help with pomas and t bars

[keepTheSport]

I am having huge difficulty using pomas n T bars with hardboot set up , 50f,45b. I have reverted to softboots at 30f,24b and only just comfortably adapted to t bar on this set up.

Im not having problems going downhill, it is the uptrack. Im worried i wont get back up hill or get another knee injury from perpetual falling:-0
There is a baby poma at cairngorm that i could keep going on but ill only get 100m run!

Any tips are most welcome. Any cross referencing tips from my softboot to hardboot set up would also be useful.

cheers

[joemzl]

Oh, that´s normal.

In my first years there were some times, when I fell off the T-bar.
Even more than fifteen years later my friends remember that and laugh about it.

Mostly it´s the experience to go uphill and looking like you have never done anything else.

I hope you only have one foot in the bindings when you´re going up?!!
A stomp pad is very usefull.

What else? Maybe a short video will help us to understand the problem.

[keepTheSport]

Joemzl, thanks for replying. At least you confirm its normal:-)

I will just keep trying but 15 years..haha

I remembered that there is a slope where the exit off is at bottom of run and i dont think there is fencing on uptrack, so if i fall i can easily traverse onto slope...that helps alleviate some panic...oooh the shame...when i tell people ive been snowboarding 3 seasons and still on little baby poma...

So you want a video...ha..ha..ha...comedy night in at my expense:-) joemzl my comedy snowboarding lasts all day..i think cairngorm should hire me for entertainment value;-)

Think i will get a stomp pad then...cheers:-)

[joemzl]

It´s normal for not so advanced riders, sometimes with new equipment, sometimes if I want to act cool ...
Try a bit and you will mange it - I´m sure.

Your comedy lasts all day? - Pleeeeaaaaase share it with us.

[István]

Most of the beginners have issues on pull-lifts. Try to stand in a relaxed position, don't try to steer the board. A stomp pad might help at the beginning - this is the small rubber thingy to place you right foot on to prevent slipping.

One more thing you might want to try on t-bars: instead of taking the left side (provided that you are regular) and sticking the bar in between your legs, which is usually tought by people, try taking the right side and just place the bar behind your butt (not in between your legs). It is more convenient in my opinion.

And actually you don't have nothing to lose trying it, if I understand correctly you fall our regularly

[keepTheSport]

Joemzl, yes comedy all day! A few examples one day snows hard then its soft...i nose dive and fall...i get locked into deep carves i cant get out of..then i fall...i love to skid hard at end of run and turn switch...so i travel backwards cant see where im going...usually hit something and fall...i got so desperate other day to get up the t bar, that i got screw driver out changed angles to duck 15, -15,( my old style) while going up poma realised my body no longer recognised duck, i hung on for dear life, untill i saw a gap in the fencing, i let go of t bar and fell...another time i almost got to top but fell at last 20 metres, snow patrol started shouting at me saying i shouldnt let go of t bar early...blah, blah blah..

...so for on lookers im a comedy act on the board...teee hehe..

Istvan, thanks for t bar tip, i shall try, like u say i got nothing to lose! I am regular foot. take right side of t bar, for some reason i cant picture this in my mind

...imagine the shock i would have if i just thought i could rock on up to Zinal having never been in hardboots

Achievement 2010 i learned how to do up bindings for softboots Achievement 2012 i learned how to step into bindings for hardboots

Anyway, i'll keep practising until the onlookers stop looking, then i'll know, i've got it

Another question theres been a lot of snow at cairngorms, so i dont know whether i should be on my wider softboot board or if its stll okay to use alpine board?

[joemzl]

A few examples one day snows hard then its soft...i nose dive and fall...i get locked into deep carves i cant get out of..then i fall...i love to skid hard at end of run and turn switch...so i travel backwards cant see where im going...usually hit something and fall...i got so desperate other day to get up the t bar, that i got screw driver out changed angles to duck 15, -15,( my old style) while going up poma realised my body no longer recognised duck, i hung on for dear life, untill i saw a gap in the fencing, i let go of t bar and fell...another time i almost got to top but fell at last 20 metres, snow patrol started shouting at me saying i shouldnt let go of t bar early...blah, blah blah..

Is it really your story? Over the years I can find myself in every thing you described.

You have onlookers? You lucky one

Since I´m on hardboots I had no onlookers because my style wasn´t good enough.
All my friends told me that the other guys could go deeper and I shouldn´t try it further on.
But this year..... it was the first time, that someone from a chairlift shouted "bravo, bravo".

Anyway, I kept practising to get some onlookers. Now I know, I`ve got it.

Concerning the board in soft snow: take the stiffest board you have will be the best answer.

[keepTheSport]

Joemzl, you must be good to get the 'bravo'


It's always good to know, that others have suffered on the lifts too

The onlookers i get, are picking up tips on what NOT to do...haha

Both my boards are stiff enough but one is wider. Thanks anyway for tip. I'll chicken out and start on wider board (soft boots) but in my defense if snow is packed down i'll switch to hard boots.

Can't wait to get on snow

[joemzl]

Joemzl, you must be good to get the 'bravo'

Not really. I only was the one-eyed among the blind.

I wish you much success for the rest days of the season. Enjoy it.

[harald]

One excercise that helped me a lot when riding t-bars and pomas is to run downwards at a flat section on the slope with only the front foot attached in the binding and the rear foot on the stomp pad with most of the weighte on the front foot. I find it easier to keep the balance when the feet are close together than apart. However, this can be individual and you have to find out by experimentation.

[keepTheSport]

Harald, you make a very good suggestion because i almost fell off t bar 5 times last saturday, and what kept me going, i noticed, was front foot control. I didnt attempt that particular t bar again it is definitely something to do with backfoot that is causing problem. Cairngorms had also run out of stomp pads...

I shall practice a bit of skating about with backfoot out too...i'll try anything that might help-thanks

Oh going downhill i was worse than before! I dont understand the different shapes/carving of boards. Im doing really well(forme) carving on softboot board. I just seem to know how it turns whereas the alpine board im clueless to the feel of it and i dont know when it will turn. I basically skidded every attempted turn

I suppose i've just got to be on the alpine board more often. At least my uptrack has improved a bit

[keepTheSport]

An update...i actually spent a whole day on my hardboot set up yesterday ...getting on better with t bar...put stomp pad on board, kept most weight on front foot, kept ankles, knees flexible...so cheers everyone for tips:)

Concentrated on heelside carves all day...even managed to leave thin lines... ...i was very patient as i spent 4 hours on the beginner's poma, would manage 2 big turns then that was end of run! However, in the afternoon i ventured higher and on hardpack n ice...i still managed some carves at speed but on steep bits i chickened out, especially after one hard fall that has left me at home today...damn!

Still eveyone's tips are being taken on board ( no pun intended ) and although i'm pretty rubbish still..there has been an improvement...

[keepTheSport]

Up at Cairngorms today.I was shocked how well i got on with hardboot set up. In fact when i swapped to softboots for last hour or so, i found i could hardly make the board turn caught the front edge and face-planted(which i never do on softie board) besides numerous other heelside falls. I sat there wishing i still had hardboot stuff on...this is a FIRST!

I was able to carve squirrelyor long ones, dodging around people etc...heelside better than toeside but toeside improving as day went on...

To top today off a SKIER said that i was doing some good carves and getting some good steep angles ...all i can say is an angel carver possessed me...as once i got tired i started the usual comedy routine...

I was better on t bar but only because snow had filled in dodgy bits.

Can anyone tell me if i eventually will be able to switch easily between diffferent set ups? As the above mentioned is most unexpected - to suddenly lose the skills i have gained on softie set up...where are those skills? Has anyone else exprienced this?

The piste is long with many a winding turn...still so much to learn but still such fun...and it's always worth one more try

[Transistor Rhythm]

Maybe you use your hardboots stiffness to keep the board on angle instead of using your ankles. This is not a problem if you do it on an easy slope, but once you return to the steeps you will fail in hardboots too. So on heelside, pull your toes toward you, and on toeside, push them away from you. This goes both for hard- and softboots.

[keepTheSport]

Transistor R, thanks for comments

My aim is to ec carve but initially i must learn the swiss rotation technique. From my understanding this does not involve lifting toes or pushing toes down. It is getting the board to turn based on rotating the upper body first and once this rotation stops the board turns. This has been my practical experience and it works really well.

Maybe i've misread the swiss technique on this site but i honestly don't remember anything about lifting/pushing toes

I have added the push/pull of the board. This has been successful on both set ups, getting this nailed yesterday on the alpine board was an amazing experience especially on the steeper bits(like a blue as rest of run is green) It was just yesterday i lost the capacity to do things on softboots board. Weird as i was off piste last sunday on softi es applying rotation, push/ push and carving through big clumps of snow not just powder...

From thinking about it more, it might be my legs were more tired than i realised...the first time i used hardboots for couple hours, i walked like i was drunk after ..yesterday was first time i really successfully worked the alpine board hard...maybe the drunken legs syndrome appeared when i switched into softboots...

I will just have to try softboots again to see...

Any further comments appreciated.