EC instructors in USA in Vermont/NJ/NY/PA areas?

[ak47nsk]

Hey guys!
After watching some vids again and again I finally got myself a new Swoard board, can't wait for delivery

Problem is I never had any hard-gear experience and I want to start with proper coaching. Season is too short here, self-studying will take forever, especially when there is nobody to videotape your ride.

Are there any guys in this area who do coach EC style? Any recommendations?

Much appreciated,
Alex

[vizsyn]

HI Alex!

I'm a longtime soft-booter that just made the jump to alpine this season. I just got a SWOARD ECarver Gen4 161M myself, and much like you, I have not had any previous hardboot experience. I've only been able to run the SWOARD once so far this season. In my case, I found that I am able to do toeside carves easily enough, but heelside carves have proven to be problematic for me... The tail for some reason has a strong tendency to skid on my heelside turns. I could definitely use some professional instruction as well.

I'm sure you are well aware that alpine snowboarders of any kind are quite rare in the US. I myself have only spotted a couple of alpine riders in the Southern PA areas that I frequent(Whitetail and Liberty) and that was last year, I've seen none so far this year. One guy was riding an older Burton Factory Prime, and the other guy I spotted was on a Virus. From what I could tell, the guy on the Burton was pretty good, while the guy on the Virus was skidding his turns, but maybe he's a new alpine rider too. I have yet to spot any alpine riders that do the fully laid-out linked EC technique, I'm hoping to be the first guy to pull off the EC technique on the small resorts here in Southern PA.

Try looking on BomberOnline as well, if I remember correctly they have a search function that lists alpine instructors by state.

Joe

[yomama]

Joe, Alex,

The very best way to have "professional" help is via a video of you and post them here.
That way, your technique will be analyzed by the very best EC riders from all over world and positive feedback will be provided.
It is like having 15 EC instructors helping you out at the same time.

Good luck,

Yomama

[manuchill]

I can understand the question regarding 'a personal coach/trainer' and also posting a video on this forum

As a starter I could really recommend the advice given by yomama. There are plenty of members here who are good enough to analyze the video('s) and capable of pointing you in the right direction.
Besides this, from a personal point of view, I could recommend a personal coach which can help you in a faster pace than shooting a video, format it for the web, wait for analysis from this community.

A good starter is joining one of the Swoard demo weekends.
Lots of good, nice, friendly people there to help you develop the technique. For me, next weekend will be my 5th time and all the previous years I've learned from many different people. That's one of the powers of this community: they are all willing to help.

[vizsyn]

@Yomama(Peter Vu?) and Manuchill... Thank you

The support and encouragement of everyone in the SWOARD/extremecarving community makes the quest for the perfect carve an endeavor worth pursuing. As small as the alpine community is, it is good to know that alpine newcomers like Alex and myself are not totally alone trying to learn and find our way.

@Alex
I guess we'll need to find willing friends that can record video of us so that the EC gurus can help us. BTW, where on the East Coast are you? I live in MD but ride a lot at Whitetail and Liberty, I will be making a trip to Okemo with some friends in March.

[tali]

Hi
If everything goes well, we are planning a veeeeery small Swoard extremecarving gathering in Québec this year - after I return from Zinal, i.e.in February-March. The details will follow.

[yomama]

Joe,
You are good to decypher yomama to Peter Vu .

Joe, Alex,
If you are a first time harbooter, try to master the push pull technique on the green first


Keep in mind that the EC video with Patrice and Jacques laying it down on the snow is on double black diamond with tons of speed so don't try to reach for the snow on the green otherwise you will pick up some bad habits to start with.

Have fun.

[benttech]

Quite honestly I'd first learn on how to carve on an alpine board before literally diving into trying extremecarving. The technique used for extremecarving is very specific and in my opinion has a narrow field of usage. In addition, it may cause you to learn a number of bad habits as a beginner, such as bending down and reaching for the snow, as yomama said.

What's more, although the Swoard is a very capable board, you may find it to be simply too much (width, length, stiffness) for the small and narrow runs that frequent in the lower northeast.

I'm speaking from personal experience, I used to live in NJ and wanted to immediately get into alpine boarding and specifically, extremecarving, watched the vids, got the Swoard, and had the same mindset as you. But.. learn from my mistakes and you could save yourself a few years of frustration. Learn what angulation and inclination is, rotation, how to use the knees and then go into extremecarving.

[yomama]

Bentech,
Care to be specific about what Joe/Alex can learn from "mistakes"?

Agree with you that the Swoard 12-13m sidecut can be a handful in the very narrow corridors of the East Coast. That said, a mountain would always have some wide trails as well.

Also agree one must master the angulation/inclination first before full on lay out EC carving.

Disagree though that push/pull is limiting and has a narrow range of use. To the contrary, it is not hard on the legs as one pulls instead of pushing hard against G-Force and gravity during transitions. It is possible to use that technique everywhere on the mountain.

2 cents

[vizsyn]

Hello all!

Thankfully at one of the resorts I go to, there is one green run that is sufficiently wide enough to where i can practice wide, sweeping turns. It's not super long, but suitable enough for my purposes. As of now, I can do toeside carves easily, but my heelsides are sketchy.

Realistically, my goal for this season is to get comfortable and fluent with push-pull carving. The sequence in "LIFTED" where Jacques and Patrice each perform a run of tightly linked push-pull rotation carves keeping their arms to their sides is what I have in mind. Given my inexperience with alpine, full-throttle EC is absolutely out of the question at this time.

At least, I'm not totally in the dark about push-pull and rotation concepts. Ever since I discovered SWOARD/Extremecarving, I've been retraining myself in the Swiss technique starting last season on my freeride board While not totally instinctive
with it yet, I have been able to maneuver my freeride setup with far greater agility and fluidity than when I was clumsily "shredding" about, all twisted in counter-rotation.

A video will come soon...

[Jonny]

Lots of East Coast guys CAN make EC turns, but the current Ice Coast approach places a lot more emphasis on a more erect upper body, with the shoulders much more parallel to the angle of the hill - tends to be a more reliable and less punishing technique on the nasty pseudo-snow we're on so much. Getting your armpit in the snow is a lot more fun when the snow's actually snow.It's not that you can't make an EC turn on ice - of course a skilled rider can EC anything, it's just not the place to learn it.

That said, check out the who's going where threads on Bomber. You're pretty certain to find some really sick riders to follow at Stratton, Okemo, Stowe, Loon/Waterville and a few other places. I ride Mt Snow a lot (not that I'm in the truly sick category myself) because it's the closest bigger hill to me and it's actually a good place to work on EC moves, because the real prerequisite for true laydowns is a decent amount of pitch to go with trail width, with lots of track to practice your push-pulls too. At Snow, Mineshaft and Ridge are super for laydown turns, and Snowdance and Canyon not bad either. Don't bother on weekends - you'll get killed by people making 11s down the sides.

There's surprisingly good terrain in Western MA also, where I live. Bousquet and Butternut both have good practice runs, and there's a thriving hardboot community at Berkshire East, which has some pitch available also. All are OK on weekends, too. Drop a line if you're coming up and we'll try to organize a posse

[ak47nsk]

Guuys, thanks a lot for response!

Jonny, thanks for advice, will def check Mt Snow out. I go to Killington all the time and they have only 1 slope suitable for wide turns, which is Header on Ramshead, its always crowded tho.

Yomama, thanks! Everyone says that its better to start from making video of yourself, the problem is how to do it when you snowboard alone?

Joe, I'm in NJ, how about going to VT? I can jump on the train literally any day of the week. I have gopro camera, it will be much easier to learn together.

Regards,
Alex

[Jonny]

Killington??? Ouch! There's no way I would ever bring a carving board to K-Mart unless it were about -20° and I knew there'd be no one else around. Just no alpinism/good manners/slope awareness, or not enough anyway, and you'd spend your whole day looking way uphill during every turn just to be sure you weren't going to get killed. If you're in that neighborhood Pico's a better call.

Seriously, what you're going to need is decent snow, no crowds, decent steeps, and the right gear, and I think that's the right order, too. At Kilington the right steepness is probably the middle of what used to be called Cascade (I was an instructor there in the late '70s, but believe they've changed some of the names), which will give you an idea of the pitch involved (you just can't see how steep it is when PF and JR are ripping up Youtube) but you'll never find Cascade with neither bumps nor crowd.

I believe there's a Pureboarding instructor at Berkshire East (look for references to "Thunderdome" or the "BEast" on Bomber), and by all means let me know if you're headed to Mt Snow or the Berkshires - always fun to meet new addicts and I have most of February free. DON'T miss the East Coast Expression Session 2/28-3/4 (ECES) at Stratton - really great event with tons of gear and great riders and clinics. I have to miss all but the first day, but it'll be a gas for sure.

[yomama]

Hi Jonny,
Great advises and tips.
Having lived in the Ice Coast, it is true that attempting laydown turns during a crowded weekend is simply suicide, especially out East.
Even here in Tahoe, I can only do a few linked EC carves on weekends when I am the first on the lift and it is good for 2-3 runs.
When I started out EC, I went to practice during weekday.
BTW Jonny, in EC, the upper body is (IMHO) also quite erect. We are not crouched over.

Joe/Alex,
Some random thoughts for practice
- Do only one turn (toe or heel) and get into the transition….stop yourself and analyze if you are stable on the transition, are you in balance, are the shoulders at the right place, are you bent at the waist etc….
- When you try out full out laydown, try coming down with good speed to a flat section and do a laydown toe or heel until you come to a full stop. Repeat analysis…..is the pressure on the feet at 50/50? Is your weight too forward or backward etc….
- For the heelside, try on the carpet. Imagine yourself carving heelside, can your chest touch the carpet with your two hands by your side? If so, how is your weight distributed on the board?

Hope this helps

[vizsyn]

Hello All!

After riding yesterday, and looking at some very brief video clips that a friend took on a phone, I realized that I still have lingering counterrotation tendencies on my heelside . I admit that I'm having trouble trusting the heelside edge at higher speeds

When I transition from toeside to heelside, I rotate properly and the carve actually begins quite nicely with a deep, sharp line. But as the speed and centrifugal forces pick up, the fear factor kicks in and I instinctively counter-rotate , aborting the carve and assuming a skidded brake posture . Or, the fear reflex of straightening my knees happens and leaning tailward, and I wind up losing my balance and toppling over . But toeside carve come so easily... Is this normal for the alpine learning curve? Yes, I will work on getting a video posted, I need to find somebody to get some clean footage.

I will only use the SWOARD on weekdays, there is absolutely NO way I'll be taking that thing out to the slopes on the weekends, the whole resort turns into a roller derby on ice