I want to ride da Half Pipe…

After lots of eh hem..soul searching (?) film-watching and general thinking (incredibly dangerous stuff I know!!)  I’ve decided I really want to be doing is riding half pipes!!  I even remember seeing it on the winter olympics when I lived in sunny NQ and just thinking “I want to do THAT!” but lost the trail of thought somewhere along the way…

And I have no idea how to get to this goal at all - do I even have the terminology right?!

At present I am a few days a year boarder (who would love to ride sooooo much more - wouldn’t we all!) who has tried a little bit of park stuff.  I also have no chance at going anywhere big (like the US or Canada) for the next few years at least.

can I learn this stuff in OZ/NZ?  OR even Asia?

What would I need learn focus on?  180’s, 360’s? Or is it something you just sort of pick up?

IS park stuff relevant? I can at least do some of that over summer here in Melb

Apologies if this has been covered in a previous topic - please direct me there if this is the case

Make sure your carving is dialed, edge control is super important in the pipe. Check out Snowboard Addiction video for riding half pipe, it’s really good. http://www.snowboardaddiction.com/shop/products/halfpipe_and_handplants_download

HP is hard, probably the hardest element of snowboarding IMO. I’d hate to think how many times the good HP riders have hiked the pipe.

HP requires much of the same skillset as park; spinning off both edges etc. I’d concentrate on park riding first, then bring those tricks to the pipe. Don’t expect anything to come quickly; i’d say three seasons minimum of semi regular riding before you are spinning out of the pipe.

Another problem is the quality of HPs in Aus. It costs a lot to shape and maintain a HP and most mountains don’t bother. The result is a poorly shaped pipe (steep transition) which makes it hard to ride. Can’t say I really blame the mountains. There is very little interest for HP in Aus and I don’t think I’ve ever seen more than three people riding a HP at any one time. Weird, considering the current Olympic Champ is Australian.

i also think it is the size of the pipe

they once had a mini pipe at perisher - before i knew what pipe was

a little mini pipe to get the feel of riding pipe without going huge would be sweet

I’m going to echo AJ2theC’s thoughts. Personally, I find halfpipe riding incredibly difficult; it’s a unique skill and you need to approach it differently. I’m not trying to discourage you. It’s a great goal to have and one I’d love to see you achieve.

I would suggest working on your edging skills, carving, switch riding etc. The more comfortable you are with these skills, the less daunting it will be. Definitely start small; try to find a small pipe somewhere or even just a quarter pipe, and get used to riding the transitions. If you’re serious about learning halfpipe, I’d strongly recommend you find a good instructor who can teach you the skills and unique approach to halfpipe riding.

Park skills are certainly beneficial, as are normal riding skills. It’s a lot easier to do a 180 on natural terrain then in the halfpipe. So really work on your general riding and freestyle skills. The better your riding is, the easier the transition into halfpipe will be.

Australia doesn’t have many halfpipes. The only one I know of is in Perisher and I can’t cay I’ve ridden it. Overseas superpipes are huge and they can be very scary to learn on. Some resorts do have beginner pipes and these are the best to learn on. I know Breckenridge had a great mini pipe when I was over there several years ago. I think there are a few halfpipes at resorts in Japan, but I can’t say for sure.

I’m really crap at riding halfpipe. In fact, it’s something I really want to work on. I’m hoping to ride a bit of pipe next year at Perisher. Anyway, I’ll see if I can get whistler_will or Shaner on here. These guys know how to ride pipe properly so hopefully they can steer you in the right direction. Keep focussed on your goals, keep working on your riding, and I’m sure you will progress and achieve your goals.

Muchos gracias for all the encouragement and advice guys!!  I wasn’t sure if my little epiphany would get too many responses other than “WTF?”

AJ2theC/Rider26 - I am not even slightly discouraged!   except maybe by the wait til winter 2012, especially if I can’t get to the northern hemisphere first…

Besides a ‘baby’ southern hemisphere half or quarter pipe may be the place to start….

a little mini pipe to get the feel of riding pipe without going huge would be sweet

Actually had lessons in carving and edging this winter and was very keen.  But I can’t practice these (except in my head) over summer I think as the city snow park isn’t really suitable? or is it? but it is suitable for other freestyle skills yes?  And it does have a little half-pipe looking thingy.  But the whole place looks very small…

Looking forward to what whistler_will or Shaner have to add

Niseko had a couple of pipes in Hanazono and Hirafu, as well as a few natural type pipes that are probably creeks during the summer!!!!!!

pretty sure cardrona nz is setup to learn pipe

i was riding the mini pipe while i was there
there is a bigger one once you progress

**i stand corrected
they do have a 22ft superpipe (olympic size)
http://www.cardrona.com/parks-and-pipes/olympic-superpipe.html

anyway if you progress to super pipe level you are going gunners

I haven’t ridden pipe much since I did a season in Big White quite a few years ago now, they had (and probably still do) a good setup with a super pipe leading into a normal 8-10ft pipe.  The super pipe was bloody scary eh! 

I like the goal btw, pipe can be very satisfying both rhythmically and because the hits keep coming!  I never really got past 3 good (relatively speaking obviously) hits in the super pipe before losing my speed due to not catching the transition but frankly that was quite enough for me.

My general advice would be to ride as much as possible, focusing on adjusting your balance through controlled body movements.  Use park and natural features as much as you can as they require lots of controlled movements.  (could I have sounded more like a snowboard instructor!!).  Right i’m too embarrassed to continue, good luck!

Yeah Cardrona used to have 3 pipes (mini, normal and super), but if you were going to go to NZ to ride them, I’d wait til at least the start of august cos it takes them a while to get them cut and ready. Snowpark also has a super pipe.
I personally think pipe is pretty fun, and don’t really get intimidated in the massive ones because there is nothing that says when learning you have to try and get air out of it…Its fun just going up the walls as far as you are brave enough to and then just turning back down into the pipe again…and it doesn’t matter how small you start with this!

Perisher’s “Brights pipe” is okay (considering its all australia has got) and certainly better than nothing - but has a problem in that one side of it is in the shade, while the other is in the sun, so one side is icy and hard while the other side gets slushy and destroyed.

I think the “pipe thingy” at city snow park is a quarter pipe, which would be sweet for practicing your transition on, although I’m not sure how wide that particular feature is.

I think the main thing with snowboarding is that every single day you ride, you get better. The more experience you get and the more you just ride, the more your board control increases. Good board control can be applied to whatever aspect of snowboarding you want to focus on. My point is to just ride as much as you can and the more you ride, the more skills and board control you’ll have to apply to the pipe when you finally get to try!
So if you have the time, money and inclination to get to city snow park over the summer, then definitely do it! It is certainly not going to do your pipe ambitions any harm!

Theres no quick solutions but at the same time I wouldn’t worry or over think it too much. I started riding pipe my second week of snowboarding nothing epic but I was young had tons of energy and was more than happy slashing around, pumping up then coming down fakie then fakie up the other wall and so on, hopping around a bit.

Like ajtothec said it takes lots of time so if you have been watching the olympics and have aspirations to be spinning out of the top you got to be prepared to put a lot of time in. However you definitely don’t need to be spinning out of the top to be having fun. If you are only riding a few days a year then get a skateboard and learn how to ride a mini ramp, then learn how to do frontside, backside ollies on a mini ramp, learn grabs and on and on. On snow look out for banks on the side of runs and try ollieing as high as you can off of them, ollie into grabs when you are ready (the feeling of riding on a banked surface will go some way to helping you understand the feeling of being in a halfpipe).

As for the park riding, it will totally help and as has been said many many times balance your weight between your feet and bend your knees more and you will be a better rider on everything and all the tips you have been told on general riding will be even more important in the half pipe because everything has to be a bit more fine tuned in the half pipe.

Lastly I’d say every run in the halfpipe is a good one whether it’s a crappy bumpy transition or big icey one but it’s going to take a long time. Like most things in life worth while it takes a lot of time and effort but the rewards will outweigh all the work a million times over. Dam I’m coming off all misty eyes just missing going snowboarding

so much good advice;

Ride as much as possible - check

Work on good board control, balance, controlled body movements - check

Skateboarding - er… check?  (could be interesting)

have a go at anything that looks like a bank, half pipe. mini pipe etc - check

so exciting

get ass pads.

though wearing them nekid like shown is not advisable

get something with hip protection too

One last thing for your checklist littlefrog, watch as much video of Kazu (not shaun) riding pipe as possible!