boarding the really steep stuff

Are you sure you mean 80% grade? That would be 35 degrees or so...
steep enough to be intimidating, but it's no where near something you
should worry about being impossible. You can read about folks
descending 65 degree glaciers on mountainzone.com, now that's
boardering on impossible ;P.

I think technique is key, but equipment matters too. If you're on a
short board, or have dull edges, it'll be hard to keep your edge on
steeper slopes when the snow is hard.

As far as technique, Mike's totally right. Start with jump or hop
turns, and then as you get comfortable, work on making the motion more
smooth, minimal and effortless.

If you've been boarding a bit, at some point you've probibly just
hopped a 180 standing around in a lift line on flat ground while not
moving. Once you've done that, you can be confident that no matter
what slope you're on, you can get that board turned around quick. So
knowing that's the confidence part.

But I don't like doing pure jump turns because they're tiring, but
also because it's difficult to stick the new edge on hard snow/ice.
You can make purely edged or even carved turns on steep slopes too...
just that it's a whole lot more intimidating, because you need to
switch onto the downhill edge before the board is pointed down the
fall line. To practice this, think about pushing snow sideways accross
the hill with each turn, instead of pushing snow down the hill.

So start with hop turns, and once you've got the hop turns working,
start tying to make the motion less exaggerated. I find it helpful to
think in terms of pulling the board up to my body as I spin, rather
than "hop". Work on pulling the board only just enough for it to
rotate easily. In particular, think about it as if you're lifting the
tail over a "bump", where the "bump" is actually just the slope. That
probibly sounds wierd... but if you do it, you'll feel what I mean.

Once you've got the feel for these motions, you can combine them all
into one smooth turn that works fantasticly on steeper stuff. Use a
very subtle hop to start the turn, and then as you let your body fall
downhill, bring the board up on edge so that the sidecut brings it
back around under to catch you. I've been working on this a lot
lately, and don't have it quite into muscle memory... but when I've
been successful with it, it just feels *right*. It's a very effortless
motion, and gives you a lot of room to control both the size of your
turn and how much you're skidding or carving. To skid more, hop more.
To shorten the turn radius throw your body into the spin more when you
hop, and/or bring the board higher up on edge quicker as you edge. I
have done this on steep hardpack and it works great to gently set the
new edge at the turn finishes (pdx locals: translate as I managed to
stick some turns down powderkeg on a refrozen slush day early this
season). When you do it right it should feel like you're letting your
body fall into a "pocket" where the board cuts around and catches you.

But mostly, you just gotta be willing to fall down stuff until you get
it figured out ;P. Other simple advice people have given me that helps
is to keep some speed in reserve, so that you have more options. Also,
don't be afraid to spend a little time pointed down the fall line.
Lastly, turns are a sequence like A-B-C, if you try to skip or hurry
part of the sequence, it won't work well for ya.

Jason Watkins wrote:

Are you sure you mean 80% grade? That would be 35 degrees or so...
steep enough to be intimidating, but it's no where near something you
should worry about being impossible.

That's about as steep as it gets in-bounds most places, and that's still
ok for doing proper turns. Jump-turns that people are talking about
are really only necessary when it gets even steeper, especially if it's
narrow. On steep in-bound pitches, one way to do it is to keep pressure
on the nose and roll across the nose into edge-sets left and right.
This technique works well as a beginning for learning steep bumps. For
one thing, it keeps your weight forward, which is good because when you
get your weight back on steeps, the board tends to squirt on you and
then you get out of control.

Neil

slowly on gentle and then steeper slopes. When you really commit to the
front of the new edge you'll be amazed at how quickly and smoothly you
turn with minimum effort.

Yes! It feels fantastic to nail these minimum effort turns on steep
slopes. It also keeps you "centered" so that you have lots of options
to react to the surfance or change things mid turn.

Interestingly it can be tougher to initiate toeside turns than heelside

mountain. I used to have a real barrier with this. It's rewarding when

I'm battleing this barrier right now. I know I'm pretty close though.
I have a raelly hard time finding the "pocket" that my body mass needs
to drop into when doing a toeside. Heelsides I can manage on basicly
everything so far. Once I've got it locked in on smooth steeps, then
it's time to practice it on big man eater moguls where the terrain
choses the timing and shape turns, not you. After that's conquered
it's just time to turn up the speed and agression level .