Too much turn on heelside

Hi all
I started snowboarding last season and thoroughly enjoy it despite
couple of back and shoulder injuries.
I have been following the thread on making quick turns on the steep slopes.
What I notice is that my toesides are fairly quick and short. My heelside
turns tend to be exaggerated and I tend to cut across the slope more.
My question is, do I need to get a board that has a tighter radius or does
the side-cut apply only when I am doing "pure carves".
What I tend to do is jerk my board to follow a tighter turn. This works
but its not graceful and my legs get tired after long runs(yea squaw!).
Also, I have washed out rather painfully a couple of times doing this.
The last fall was on my head.
I have a Burton Cruzer which is considered a beginner board. Maybe I need
to upgrade to a stiffer board?
I am riding with 20 and 5 degrees forward, regular. I wear straps and dont
seem to have any heel-lift.
Any advice is welcome.
Thanks
Ramsey

Ramsey wrote:
I have been following the thread on making quick turns on the steep slopes.
What I notice is that my toesides are fairly quick and short. My heelside
turns tend to be exaggerated and I tend to cut across the slope more.

I'd bet money that you're riding with straight legs on your heelside
turns, which is why you wash out and can't control them so well.

My question is, do I need to get a board that has a tighter radius or does
the side-cut apply only when I am doing "pure carves".

The side-cut applies mostly to carved turns, once you're skidding you
can make the board turn less or more than the natural radius.

Even the longest of the Cruzers is only an 8 m sidecut - you certainly
don't need a tighter sidecut.

Neil

Usually when learning how to snowboard it is easier to turn on one
side. You should find a gental slope and practice it. Here are some
pointers,
This is for beginner turns:

1) make sure you have a good stance and are bent at the knees and not
the waist.
2) Hold your hands out to the side over the tip and tail.
3) when you are starting the turn, put more wieght on the front foot,
and the same time rotate the shoulders and look in the direction you
are going.
4) the board should be flat during the turn and at the end apply the
correct edge.

(Snowboardripper) wrote in message . com...
Usually when learning how to snowboard it is easier to turn on one
side. You should find a gental slope and practice it. Here are some
pointers,
This is for beginner turns:

1) make sure you have a good stance and are bent at the knees and not
the waist.
2) Hold your hands out to the side over the tip and tail.
3) when you are starting the turn, put more wieght on the front foot,
and the same time rotate the shoulders and look in the direction you
are going.
4) the board should be flat during the turn and at the end apply the
correct edge.

Thats good advice but, as I probably should have mentioned, I dont have
problems on the gentler slopes. The problem I have is when I am going
on steep slopes. It could be just that I am not leaning enough to the
front because of the fear factor.
At this point I think maybe I should get a board that is less flexible.
That will probably make going from edge-to-edge faster. does that make
sense?

"Ramsey" wrote

What I notice is that my toesides are fairly quick and short. My heelside
turns tend to be exaggerated and I tend to cut across the slope more.

Try to press the front edge more, and if that doesn't work increase your
highback angles.

Also because both bindings are set at an angle to the axis of the board,
you lean more to the front of the board on toe-side turns than on the heel
side. Effectively heel-side turn requries more pronounced forward lean
than toe-side turn.

You may want to get a new board, but the problem you are describing
is probably not a valid excuse to do that :-)

(Ramsey) wrote
(Snowboardripper) wrote
This is for beginner turns:

1) make sure you have a good stance and are bent at the knees and not
the waist.

Fair enough.

2) Hold your hands out to the side over the tip and tail.

Hold your hands out in front of you, in line with your shoulders which
should be in line with your binding angles. Try to keep the hands
level.

3) when you are starting the turn, put more wieght on the front foot,
and the same time rotate the shoulders and look in the direction you
are going.

Starting the turn with a shoulder rotation is just bad technique.
Turns start with leg movement.

4) the board should be flat during the turn and at the end apply the
correct edge.

The board should be on edge throughout the whole turn. This point
will just result in a skid with a speed check at the end.


Thats good advice

See my above comments, those 3 points were pretty bad advice.

At this point I think maybe I should get a board that is less flexible.
That will probably make going from edge-to-edge faster. does that make
sense?

I think you're blaming equipment when it is probably a technique
problem. Try a lesson, or maybe get a friend to videotape you. You
might be surprised what happens on heelside turns. I'm just
speculating here as I don't really have enough info to say what
exactly is wrong, but 90% of the people I see make their heelside
turns with straight legs, a technique that works on gentle slopes but
as soon as conditions get a little tougher (steeper, icier, bumpier,
whatever) the stiff legs cause the edge to wash out and chatter.

Here's some good advice on beginning to make carved turns:
http://www.bomberonline.com/articles/feel_the_carve.cfm

Neil

What I described was beginner turns, I think your problem is that you
need to learn intermediate turns. Beginner turns cannot be used for
steep pitches.

You should take a lesson and ask them for intermediate turns or
carving turns. It will not take that long for an instructor to teach
you this. It is cheaper then buying a board.
Good luck.

(Ramsey) wrote in message . com...
(Snowboardripper) wrote in message . com...
Usually when learning how to snowboard it is easier to turn on one
side. You should find a gental slope and practice it. Here are some
pointers,
This is for beginner turns:

1) make sure you have a good stance and are bent at the knees and not
the waist.
2) Hold your hands out to the side over the tip and tail.
3) when you are starting the turn, put more wieght on the front foot,
and the same time rotate the shoulders and look in the direction you
are going.



4) the board should be flat during the turn and at the end apply the
correct edge.


The board needs to be on an edge during the turn, not flat or it will
never turn. I also wouldn't have my arms out stretched over the tip
and tail. The most important thing is to have your arms somewhere
comfortable and stationary and not flailing around.

I would practice on a moderate slope and try making heelside turns,
increasing the heelside pressure and lean until the board stops. Get
to the point where you can stop on the heelside without falling over.
If you can balance on your heelside and put enough pressure on it, the
board will make tight turns.





Thats good advice but, as I probably should have mentioned, I dont have
problems on the gentler slopes. The problem I have is when I am going
on steep slopes. It could be just that I am not leaning enough to the
front because of the fear factor.
At this point I think maybe I should get a board that is less flexible.
That will probably make going from edge-to-edge faster. does that make
sense?

On 22 Jan 2004 08:52:25 -0800, (Chet Hayes)
wrote:

never turn. I also wouldn't have my arms out stretched over the tip
and tail. The most important thing is to have your arms somewhere
comfortable and stationary and not flailing around.
When I was learning the instructor threatened to make us board with
our hands in our pockets!

Try to press the front edge more, and if that doesn't work increase your
highback angles.


I've had a similar problem when I first started.. it was improper
highback settings for me.

You'll no doubt end up messing with your binding angles and/or
highback settings. Im not sure if your bindings support this or not..
but you can adjust their angle, as well as their rotation (a little
bit).

I had this same problem when I tried to go with rather steep angles
(softboots) and odd highback positions.