Park Progression.
This season I started hitting up the park, previously I had only hit natural features.
I hit my first baby kicker in Cardrona in mid July.
My first box was a rainbow box in Perisher beginner park piper.
My first rail was also in the baby park, unfortunately I didnt land that one:
I’m getting better at jumping and ollieing off rollers.
I hit the jib line in Perisher’s advanced park, slopestyle, today for the first time… I was pretty stoked even though I only tried the more mellow features and popped off the kickers beside the other ones.
This video unfortunately does not represent my best line in the park:
I’ve also started hitting up the half pipe.
As for now I want to a. learn how to boardslide and b. how to hit a bonk.
There’s a bonk in the baby park, Ive been dying to try out I just have no idea what to do with it…
Also with boardslides, Im afraid Im going to clip my toe edge and faceplant on the box/rail.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
Cheers guys!
You’ve been a single chick in a snow resort all this time, and you haven’t been bonking?!?!?!
have you got your board set up as a centered stance? The dude in the white aldi jacket definitely didn’t, not sure about you. Centered stance helps quite a bit with board control, which is what every good snowboarder has and obviously helps enormously with park.
Try and learn some shiftys off jumps, then you can try and shifty bonk…get on to the snowboard addiction tutorials.
Awesome thanks! and LOL Chucky nice one 
p.s. Im not sure if my board is set up with a centered stance I’ll have to have a look at it.
If it has more nose than tail, then it isn’t centered. Take it to someone in rentals or workshop and ask them to set it up centered for you and to show you how to do it at the same time.
Ash cause you got the Burton EST you might have to bust out the measuring tape to work out if your centred or not. Dunno if you can work it out any other way on those boards, perhaps they have measurements listed along the channel?
Ash cause you got the Burton EST you might have to bust out the measuring tape to work out if your centred or not. Dunno if you can work it out any other way on those boards, perhaps they have measurements listed along the channel?
Burton boards have measurements all along the Channel, and the bindings have a little ‘window’ to look through, so you know exactly where your binding is placed (stance width, setback etc.). It’s actually super easy with the Burton system.
Hey Ashstix, good work on posting the videos and also hitting that jump at the end! You’re riding looks pretty solid and apart from getting a bit more loose and relaxed (especially in the legs) I think you just need to get out there and ride as much as possible…oh and keep posting videos with your latest park runs!
Ash cause you got the Burton EST you might have to bust out the measuring tape to work out if your centred or not. Dunno if you can work it out any other way on those boards, perhaps they have measurements listed along the channel?
Burton boards have measurements all along the Channel, and the bindings have a little ‘window’ to look through, so you know exactly where your binding is placed (stance width, setback etc.). It’s actually super easy with the Burton system.
I know for a fact that my Burton is centered. I find it super easy to fiddle with as rider says it’s all laid out for you pretty straight forward. My K2 however I have no idea!
Also thanks… unfortunately that last jump wasnt me, that was my mate (the white jacket). I’ll definitely keep riding and pushing myself.
Hey Ash,
Great to hear you’re progressing nicely, trying new features, and having so much fun snowboarding!
I will give you some general advice and also point out a few things I noticed in your videos.
I would suggest you try to loosen up your legs / lower body a bit. Your stance seems nice and aligned vertically, but your legs look pretty straight and rigid to me. When you ride (on the mountain), practice loosening up your ankles and knees; sink your knees closer to the snow (on toeside turns) and get your butt down a little lower (on heelside turn). Feel your body sink and rise as you ride. This needs to happen while keeping your upper body straight and aligned; make your legs do the work. This will help you not only in the park, but your riding in general will improve. Having a loose lower body will also allow you to absorb bumps easier, making it easier to ride over changing terrain, and fast.
In the second video, at approx 0:30 when you hit that jump, your board shoots out from under you. This is because the transition of the jump is compressing you. I’ll try explain it to you. When you hit a park jump, the transition (takeoff) of the jump exerts an upward force on you and your snowboard (which allows you to get air). However, how you manage this force determines what happens to you and your snowboard in the air. If you (as a system - body and snowboard together) don’t push back down, at least equal to the upward force, your snowboard is going to absorb all that upward force on its own and shoot out from under you, without your body. Does that make sense?
So what you need to do is hold your lower body and core strong. Don’t let the jump compress your legs. Stay nice and aligned, and strong. If you hold yourself strong, the jump will put you and your snowboard up in the air as a whole system together. You will be on top of your board, rather than your board shooting out from under you. As you get comfortable with holding your lower body strong, you can then start pushing back even harder, to get more pop.
With boardslides, the most important point is to keep your board flat. If you get onto your edge, the board will slide out from under you. The easiest way to do this at first is to get your body weight in the direction you’re travelling. So if you are sliding forwards (backside boardslide), you should bend your knees and reach out infront of you, like you’re reaching out infront of your boots. This will keep your board flat and your momentum moving forward. The first progression step would be the 50-50 shuffle. So you start in a 50-50 on the box and you shuffle into a boardslide by doing a shifty on the box.
Watch this video from Snowboard Addiction as it explains it well.
I would suggest you look into the Snowboard Addiction DVDs. They are really awesome and if you use the discount code boardworld you will get a 10% discount on any of their products. Oh and check out this little contest we’re running at the moment: https://www.boardworld.com.au/forums/viewthread/7074/
The last thing I will suggest for now is ride switch as much as possible. It’s never too early to learn! Practice a couple runs of switch every day. getting comfortable with switch is one of the most important aspects of freestyle progression - and it makes snowboard a lot more fun!
Keep at it and let us know if you have any questions. You’re doing great! 
Hey! Thanks for that that’s really helpful! I definitely agree I need to work on my lower half, I find I can be quite straight legged at times. That was also a critique my instructors were telling me in 2010 when I started to progress (the two previous years I had only done a weekend each year). Ive been getting better at bending lower but still need a lot of work.
Ah yes switch! I need to do it more… I find I get a bit lazy because I can obviously go much faster at the moment riding like normal. I need to push myself to practice switch more though. Im going to aim to ride switch for at least a couple of runs each day now.
Thanks again!
:D
No worries, Ash. Definitely make a point of riding switch as much as you can. It’s super fun and your freestyle skills will progress a lot faster.
Just something to think about… what is your stance width and binding angles? If your stance is too narrow it can make it more difficult to loosen your lower body.
On my burton it’s 17, -12. Im not sure about the width I’ll have to check that out. That’s a good point, I find Im much more straight legged on my Burton than my K2… As I said I have no idea what my k2 is set at. I’ll ask a dude at the rental store to help me, or one of the staffers here
Hey AshStix
Here’s a quick progression for working your way up to backside board slides (Facing downhill).
1. Point your board straight down the hill and do a series of speed checks (keep your front should pointed downhill and rotate the board 90 degrees on your heel edge, only with the lower body. This is the basic board slide motion, also the shifty motion you can use in the air to tap that bonk in Piper . As you do the speed checks, make sure they are in a straight line down hill and visualize yourself on a box as you do them.
2. Ride onto the easiest box you can find (not the ones in piper with snow built up to the edges, cause you will catch) and 50-50 (straight grind) the box. Once you are on the box, use that speed check motion to tweak the board out into a board slide (45 degrees is enough for your first go). As long as you keep you front shoulder pointed towards the end of the box, you will be able to turn the board straight again as you slide off the end. And remember your on a box so you can’t use any edges… keep it flat and stay balanced over the board.
3. Keep practicing this, tweak the board more and more until you can turn it 90 degrees on the box. Give yourself a high five
4. If you can do gap on boxes or you are comfortable popping on to roll on boxes. Focus, visualize your favourite rider do a board slide, then approach the box, pop, shifty the board to 90 degrees in the air and land sideways on the box. BOOM stomped that shit.
Then go and do it in front of everybody you know
Let me know how it goes! Happy Shredding 
Thanks Andy! Awesome tips there I will put them into play on Monday and let you know how I go. (Im heading to sydney for the weekend for my dad’s 50th but will be back on Monday). Thanks again Ive been wanting to do a boardslide for a while as I have 50 50 grinds pretty much down pat. I just never knew how to do it!
Cheers!!