Backside (heelside) turn and hands position

[yomama]

J & P,

In the backside turn, is it OK to put both hands on the snow ? or is it mandatory to the back hand (right hand in your case) along the body ?

Peter

[rilliet]

Hi Peter,

No problem, you can put both hands on the snow in backside EC turns.
But this will turn your chest more forward and make you slide more on the body and less on the edge.

The advantage I think, is that the turn is a bit easier to do.

Jacques

[fivat]

Hi Peter aka yomama

Yes, you can put both hands on the snow in the backside EC turns. I do it sometimes:



I remind you of my regular position. In this photo one could think that I'm goofy

The bad point is that the body is very twisted... So it may appear unaesthetic. Judge by yourself.

In the past, Serge Vitelli did his famous turn (front side laid turn - no linked extreme turns) with the back hand along the body. We don't advise this in our technical pages because you get a counter-rotated position in the turn. If you do a proper rotation, your chest is directed toward the snow and your both hands should caress the snow. It's different for the backside turn. I place sometimes my back hand along the body, for esthetic reasons, to pay tribute to Serge Vitelli and to look cool :



Jean Nerva's philosophy was to smile during the turn. But our goal is to lick the snow, so it's hard to smile and to put out the tongue at the same time

-Patrice Fivat

[yomama]

Thanks Jacques and Patrice for you input.

From you feedback, I guess I overtwist my upper body on the backside then because I tend to put both hands on the snow.

I will need to work on removing the back hand away from the snow so that it ends up along my body....

Can't wait for snow !!

Peter

[RicHard]

My two cents opinion:
the effect of a strong rotation of the upper part of the body depends on the inclination of the board and of the body.
I try to explain this thought (for the backside carve, in particular):
when you are almost upright with the board/snow angle of about 5/10°, a strong rotation let you board slide and rotate out of the edge hold.
When you are at 85° and your body is almost parallel to the snow, a trong rotation (for example, due to the two hands on the snow) let the tip of the board dig into the snow, not slide.
I hope I'm explaining what I mean: two situations, two effects for the same movement. While extreme carving, the strong rotation even in backside carve push the tip's edge strongly inside the snow.
I think that such a reasoning is phisically correct. The problem could be that such a position could be a problem for the next frontside carve... but it depend on how you can do what you should do in such a carves!!!
Ciao!
_RicHard.

[fivat]

Good point RicHard, I think you are right:

I hope I'm explaining what I mean: two situations, two effects for the same movement. While extreme carving, the strong rotation even in backside carve push the tip's edge strongly inside the snow.

Next winter I will study the question on (in?) the snow

-Patrice