wrote:
Hi there,

If somebody would take a minute and see my videos and pics I'd really
appreciate.
Basically I'm self-learner who want to freeride faster but also safe
and in full control. Riding for about 6-7 seasons, I have 167cm board
(I am 186), Voelkl Coal which is pretty stiff and I like it a lot.
I know I should take some lessons, but perhaps you can spot some
mistakes I make right away from the videos/pictures below.

Here are the links:

http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=zgwoLMTHpJ4
http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=BWMyj7ZenyA (riding from the right
side)
http://picasaweb.google.com/mzawadzk/MarekSnowboard# (quickly click
over the pics, they are sequential)

I can't tell your boot angle from the pics. Your body should generally remain
lined up with your feet. You seem to open up to the front on your toes turns, a
frequent problem. Turn your head to see, not your shoulder.

Your arms are all over the place. Try to steady them, generally aligned with the
average angle of your feet. Then keep your torso and hips aligned aligned the
same. The center of your chest should point the same direction relative to the
feet at all parts of the turn.

From the pictures, it looks like your weight may be a little too far back on
your back foot. Your back leg seems to be flexed more than the front leg. The
reverse should be the norm, expecially at turn initiation. Straighten your back
leg some and bend the front leg more.

Try to flex for edging more from the knees and less from the waist, which will
keep your body more upright. On toe turns, arch your back (backwards) for more
solid edgeing.

You might want to experiment with boot lean angle. Adding more forward lean to
your highbacks allows more angle to be applied to your heel edge without sitting
back so far and allows keeping your legs more bent, so they can absorb bumps and
chatter better. This really helps on toe turns.

Your knee flex should vary during the turn. You can either drop very gradually
during the turn, then rise up and forward as you begin the front edge change for
the turn, or rise up gradually during the turn, pushing the board away from you
to the side, then retract your legs quickly and allow the board to carve
underneath you to cross under to the new edge on the other side of your
body(This is a more advanced turn). In either case, you want your weight more
forward (Over your front foot) as you initiate the turn, then shift weight back
to a more centered position as the turn progresses.

Practice exagerating the knee flex. Really exagerate it. Get a rythem going. "Up
and forward - doooooooooowwwwwwnnnn. Up and forward - doooooooooowwwwwwnnnn."
(Or vice-versa for the down-unweighted turns. (Down and forward - uuuuuuuppppp)
develop into a sequence of linked turns, with no delays between turns. The up
down motion really helps link the turns cleanly and smoothly.

A lot of self learners don't know to twist the board to initiate turns. Turns
are best started by pushing down lightly on the toe or heel of the front foot,
while "resisting" with the back foot, to initiate the turn. This releases the
front edge, while the back edge is still engaged. The front of the board then
begins to slip down the hill into the turn. As the turn progresses, the back
foot then follows the pressure change of the front foot to put you on the new
edge. For tighter turns, you can add twisting each foot in the direction of the
turn as you change the edge pressure of each foot. This will produce tighter,
but still rounded turns. This twist is just a smooth application of pressure -
as if you are just trying to point the toe toward or away from the other foot,
even though the board resists the force. This is great for bumps.

Play with this stuff, then go take a lesson to find out what you are doing right
and wrong. It still helps me, after years of teaching. It'll help you too.