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Love it Aidy!
Aidy is the man. One of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. He has a huge passion for snowboarding and charges hard! I miss you, Aidy. 
Another idea on carving is to avoid whistler spring mornings or mornings down under I guess.
melt freeze? or some other reason?
Yeah melt freeze is pretty common from April onwards in Whistler. Beware of big death cookies that may have fallen off the tracks on the groomers overnight if you’re going up early. I hit one mid corner a few years back and shattered the core on an old board whilst riding to work, it’s just one of those spring time things unfortunately.
As for hitting bigger jumps, I found that for me to make the step from 20-30+ was purely mental and having faith in my own abilities as a rider. Personally for me it was more a fact of getting used to the actual air time and keeping calm - focussing on my breathing to keep the heart rate down and visualising the jump in my head beforehand as with most jumps this big when you’re in the transition the lip will hide the knuckle and landing etc so you’re blind for that split second on approach. This is also the point where you want to already be riding straight from here on (obviously if you’re spinning etc you’ll be on an edge and turning etc.) and as mentioned previously you don’t want to compress through here.
Honestly as soon as I’d landed that first big jump it was never an issue again, if anything I became uncomfortable on smaller jumps afterwards.
Honestly as soon as I’d landed that first big jump it was never an issue again, if anything I became uncomfortable on smaller jumps afterwards.
^THIS^
For me I think its because you become comfortable with the airtime and you dont have to rush things so much
Thanks Stellvadore and Rider.
Even though I’m about to start my first conventional job of my life on monday, the memory of waiting to drop in to large jumps still seems fresh in my mind. I caught a toe edge on landing once on a big jump and since then it’s always been ‘an experience’ hitting them. I’m impressed and jealous of people that hit big jumps as a standard thing.
Remember to post some clips on the Team Progress Board, it’d be great to see some boardworlders sending it or working on some new tricks.
And now I have another issue! Hahah… Love this thread..
So now I am getting enough width (what’s the technical word? I only know horse terms?)
to get from the lip to the down (no more knuckling wooohoo) but now I think I am soaking up my actual air rather than popping?
Hmmm, still pretty happy with myself, hitting the 25s at Ruin…
Very true what you say once you have your confidence, now I slow down my riding and seem to think through the air which gives me a chance to nail my landing…..
Another question, 3’ - Started landing my first few off little lips on side walls and such but still find myself washing them either over or under rotated at times - I’ve been mainly focusing on spotting my landing and looking around for the full 3…. Still a bit loose though.. Tips?
When you hit a jump you have 3 options in regards to pressure control:
1. Stay solid with no active compression or extension. This is the best (safest) way to learn in my opinion.
2. Pop. Actively extend and push back at the jump. Once you have the hang of the above point, this is what you want to work at. Do this gradually.
3. “Suck it up” and compress. This is mainly used to maintain speed going over jumps while minimising air time. This is what they do when racing in boardercross. It can be used but it takes the most control and I wouldn’t recommend trying this until you have a lot of control. It doesn’t have too much practical use for freestyle snowboarding but it’s still a handy skill.
In regards to your 360s, which way are you spinning? Frontside or backside?
When you hit a jump you have 3 options in regards to pressure control:
1. Stay solid with no active compression or extension. This is the best (safest) way to learn in my opinion.
2. Pop. Actively extend and push back at the jump. Once you have the hang of the above point, this is what you want to work at. Do this gradually.
3. “Suck it up” and compress. This is mainly used to maintain speed going over jumps while minimising air time. This is what they do when racing in boardercross. It can be used but it takes the most control and I wouldn’t recommend trying this until you have a lot of control. It doesn’t have too much practical use for freestyle snowboarding but it’s still a handy skill.
In regards to your 360s, which way are you spinning? Frontside or backside?
I ride regular and spinning front side.
For frontside 360s, concentrate on landing on your toe edge. Make sure your toes touch down first. This is prevent you from over-rotating. During these early stages, it is better to slightly under-rotate than over-rotate. Otherwise, it is likely you will land and have to spin another 180 on the snow, as you won’t be able to stop your rotation. Landing on your toes will lock you into riding out straight.
When you’re spinning your front threes try and keep your core tight, commit to the movement with your hips and judge the speed of your rotational movements to match the size of air.
As rider said if your slightly short of the rotation it’s easy to complete the spin by turning your lower body to land with your board straight. However as soon as your hips or shoulders over rotate then it’s hard to save it and a revert is required assuming you’re in reasonably balanced shape to perform one. I’ve bailed landing 270 and 450 into pow too many times, the pow is nice in that it doesn’t hurt as much as park (where you’d be sparked) but with the pow the revert is pretty tough.
For what it’s worth I normally ollie my non-park front threes whereas I often pop off both feet together for backside spins in and out of the park. Might just be the way I prefer it? Anyone else got thoughts on this?
Stellvadore, it’d be great to see some footage if you can equip one of your riding buddies with a camera and a promise you’ll film them next lap!
For what it’s worth I normally ollie my non-park front threes whereas I often pop off both feet together for backside spins in and out of the park. Might just be the way I prefer it? Anyone else got thoughts on this?
I definitely agree with non-park front 3s, I think frontside spins out of the park are the only spin tricks I ollie for. I know for back 1s its toe side pop - swear they are my favorite out-of-park trick - feels so good when going fast off a soft roller!
As Aidy said anyone that can get footage, please do so. Good opportunity to get feedback from these guys and for me to get stoked on your progression!
For what it’s worth I normally ollie my non-park front threes whereas I often pop off both feet together for backside spins in and out of the park. Might just be the way I prefer it? Anyone else got thoughts on this?
I definitely agree with non-park front 3s, I think frontside spins out of the park are the only spin tricks I ollie for. I know for back 1s its toe side pop - swear they are my favorite out-of-park trick - feels so good when going fast off a soft roller!
As Aidy said anyone that can get footage, please do so. Good opportunity to get feedback from these guys and for me to get stoked on your progression!
I’ve hurt my shoulder. But tomorrow it is!!!!
I have a bit of a weakness riding on ice. Any specific tips here? Just maintain good technique or is there something else that can be done to improve edge hold?
There’s two things you can do:
1. Sharpen your edges.
2. Technique.
I’ll explain point 2 further. I’m sure others will have different views on this but this is how I see it.
In general, edges don’t like ice (especially unsharpened). Give it too much angle and you will slip out. It happens to the best of us. I look at riding ice as similar to that of riding a box. Get on your edges and you will slip. It’s pretty simple. I sometimes even use ice to teach people how to boardslide on boxes (as an introduction to body position etc.). Learn to ride ice and it will help you in the park. Being balanced is important but the trick is minimising edge angle with the snow.
So you need to learn to be gentle with your edges, be light on your feet—any yes, being balanced is critical. I know it sounds weird but the easiest way to ride ice is ride straight over it, using little to no edging. It’s fast, it’s scary… so you need to scan the terrain ahead and look for soft spots where the snow is built up. This is where you speed check. It’s fun, challenging, and will make you a better rider.
Honestly, forget carving on ice unless you have razor sharp edges. It’s better to stay light on your edges, ride over the ice, then control your speed in areas that allow you to do so.
That’s what I do anyway.