Good guide to riding steeps
Found this excellent guide on youtube for anyone having trouble riding steep terrain.
That wasn’t a bad video. He has good technique. But he should have touched on lower body steering. It’s super important for riding steeps (he was steering with his lower body, just didn’t talk about it). I think it’s also important to gradually build up to riding steeper terrain. You should also gradually work on tighter, faster and smaller turns using lower body steering on mellower terrain, then gradually take those new skills to steeper terrain.
I also don’t agree with the way he explained pressure on the front foot at the start of the turn, followed by the back foot at the end of the turn. It’s not as simple as that. Maybe he was taught a different way but I would explain it as independent foot control. Both legs need to be able to absorb and exert pressure at different times according to the terrain (and it’s not as simple as front foot = start of turn, back foot = back of turn).
Otherwise, great topic. Hopefully we can keep it going.
@rider: I think Boardworld should make a video Jeremy :D, it’ll be awesome. I do agree with you that it’s not as simple as front foot start and back foot end but maybe it’s the AASI way (or to make it easier to understand)? I also have SnowboardAddiction intermediate riding video where they explained steeps and their technique is more like front foot pressure and pivot the back foot (I guess this is to make tighter turns and thus control speed/go slower).
His riding is really nice, you can learn a lot by just seeing how he rides. His knees are really bent all the time and you can see clearly how he works the board nose to tail.
He didn’t mention the upper body much but if you watch, he releases it down the hill to initiate every turn and that keeps his body in a great position over his board to use his lower body to great effect.
I look forward to riding some steeps i’ll definately try and visualise some of his turns before i drop in.
IMO There isn’t really one way to ride steeps. Just like there isn’t one way ride bumps or powder. The terrain, pitch and conditions always change so you should try to change with them. I think focusing on one small part of your riding and working on it is the best thing to do once you are good enough to try steeps.
There are HUNDREDS of drills to try, to improve small parts of your riding. This video and Jez focused on the main ones that help steeps.
When I’m teaching steeps, I really like to teach what Aidy was talking about as a strong base for riding steeps.
Here is how I like to explain it:
1) Rides some banks/walls etc. Try to turn the a steep wall on one edge. What did your body do?
You had to lean away from the wall so you body is perpendicular to it. If you don’t lean, it’s impossible.
When you did lean, it all flowed smoothly because you took a steep wall and turned it into just another green run by being perpendicular to the wall.
2) Try some steeps (a small step up from what you normally ride)
Think about the banks. This time the snow surface is tilted downhill. So tilt yourself downhill!
You will be amazed at how much easier everything works when you are perpendicular to the surface you are riding on. (You will need a bit of speed to make this possible, but just constant turns on the steeps will provide enough speed).
The video above talked about projecting yourself onto the front foot to start the turn. When you do this, simply project yourself forward and also DOWNHILL (like a diagonal). This will make you perpendicular to the hill and make all your current skills possible to use on steeper terrain.
It doesn’t matter if you are just starting steeps or already a pro. Being perpendicular to the surface your are riding WILL make turning easier.
As a bonus your steeps turns will gain a cool banked turn feel, because you are essentially using the mountain like one big bank!
Here’s another one from SnowProfessor. This one is similar to SnowboardAddiction’s guide.
Ha! No wonder I choose to clean up spills at work with rags under my feet. I’m doing pivot turns!
I like that rider26 mentioned using your feet separately.
I imagine my back foot as my brake or anchor (to wash off speed) and front foot to steer and keep control.
On really steep terrain (over 60°) it’s often impossible to initiate a turn, especially in a narrow shoot, so being able jump from one edge to the next is critical. Consider Australian conditions where you’ll often encounter shrubs, exposed rocks, creeks or sink holes you need to get over - no point making a turn if you’re negotiating them.
Riding steeps involves a fair amount of thought, you have to be able to change tactics since a small unexpected lose of control can result in huge speed gains that can be impossible to slow down from.
Steeps and powder is the holy grail of snowboarding.
He makes it look so easy!! I haven’t even done zalis at blue cow yet.. That’s my next run to do this season.. After keeping up with mr.h0z down towers on Mt.P I’m pretty confident I can tackle zalis! And that’s nothing compared to the slope in that vid! Lol
Making riding look and feel easy should be an end goal for any part of snowboarding i think.
In the lessons I took a couple of years back, the instructor was very focussed on steering, mainly pivoting around the front foot on steeper stuff. I didn’t really nail it, but he also talked about “projecting” the board forwards before the turn, then bringing your body back over the board during the turn.
In the lessons I took a couple of years back, the instructor was very focussed on steering, mainly pivoting around the front foot on steeper stuff. I didn’t really nail it, but he also talked about “projecting” the board forwards before the turn, then bringing your body back over the board during the turn.
Lower body steering and projecting (also known as fore/aft movement) are both VERY useful tools to improve you steeps riding.
I’ll give it a quick explanation for those people wondering why (sometimes we are told to do things with no explaination… kinda annoys me lol)
- Improved steering allows you to make shorter turns. Which gives you better control of you speed in the steeps (VERY important).
- Fore/Aft movement gets your weight on the front foot at the start of the turn when pivoting the board around is most important.
As you move through the turn, you move you stance over the back foot which allows for grip at the end of the turn where the most pressure builds up. Otherwise if you just stay on the front foot, the tail will slide out at the end of the turn.
* Another big plus of projection is the thing I spoke about above, projecting over the nose but also projecting downhill.
** Second bonus is I find a constantly moving stance helps avoid getting that horrible edge chatter on hard pack days.
Your instructor probably could have just stuck to one of these 2 things to ensure you got it and benifited from it.
Otherwise it just ends up being a guy in a red jacket saying “Here’s a bunch of things you can’t do… good luck” lol.
But it’s still something you can work on in your own time even if you didn’t get it in the lesson.
I agree, fore and aft movement helped me improve my steeps riding by a lot. Steering on the other hand, still needs some work.