Feedback on pics...sorry no video...

[keepTheSport]

Hi Parallax,

I thought there some kind of conspiracy going on with your dodgy links I've never clicked so fast in my life to stop other windows and browsers opening I am now officially the fastest clicker in town

Anyway, thanks for pointing out the back leg thing. Just to clarify with a question: when you say "60/55" do you mean % as in 60% weight on back leg, or do you mean 60/55 angles of boots - Obviously, my brain doesn't work as fast a my clicking

I love the idea of a 'how to' on prep for the EC Season... look forward to it being posted

[keepTheSport]

Hi

I just realised that 60% + 55% does not add up to 100% ...never mind...

[keepTheSport]

To start with I would try stance angles that are quite low by EC or race standards as this is where you body position seems to naturally wants to go, do this even if your toes hang over the edge.

Also try riding with the stance angles you already have, but try to get your hips to be much more facing forward (the plus position for your backside pictures).

Try to find a happy medium, with regards to your stance angles, between the very high and low angles that you may test.

Ideally, at your stage of learning hardboots, perhaps you should try to bring your hips a bit more forward and lower your stance angles a bit ... your stance angles will change as your comfort level in hardboots grows.

Finding the perfect stance angle is what I call the dirty little secret of Hard Boots, it takes time.

Hope this helps.
Rob

My initial attempts have been on high angles 50f,45b, however, I have been back on the snow since last week-end in my soft boots, 30f, 27b, I seem to have done really well on my heel side carving. don't know why certain aspects just came to me.I'm hardly having to skid out of things, can vary a carve from short and sharp to a long one across the slope, managing quite well to carve over/through bumps!On the flip-side my toe side has just deteriorated?

Anyway I'd rather have one half perfect than two rubbish:)

So to perfect my heel side further ,I have now decided to lower the angles on my hard boots to try and gain the same skill level as in my soft boots. In other words get used to things bit by bit cause it's working on the soft boots.

Before season is out I hope to attempt some heel side extremecarves

Just thought I'd give you all an update, as all of your time and advice is being used and paying off

[Abrax]

Good! It's also a time which has helped a lot. Unconscious mind did take an action during the summer and now you have it all rearranged in your head!

[keepTheSport]

Good! It's also a time which has helped a lot. Unconscious mind did take an action during the summer and now you have it all rearranged in your head!

yes the unconscious mind has been at play... I'm now thinking perhaps the 50,45 in the hard boots has paid off in my soft boots... ...last week end was the first time in softs boots for ages...my last couple of months last season was in the hard set up. I remember concentrating on the heel edge because I was getting some terrible hard falls.

Two experiences so far 2012:

- I had to rotate the body so far round to force the board to turn at a slow speed on the flat..then I knew what rotation meant
-I had my first experience yesterday on a red run at Cairngorm, of being swung round rapidly into a heel edge carve that was also rapid across the slope ..it surprised me that much that I didn't know what to do at the other end...so I crashed onto my back side...in fact I had 2 of these yesterday

What did I manage to do that made those carves suddenly rapid?

Is this normal and correct, as I'm sure i've been reading about g-forces..is this the beginning?

[Abrax]

I can't help unless I will have a video to see what is happening.... Sorry.

[keepTheSport]

I can't help unless I will have a video to see what is happening.... Sorry.

no chance of a video being posted ..I'll keep on reading ...there are many ways of describing things and I know the ones to pick that help ...

[tali]

-I had my first experience yesterday on a red run at Cairngorm, of being swung round rapidly into a heel edge carve that was also rapid across the slope ..it surprised me that much that I didn't know what to do at the other end...so I crashed onto my back side...in fact I had 2 of these yesterday

What did I manage to do that made those carves suddenly rapid?

Let me guess. It might be riding on the edge (no skidding at all) done by you unconsciously... it is easier on the heel side.

[Abrax]

stay straight on your board and don't let it to ride away! I would love to be sure what we are talking about here

But guessing right after Tali... Welcome to carvers world!

[vizsyn]

I am reading this with great interest, since I myself am still in the infancy stage of hard booting. I only got six rides on my SWOARD last year due to extremely poor winter conditions. Sadly, it looks to be more of the same right now, not a single sign of snow at the resorts in my area here in the Northeastern USA...

Hopefully I'll get a more productive season this winter, and I hope fully master rotation-based carving, push-pull and ultimately full EC!

[harald]

I would think that the instruction videos of Ben (Evgeny) will answer most of your questions, and also the original instruction clips from Jacques and Patrice on this website. Start with doing the basic exercises at slow speed and on very flat sections of the slope and then progress. If you are doing these exercises systematically to learn (1) the rotation, (2) push-pull, and (3) carving with rotation and push-pull, then you are ready for going faster and deeper. The important thing is to learn the basic movement so good that you do them automatically. I would also think that you should use the hard boots set up with carving board all the time to learn the correct movements from the very start. And remember: practice, practice, and practice is the key to success.
Good luck.

[keepTheSport]

Let me guess. It might be riding on the edge (no skidding at all) done by you unconsciously... it is easier on the heel side.

Tali,you are exactly right

It was exilarting but so shockingly scary at the same time my brain couldn't compute what was happening, so I crashed out instead of impaling myself onto the wooden fence fast approaching
I'm not good at holding a video camera on a stick..I would crush it in one of my spectacular falls..haha. ..I'm going to get some video contraption for Christmas and one quiet day I'll try and video myself coming down the slope but don't hold your breath that I can film like our Russian friends do...Hahaha

[Abrax]

The best video is a one filmed from the distance, a video in which we can see several turns one after another. GoPro movie on or a stick movie is not helping at all because we cannot see what is actually happening. You may need another one to record you or place your camera on a tripod and record a whole track, then cut it into parts and show us simply the most interesting part (you making many turns )

[keepTheSport]

Harald, I have indeed spent this week end doing some of those drills from Ben's video..the drifting linking turns with straight ish legs certainly helps on my toe side..

I felt I progressed well this weekend ...again I'm amazed at how well my heel side is doing...the push pull is amazing at cutting out speed..I now find myself pushing hard into the snow to cut speed quickly..and I can choose to carve uphill to cut speed although once one toe side I'm better at this uphill carve...I actually know where the weakness is on being locked into an uphill heel side carve..it's the initial getting on toe edge that is the problem..so I can work on that...last week I didn't know why I couldn't get out of a heel side , this week I do...

strangely enough I can flip between heel and toe edges when board is facing downhill..

due to thin base cover of snow I didn't want to be on alpine board, so I soft booted but it's still going well...I also moved my angles from 30f, 27b to 36, 33...I was pleasantly surprised how much better it felt and I feel I can go a bit more forward yet on my soft set up...as soon as I feel comfortable with the snow conditions ths hard boots will be out...
Thanks again everyone for repeated help...things aren't always obvious to me unless I read the same thing in different ways or experience it,

[keepTheSport]

Abrax, I have upgraded the OP system on my laptop just this weekend...so any video/go pro type things will work, so try I can edit etc

Although I'm having some holiday snow time off work at moment,I intend to take 2 solid Weeks towards end of Jan/Feb...hopefully by then I'll have some footage...

...anyway I'll be thinking of you guys at Zinal, I'll be joining you telepathically..and trying to lay down some turns here in Scotland...although as you gather my skill level means I have a different way of laying down a turn...haha