Target Fixation
One thing i swear by when picking lines through trees and sometimes around buried beginners is target fixation… much like taking a fast corner on a motorbike or ID’ing a landing zone skydiving. If you keep a good eye on where you want to end up, regardless of skill your body will automatically do its best to get you there and usually you will come very close to passing through that point.. your skill depends on whether you will go round a tree on your board or ass i guess lol… Does ayone have any thoughts?
That’s interesting I’ve never really thought about how I maneuver through the trees. I think for me I just pick a line and hope it follows through.. I’ll have to try picking my target spot next time.
I guess it’s similar to riding a bike on a beam or walking on a beam, as long as you are looking at your destination ahead of you it’s a lot harder to fall
Same idea for getting to the end of a rail, box, fallen tree, squeezing between a sea of skiers on the catracks and getting to the front of the bar.
I recall some conversation in the ski school locker room… (actually it’s a trailer)
About skiing gates. The discussion was about learning to ride gates (slalom) and how it helps with riding trees…
I wasnt at the snowboarding level that I should be riding trees when I heard that, nor do I know much at all about skiing, but I listened and learned.
The analogy is that you “read” 3 gates ahead, know where they are and begin to think about how you will turn to approach them. (and plus the way gates are staggered you cant reasonably read just the next one).
So this concept was applied to riding trees, and reading the trees about 3 trees ahead.
This was also applied to bumps, read 3 bumps ahead.
So when you get to the turn, you’ve all ready planned most of it.
I recall some conversation in the ski school locker room… (actually it’s a trailer)
About skiing gates. The discussion was about learning to ride gates (slalom) and how it helps with riding trees…
I wasnt at the snowboarding level that I should be riding trees when I heard that, nor do I know much at all about skiing, but I listened and learned.
The analogy is that you “read” 3 gates ahead, know where they are and begin to think about how you will turn to approach them. (and plus the way gates are staggered you cant reasonably read just the next one).
So this concept was applied to riding trees, and reading the trees about 3 trees ahead.
This was also applied to bumps, read 3 bumps ahead.So when you get to the turn, you’ve all ready planned most of it.
That’s a very true concept.. I was a ski racer for a few years and that was one of the most important things we learnt.. You want to hit that gate at the perfect time and be ready for the next one before you even finished your last turn. So applying that to trees you just want to widen your turn so you don’t get stuck in a tree well or hit the actual tree.
isnt it interesting how a beginner can focus on a tree that they DONT want to hit, and that focus will just bring them right to it!
I have definitely hit a couple of trees in my life riding.. Not a fun thing