Ask your riding questions here!
Nice Mizu, you have a really nice flow to your riding. Looks like you’ve found your place in Japow.
Had a ridiculous weekend of riding park at Falls.
Jumping questions: Starting to hit the 30s and spin off the 15s.
-Spinning: I’ve been spinning my front 3s off my toes, is there a best/better way to steeze this out?
Finding locking in on my toes has been the easiest/smoothest way for me to get these on the table tops.
Bigger kickers: What are some good progression tricks?
I’ve got nose grabs, shiftys, methods not quite ready to spin off these yet but looking to expand my trick bag… Points for explaining steeze !
Spanks in advance.
Hey Stellvadore
With the front 3s off the toes (props for getting them btw) the first thing I do to add style to any spin is ad a grab. I find indy the easiest with front 3s but lots of grabs feel good with them.
Another idea, since they are already a “hard way” spin, it’s quite easy to shifty/late spin it.
Basically do as much of the spin as you can with your upper body only and leave the board behind, then use counter rotation to spin the board into place underneath you (so turn your upper body back the way it came quickly and the board will spin the opposite way and complete the spin). It’s basically what you do to save yourself when the spin doesn’t come around far enough. But when you do it on purpose it stalls it out and looks sick! Do it with front 180s off the toes first and then try it with 3s.
Frontside spins off the toes are dope! I’m with Andy on this… massive props for getting your frontside 3s the hard way! I find melon grabs the easiest for front 3s. Add a little tweak and you have one of the sickest tricks in the bag right there.
Hey Stellvadore
With the front 3s off the toes (props for getting them btw) the first thing I do to add style to any spin is ad a grab. I find indy the easiest with front 3s but lots of grabs feel good with them.
Another idea, since they are already a “hard way” spin, it’s quite easy to shifty/late spin it.
Basically do as much of the spin as you can with your upper body only and leave the board behind, then use counter rotation to spin the board into place underneath you (so turn your upper body back the way it came quickly and the board will spin the opposite way and complete the spin). It’s basically what you do to save yourself when the spin doesn’t come around far enough. But when you do it on purpose it stalls it out and looks sick! Do it with front 180s off the toes first and then try it with 3s.
This sounds SUPER dope but highly coordinated!!
What are some other progressional tricks I can take to the 30s legends?
Frontside spins off the toes are dope! I’m with Andy on this… massive props for getting your frontside 3s the hard way! I find melon grabs the easiest for front 3s. Add a little tweak and you have one of the sickest tricks in the bag right there.
Thanks man! I am super stoked!! I accidentally did a super late back 1 and turns out it felt and looked cooler than I expected! have to try again.
The 2015 snow season is here. Time to get this thread going again!
Ask your riding questions here! 
Pushing limits.
I’m a comfortable, confident rider.
Front Valley jumps last year where definitely out of my limits. By the end of the season, I probably could of done the first and maybe second jumps if I had the nuts to try them.
I’m trying to push my limits though the park and resulted in a pretty heavy crash yesterday after to much speed and pop through the kicker bottom kicker, think it’s at 45ft now.
How are you guys/girls setting up, preparing yourself to hit bigger jumps?
I was spinning through Lieghcart and Bluecow last year which was a sign to me that I’m able to step it up.
I’m fairly cautious in how I approach bigger jumps. The last thing I want to do is end a season because I used poor judgement. I think it’s super important to really get your speed absolutely dialed before you even hit the jump. There can be considerable consequences when you’re hitting a 45+ft booter, so I take this seriously.
I think there can often be too much focus on “pop” and not enough on getting the speed right. Really, the first time you hit the jump with the right speed you shouldn’t even need to pop. Getting your speed right is absolutely key.
A few things I would suggest…
Watch people hitting the jump first. Sit down and just observe for 5-10 minutes. Where are they dropping in from? How fast are they going? This should give you a good idea of the speed you need.
Drop in for a a couple of practice runs. Keep the speed you think you need to clear the jump, but don’t hit it. Cruise past it and over the knuckle instead. Look at the jump, the distance, and try to visualise if the speed you were carrying would clear it. I always do this at least one. Hitting the jump blind is a sure way to injury.
If you’re speed is right, you really shouldn’t need to pop. Speed gives you the distance, pop gives you more amplitude (which will just make matters worse if your speed is wring). Stay solid, ride off the jump, suck your legs up and stay balance. Once your comfortable with the jump and your speed, then you can worry about getting adventurous.
What are the pros and cons of moving the highbacks angle forward?
I run Union Contacts on both my boards and wondering what be the advantages of changing the angle?
I assume you’re talking about the forward lean adjustment?
Forward lean does two things:
1) It forces you to bend your legs, putting you in a more engaged/aggressive stance.
2) It gives you more responsiveness on your heelside edge, allowing for quicker transitions from toeside to heelside.
I have always been a fan of forward lean; it’s something I highly recommend you play around with (even if you end up not liking it). Most bindings are super quick and easy to adjust these days, so you can play around with different forward lean settings quite easily. Too much will hinder you, but play around to find what’s comfortable and what works for you. If it feels too much, back it off.
That said, it can be argued that forward lean reduces overall forgiveness of your setup and manoeuvrability of your ankle joint, which I would agree with. Most guys who jib and ride a lot of park generally run very little or no forward lean for this reason. That’s why it’s important to find a middle ground and don’t go overkill with it. It should always feel natural and not like it’s biting into the back of your calf.
What I usually do when I get new bindings is crank it up notch by notch every couple of runs until it feels like I’ve gone too far. Then I back it off a notch or two.
Play around with it and let us know what you think.
Think I am going to fiddle with my angles on my bindings when jumping bigger…...
Like the tips on speed and checking everything out before hitting… It’s amazing how much a jump can change due to conditions in a matter of hours/minutes even…
I always try to take advantage of the big down ramps Charles has built at Perisher.. I would rather be deep than knuckling anyday!
^ Heard that…. Dropping from the same point at 1pm as I did at 11am. This is what happens when you don’t take the changing snow conditions into account.
Oh shit, AJ. Please tell me that’s not a recent injury!
Ok I stuck the GoPro on my little bloke’s head and finally got a bit of me riding. I’ve been trying to improve my general carving. Last year I took and lesson and was told I was riding with my front shoulder too high. I’ve been trying to really get on the front foot and drive my front shoulder down into the turn. I’m not sure I’ve got it quite right yet and would appreciate some pointers. Sorry about the shaky cam.