Ask your riding questions here!
Can ya explain the driving with front knee & hip a bit more?????
You actively need to steer your board with your leading hip, knee (and feet). The driving force comes from your hip and knee. Imagine you’re snowboarding in the dark, and you have a headlight coming out the side of your leading hip. You need to point that hip in the direction you want to go, so you can see where you’re going. You need to drive your hip (and knee) into the desired path of travel. When riding powder, we can tend to pivot from the back foot, as that’s where our weight is. But doing this can limit your response and edge-to-edge quickness. By actively steering the board with your lower joints, you will increase your response and control.
So more a combination of both hip/knee and pivoting on the back foot in equal parts, or more focused on the hip/knee?????
It’s a combination of both in powder. You need to be on your back foot during the turn, but you also need know when to release that energy. During the turn, when you’re really getting a nice pow spray happening, you’re clearly on the back foot and the nose is floating high. But what happens at the end of that turn, when we want to redirect our energy into the next turn? If we stay weighted on the back foot and continue to pivot from the back, your turn will be sluggish to say the least. This is the point when you want to release energy from the turn, away from your back pivoting foot/side and into your front joints where the steering and driving force is coming from. Once you have that new turn initiated, fluidly get back onto the back foot and ride that turn out. Make sense?
Sounds a lot like surfing. I try to ride pow like that but at slower speeds I find it hard to initiate with the front hip knee. I feel “locked in” and really have to muscle the board.
For sure. That goes back to a lack of speed and momentum. Think about how you sink on a surfboard when you lose speed and momentum. You need both to float effectively and to really slay that pow pow!
The toughest challenge for me is maintaining momentum in the trees. Lose it there and it gets hard to reset a line but keeping speed the trees can get a bit hypnotic. One of my riding buddies barely turns in em and flys!
Comes down to doin the time.
Don’t look at the trees! Look for your open path, two or three turns ahead. Anticipate where you want to go. Commit to your line! I know it sounds simple, but this will really help you flow better and maintain your momentum in the trees.
Yeh I totally found that the case in Whistler. Initailly charging through following everyone I struggled cos it gets quite tight and there is some steep terrain. Eventually I just thought about it less and just went with it.
@K2 and rider: I could never ride trees fast, especially in pow. I think partly its because I hit a tree relatively hard one time while trying to keep my speed up and that has been in the back of my head ever since. That’s why I always lag behind when following you fast guys through tight trees haha. I probably never will be able to ride/enjoy tight trees but that’s fine though since I prefer big open bowls anyway. The advice of not looking at the trees is very true but I found it hard to do when you start picking up speed.
Can ya explain the driving with front knee & hip a bit more?????
You actively need to steer your board with your leading hip, knee (and feet). The driving force comes from your hip and knee. Imagine you’re snowboarding in the dark, and you have a headlight coming out the side of your leading hip. You need to point that hip in the direction you want to go, so you can see where you’re going. You need to drive your hip (and knee) into the desired path of travel. When riding powder, we can tend to pivot from the back foot, as that’s where our weight is. But doing this can limit your response and edge-to-edge quickness. By actively steering the board with your lower joints, you will increase your response and control.
So more a combination of both hip/knee and pivoting on the back foot in equal parts, or more focused on the hip/knee?????
It’s a combination of both in powder. You need to be on your back foot during the turn, but you also need know when to release that energy. During the turn, when you’re really getting a nice pow spray happening, you’re clearly on the back foot and the nose is floating high. But what happens at the end of that turn, when we want to redirect our energy into the next turn? If we stay weighted on the back foot and continue to pivot from the back, your turn will be sluggish to say the least. This is the point when you want to release energy from the turn, away from your back pivoting foot/side and into your front joints where the steering and driving force is coming from. Once you have that new turn initiated, fluidly get back onto the back foot and ride that turn out. Make sense?
So initiating the front steer part “driving hip/knee"during the start of your “bounce” “upward float” kinda thing????? Or start to steer at the peak of the “bounce”?????
Your shoulder seems to droop a bit while riding. Have you dislocated it in the past?
hahah!
Ok seeing as you have offered I may as well chuck in a question on something that has been annoying me about my riding.
“Heel edge blowouts”
I’m finding I just don’t have the same confidence when on my heel edge compared to my toe edge (which feels pretty locked in)
When riding at a decent speed I’m finding my heel edge will slip from underneath me which can result in a butt check. I’ve been getting my weight down low putting pressure on the edge and feel I have decent enough angulation but it’s still blowing out from time to time.
The main issue I can think of is I might be guilty of getting into the bad habit of using part of the heel side turn to scrub speed off more than I am on my toes. I can work on this and try to achieve a better S shaped turn.
What other tips could I take on board to try to get this edge locked in a little better (should there be transfer of weight from nose to tail at any stage, whens the optimal time to lower or raise the body during the turn, etc)?
Cheers!
I reckon that ya might be takin ya weight toward the tail when ya gaining speed?????
This will take pressure off the front part of the effective edge and make your tail slide more easily!!!!!
I think it’s a more natural feeling to keep your weight centered when on your Toe Side Edge when at speed!!!!!
* I could be completely wrong, and I’m just goin off my own limited experiences!!!!!
@K2 and rider: I could never ride trees fast, especially in pow. I think partly its because I hit a tree relatively hard one time while trying to keep my speed up and that has been in the back of my head ever since. That’s why I always lag behind when following you fast guys through tight trees haha. I probably never will be able to ride/enjoy tight trees but that’s fine though since I prefer big open bowls anyway.
Incorrect. 
Of course you will, mate. Everything takes practise and getting used to. I struggled in the trees when I first experienced real tree riding, and I was left in everyone’s wake too. You will slowly progress and you will start enjoying it more. Guaranteed.
The advice of not looking at the trees is very true but I found it hard to do when you start picking up speed.
You just need to do it quicker. Commitment is very important. You do it when you’re riding slower because you’re comfortable at a certain speed. When you’re pushing the limits of what’s comfortable for you, that is when commitment becomes imperative. It’s amazing how your body responds when it knows it has no choice. 
So initiating the front steer part “driving hip/knee"during the start of your “bounce” “upward float” kinda thing????? Or start to steer at the peak of the “bounce”?????
Yeah, pretty much. Either or, but you will get more performance in your turn the earlier you start to steer. So as soon as the energy from the initial turn is released, that’s your opportunity to drive the next turn. You can do this at the “peak of the bounce” or you can start at the exact moment the energy is released from the previous turn. I think you get the right idea now. 
The advice of not looking at the trees is very true but I found it hard to do when you start picking up speed.
You just need to do it quicker. Commitment is very important. You do it when you’re riding slower because you’re comfortable at a certain speed. When you’re pushing the limits of what’s comfortable for you, that is when commitment becomes imperative. It’s amazing how your body responds when it knows it has no choice.
I also find that not only focusing on where ya aim to go, but also keepin a certain tree as a “Peripheral Target” so you can use it to power away from!!!!! If that makes sense?????
Ok seeing as you have offered I may as well chuck in a question on something that has been annoying me about my riding.
“Heel edge blowouts”
I’m finding I just don’t have the same confidence when on my heel edge compared to my toe edge (which feels pretty locked in)
When riding at a decent speed I’m finding my heel edge will slip from underneath me which can result in a butt check. I’ve been getting my weight down low putting pressure on the edge and feel I have decent enough angulation but it’s still blowing out from time to time.
The main issue I can think of is I might be guilty of getting into the bad habit of using part of the heel side turn to scrub speed off more than I am on my toes. I can work on this and try to achieve a better S shaped turn.
What other tips could I take on board to try to get this edge locked in a little better (should there be transfer of weight from nose to tail at any stage, whens the optimal time to lower or raise the body during the turn, etc)?
Cheers!
Firstly, ask whatever you want. That’s why I created this thread.
What you’ve described is an extremely common problem. I think nearly everyone experiences this at some point in their progression. I know I did.
The main reason this happens is because we have one less joint in effect when we are on our heel edge, and it’s the joint responsible for for the fine control movements - the ankle. Think about how much more movement and control your ankle has on toeside turns. Also, our heels are closer together than our toes, further changing how the board rides (and why asymmetrical sidecuts were introduced).
So, we need to learn to ride a bit differently when carving on our heel edge, to reduce the chatter and slipping. The most important skills we need to focus on are edging and pressure control. Firstly, recognise that your knees and hips must be the active joints responsible for controlling what the edge is doing. Also, if we exert too much pressure through the edge and we aren’t managing the pressure (pressure control), then the edge won’t be able to hold, and this is when it skips out.
The way it was explained to me, which really helped, is as follows; think of it more as “balancing” on your heel edge. We aren’t trying to exert extra pressure through the edge; we are already exerting enough force for the carve. When the edge engages at the start of the heelside carve, get on a nice balanced edge, feel yourself actively balancing on your heels! From here, our knees especially will be controlling the movements, the edge angle, and controlling the pressure being exerted and absorbed. Your knees are now the suspension for your system (your body). Use fine adjustments in your knees and hips to control the edge and to keep the edge nice and balanced on your heel edge, as it carves through the snow.
This gets slightly more complicated on bumpy terrain, and pressure control becomes even more important here. Now your knees will have to loosen up a bit and work harder at the same time, to absorb the pressure of the bumps, and also exerting pressure at the right times to maintain strong contact with the snow.
Have a think about what I’ve said, give it a try, and let me know how you go.