your boards with respect to force normal (yeah, I know, I'm a geek). This means that you shouldn't always try to push yourself down as close to the ground as you can but that you should be at the ideal angle for the speed/turn/slope that you are on. Half of the time that I am carving, I could barely reach the ground by putting my arm out as far as I can simply because they are shallow, high speed carves on blue cruisers. On the other hand, when riding steeps it is natural to lean into the hill, and it is steep enough that I am almost laying down on it a lot of the time, no matter what speed I am at. It's all just about balancing the three and staying up on your edges.

[JUNGLEKID5]

Originally posted by Greco
W i d e

nice thats the way to be

[taimos]

when bombing i keep my legs close together and go from edge to edge if needing to do a gradual turn. when going down steeps i do lots of jumping turns.