Need help learning how to carve, please help!

Posted: 06 March 2011 01:30 AM

I’m a self taught snowboarder who never had a lesson, and the best i can do to turn is by skidding. Just wondering if anyone could help me or make a guide on how to carve. I’ve checked everywhere on the internet and the only tips I’ve found is for simple turns or skidding, not true, pencil thin lines in the snow carving. Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Posted: 06 March 2011 09:01 AM

Best thing to do is purchase a group private lesson at your local resort.  Won’t cost that much and they’ll be able to set you up with some good activities to do.

In the meantime one that I recommend is slicing wide down the hill on your toe and hill edges.  What you do is pick a wide run with a nice comfortable decline.  Start on one edge (toe or heel) and cruise down the slope using the whole length of the run (not really good on a very busy trail to FYI).  As you get near the edge of the run transition your weight onto the other edge while dropping your lead shoulder down the run.  The trick is to make a smooth transition and speed actually does help.

As you get better you can tighten the amount of time between turns and spend more time pointing down the run then at the edges of the trail.

Posted: 06 March 2011 03:42 PM

thanks for the feedback, ill try it out and see if it helps. i read somewhere that you are suppose to use your front foot to steer or something, does this help, and how do you do it?

Posted: 06 March 2011 05:47 PM

Yeah you should have 60% of your weight through your front foot as you initiate a carve. Align your shoulder and front knee and point them in the direction you want to travel. I remeber when I started riding I used to put a a couple of knotches of forward lean on my front binding highback. This automatically meant that the knee was bent and that more weight was on my front foot. It’s a good little trick to help you throught the first stages of carving. Steve’s advice is pretty good, find a wide open run with a low gradient. Aim the board down the fall line and apply your weight to an edge (toe is easiest to stat with) hold an edge until you start turning uphill. Repeat this with the heel edge and the try linking them by initiating the second carve before you start traveling uphill.