How to learn most in the park…one man’s thoughts.
I think about snowboarding a lot, it’s my job, it’s also sick! As such i’d like to share a few thoughts and see what you guys think.
So a wee bit about myself (quickly I promise!). So I teach snowboarding and plan to for some time to come. About 12 months ago I took my exams to become a level 3 instructor with CASI (sadly that’s not a hot charming girl but the Canadian Association of Snowboard Instructors) It didn’t go well, in fact it couldn’t of gone a lot worse (I failed the whole thing) However I worked really hard on my riding and retook the exam about a month ago and now I have a shiny red badge (sitting in the bottom of a white tub which props my door open…) and next season a nice pay rise!
I had to sacrifice a lot of days when I would like to have been sending her (TM) in the park but knew that my freeriding would be way more important between the hours of 1 and 3 on the afternoon of the 5th of April 2011.
I did however squeeze some days in afterwards and landed lot’s of tricks that were way better than anything I’d done before (yeah front five nose!STOKED!!!). How?
How good you are at snowboarding is to me almost the same as how subtle are your body movements while on a snowboard. For higher level riding, the lower body joints become way more important. Take the ankle joint: It’s the closest joint to the actual snowboard, hense if you want quick responce, it’s the joint to use. Subtlety: in the same way a fine painter uses his finger rather than his arms, a sick shredder looks like he isn’t trying because you can’t see the subtle movements of his lower joints.
My point (finally):
It’s sick to land new tricks and if you want one today then you better get to the park. But if you want to have the most new tricks possible by the end of the season then perhaps time spent refining your freeriding (where you don’t tend to pick up injuries so easily) might be the way to go.
Just my thoughts….tis all.
Good advice, i wish more experienced snowboarders like yourself gave more of it. Can i just confirm what you mean by refining your freeriding? Do you just mean riding around the mountain and throwing in some jibbing here and there? If you could specify that would be great, thanks.
I think he may be refering to developing his fine edge control, board control, and body movements on more challenging and varied terrain. Im just guessing could be totally wrong!
Hey Aidy, firstly congratulations on getting your level 3. I know it’s a big undertaking so give yourself a pat on the back.
You bring up some great points. What you’re saying couldn’t be more evident in my riding, than this season in Whistler. As you know, we had a pretty epic season here and 90% of my time and focus was spent on freeriding. My riding improved more this season than ever before, which has become pretty evident as I cruise through the park late in the season. I’ve always said, just riding around and improving your skills on the mountain should automatically increase your ability in the park.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with CASI - it teaches us that everything within snowboarding can be broken down into five basic skills. The five skills are: stance and balance, pivoting and steering, edge control, pressure control, and timing and co-ordination. As these skills improve through correction and repetition, and eventually become ‘automatic’, your overall riding will improve. Everything we learn on the mountain can be translated into skills in the park.
So what should you take from this? Snowboarding should be fun, that’s why we do it. Generally though, you have fun as your skills improve and you learn new things - that’s the thrill of it all. Don’t focus so much on ‘I need to learn this trick by the end of the season’, which will only lead to disappointment (I’ve been there before). Concentrate on improving your skill set in regards to the five skills. This should naturally improve your ability to ride in the park, will keep you safer, and ensure you have a fun time snowboarding - and that’s what it’s all about.
Thanks K2 and Rider, great advice. In my case, I would say im a beginner/intermediate rider. Can go really fast, ride a little switch (little sketchy) and can hit a decent booter no problem. I want to have basic spins down, and i have watched tutorial videos heaps on this. Wondering if you guys had any personal advice for what got you the skills and confidence to get these basic spins down on smaller kickers in the park?
Thanks heaps
learn 180’s flat land and work your way up. If you learn all 4 180’s then things will be alot more comfortable in the air. Also,
improve your switch riding.
learn 180’s flat land and work your way up. If you learn all 4 180’s then things will be alot more comfortable in the air. Also,
improve your switch riding.
Thanks heaps Gamblor, I have flat front and back 1s down, will work on the switch spins and riding. Sorry to have basically hijacked the thread, wasnt my intention, i just got excited haha :D
Rider puts it well when he say that the skills used in the park are the same skills used while freeriding. Simply improving those skills freeriding is safe, you can do it whatever the weather and you don’t need to G yourself up to go do it.
Most of the good days i’ve had in the park have happened like this: I Go freeriding for at least an hour, preferably two. I start riding well, feeling at one with my snowboard and also able to adapt to the terrain to ride it fast (if I want) or to match my turn shape to the contours and features of the hill.
Then I go to the park with amigos. I have to force myself into just doing safety tricks for the first few laps…it’s hard sometimes! And when I can no longer resist I start throwing some harder/newer tricks and if that goes well then that’s when things get tried for the first time.
Note: I find sun helps and also hearing the tunes from ‘the storming’ that harldor and torstein kill it to.
I was gonna say a bit about how the different joints in the body can be used in conjuction with the five skills (with a high end riding focus) but maybe I’ll start a new thread for that. I’m thinking of naming it something like….how dope are joints!
Hey nicely said Aidy and congrats on your level 3’s!!
I’m a step behind you and did my level 2’s and park 1’s this season and a very similar thing happened to me.
Training my butt off, freeriding to pass my level 2s I finally got to ride some park afterwards. I found I was faster and more confident on jumps but when I started pushing myself the weirdest thing happened. I hadn’t ridden park in so long that I should have sucked, but didn’t. I tried back 360s off park kickers (something that I have only been able to land outside the park) and I landed it first go, and every go after that for the rest of the day… and I hate spinning backside! At least I used to hate it :D I even started landing back 5s on natural hits.
People have told me the same things your saying but I guess I never believed HOW MUCH it helps your riding in the park. I think u have to feel the results to believe it. With that said, you still have to aim to learn tricks and build up to them etc the same way you always have. If you only freeride then you’ll only become good at freeriding. I’ve found all styles of snowboarding improve each other in different ways. Freeride, park, pipe, racing… why not learn them all?
Thanks K2 and Rider, great advice. In my case, I would say im a beginner/intermediate rider. Can go really fast, ride a little switch (little sketchy) and can hit a decent booter no problem. I want to have basic spins down, and i have watched tutorial videos heaps on this. Wondering if you guys had any personal advice for what got you the skills and confidence to get these basic spins down on smaller kickers in the park?
Thanks heaps
Small progressions are the best for building confidence. Once you have improved your switch to the point where you feel confident going fairly fast switch (cause this is how you will land) then try this progression.
1. Ride across the hill on your heel edge and turn a frontside 180 on the ground (no air) repeat until it feels fluid (bend and straighten the legs as if to jump, but don’t yet)
2. Again across the hill on your heel edge JUMP a frontside 180 and try to land on your toe edge (land on your heel edge if you can’t make it round to the full 180, land on your toes to land straight or if you have spun too far)
3. Once you feel confident with that try jumping the 180 going straight down the hill (gentle slope) it will feel difficult to jump high enough but this is the way u will do it in the park.
4. Now take your 180s to small natural jumps or bumps that you can jump off on your heel edge. Do this ALOT until they feel easy before you go to the park.
5. Find the smallest small jump in the park and unleash all your beautiful new trick 
Make sure you know how much speed it takes to clear it and go a little faster because when your first learning to spin you will wash a bit of speed.
The jump is straight so start to the side of the jump (left for reguar right for goofy) and carve a gentle arc up the jump on your heel edge just like you did on the natural hits. Make sure your moving straight as you leave the jump.
* If the jump has a flat table top then it’s totally okay to deliberately go too slow and land on the table top to get comfortable spinning and landing on this jump.
Then do the same with the right amount of speed to clear the jump and land on the down ramp.
Have fun bro! Message me if your unsure of what I mean and tell me how it goes!
Thanks K2 and Rider, great advice. In my case, I would say im a beginner/intermediate rider. Can go really fast, ride a little switch (little sketchy) and can hit a decent booter no problem. I want to have basic spins down, and i have watched tutorial videos heaps on this. Wondering if you guys had any personal advice for what got you the skills and confidence to get these basic spins down on smaller kickers in the park?
Thanks heaps
Small progressions are the best for building confidence. Once you have improved your switch to the point where you feel confident going fairly fast switch (cause this is how you will land) then try this progression.
1. Ride across the hill on your heel edge and turn a frontside 180 on the ground (no air) repeat until it feels fluid (bend and straighten the legs as if to jump, but don’t yet)
2. Again across the hill on your heel edge JUMP a frontside 180 and try to land on your toe edge (land on your heel edge if you can’t make it round to the full 180, land on your toes to land straight or if you have spun too far)
3. Once you feel confident with that try jumping the 180 going straight down the hill (gentle slope) it will feel difficult to jump high enough but this is the way u will do it in the park.
4. Now take your 180s to small natural jumps or bumps that you can jump off on your heel edge. Do this ALOT until they feel easy before you go to the park.
5. Find the smallest small jump in the park and unleash all your beautiful new trick
Make sure you know how much speed it takes to clear it and go a little faster because when your first learning to spin you will wash a bit of speed.
The jump is straight so start to the side of the jump (left for reguar right for goofy) and carve a gentle arc up the jump on your heel edge just like you did on the natural hits. Make sure your moving straight as you leave the jump.
* If the jump has a flat table top then it’s totally okay to deliberately go too slow and land on the table top to get comfortable spinning and landing on this jump.
Then do the same with the right amount of speed to clear the jump and land on the down ramp.
Have fun bro! Message me if your unsure of what I mean and tell me how it goes!
Honestly, really appreciate you taking the time to write these instructions/tips. Will give them a go when season starts and prob come back for more! Thanks heaps man!
Hey nicely said Aidy and congrats on your level 3’s!!
I’m a step behind you and did my level 2’s and park 1’s this season and a very similar thing happened to me.
Training my butt off, freeriding to pass my level 2s I finally got to ride some park afterwards. I found I was faster and more confident on jumps but when I started pushing myself the weirdest thing happened. I hadn’t ridden park in so long that I should have sucked, but didn’t. I tried back 360s off park kickers (something that I have only been able to land outside the park) and I landed it first go, and every go after that for the rest of the day… and I hate spinning backside! At least I used to hate it :D I even started landing back 5s on natural hits.People have told me the same things your saying but I guess I never believed HOW MUCH it helps your riding in the park. I think u have to feel the results to believe it. With that said, you still have to aim to learn tricks and build up to them etc the same way you always have. If you only freeride then you’ll only become good at freeriding. I’ve found all styles of snowboarding improve each other in different ways. Freeride, park, pipe, racing… why not learn them all?
I quite agree with your closing sentiments, why not learn them all!! That’s the whole point of shredding hey. Being well rounded as a rider is something good riders respect and as peter line said ‘switch is just better’. busting airs off natural features is sweet, but not as sweet (or scary) as doing the same thing switch! Anyways i’m getting distracted. I guess the point of my post was to think about the order that you learn things so as to maximise your learning and minimise your time spent on the couch. I agree the day when you turn all your hard work into stomped landings is a good day! I had a very similar epiphany regarding backside spins in the park about a season and a half ago, was stoked!
By the way you should remember the progression you supplied above, could come in very useful for certain exams you shouldn’t by the sounds of it wait too long to take 
Cheers Aidy, yeah I’m gunna start doing as much level 3 training as I can as soon as next season starts but I’m only going to take the exams if I’m sure I’m ready. A whole bunch of my friends took theirs 3s this season and only 1 passed lol.
Tracvks your welcome bro, I’m happy to help out cause it makes me stop and think about good progressions and common problems with different tricks. It should make my lessons better and hopefully get u stomping new tricks so it’s all good
Thanks K2 and Rider, great advice. In my case, I would say im a beginner/intermediate rider. Can go really fast, ride a little switch (little sketchy) and can hit a decent booter no problem. I want to have basic spins down, and i have watched tutorial videos heaps on this. Wondering if you guys had any personal advice for what got you the skills and confidence to get these basic spins down on smaller kickers in the park?
Thanks heaps
In regards to freestyle progression, it’s super important to develop your skills (and get comfortable) on all four riding edges. You might say there are only two edges, toeside and heelside - but not when it comes to actual riding. You can ride regular on your toeside edge and heelside edge, but you can also ride switch on your toeside edge and heelside edge. Being able to take off and land on all four of these edges is absolutely crucial to developing solid freestyle skills.
If your switch riding isn’t great, the best thing you could possibly do is practise riding switch as much as possible. Really get a feel for your edges when riding switch.
A 180 is the most basic spin, however you need to either take off or land switch. If you don’t feel confortable riding switch, how can you be comfortable spinning a 180? Chances are you won’t feel comfortable. So this example really ties in well with Aidy’s initial post; identify which particular skills you need to develop to progress your park riding - then practise, practise, practise! You don’t need to be in the park to work on freestyle skills. Get comfortable and consistent spinning on natural terrain before taking it to park jumps.
Hope that helps! 
rider started taking this RIGHT WHERE I wanted to take it…
SWITCH and lots of it.
Freestyle usually means that you are taking your board off the snow in some way, and at some point.
You have many options. and I would suggest to learn them all…
Like Gamblor mentioned above “the 4 180s” YES 4.
Frontside and Backside from your normal stance, and then from your switch stance as well.
But how do you go about getting the board off the snow?
Not only should one learn all 4 directions to spin, but the different ways to get the board off the snow.
From the heel edge in each position. (reg and switch)
From the toe edge in each position.
Popping off the nose.
Popping off the tail.
Jumping up flat.
Doing this on flat terrain.
Doing this off a small roller, or a simple drop in terrain (this doesnt have to be in the park, just on the mountain anywhere)
Doing this on a hip - style jump also called a “side hit” (the edges or sides of the trail you may be riding down)
Doing this off a jump.
Once I learn almost any trick in the freestyle world, I then try and learn it switch, or instead of frontside, then I learn it backside.
Even something as simple as a 50-50 on a rail or box. do it switch.
You know… spinng frontside is the same direction as switch backside isnt it?
The spin is the same direction.
For example:
a Frontside 360 technically is a FS 180 and then a switch BS 180, linked together, right?
instead of me getting into that too much. I’ll just stop right there.
QUOTE——>You know… spinng frontside is the same direction as switch backside isnt it?
The spin is the same direction.
For example:
a Frontside 360 technically is a FS 180 and then a switch BS 180, linked together, right?
instead of me getting into that too much. I’ll just stop right there.<——QUOTE
I’ve heard this before, just wondering how many people break their spins down in this way. I only really throw up to fives and i’ve never tended to break them down that explicitly…