Terrain Selection & Fall Lines

Fall Line

The fall line directly relates to how a snowboard interacts with the snow and is present through all levels of snowboarding. Put simply, the fall line is the line down a slope that follows the natural contours of the terrain. It’s the direction a ball would roll, under gravity, down the slope. When a snowboard is pointing directly down the fall line it will accelerate; when a snowboard is pointing perpendicular and across the fall line, with the edge engaged, it will decelerate. Being able to read the fall line helps snowboarders understand how gravity and the snow will behave with the snowboard.

As beginner snowboarders learn to control their heelside and toeside edge on learner slopes they will largely follow the fall line. They can often find it hard to move across and through the fall line until they begin understanding how to control their edge with skills like steered traverses. Ideally when our students are first learning to turn they will have a wide, mellow run with an even fall line straight down the middle. This will make it easier to get equal control moving left and right and on both edges. However, as mountains are natural environments, there will usually be a difference between straight down the middle of a run and following the fall line.

Pitch

The pitch or steepness of the run relates to the gradient of the fall line and is often measured in degrees. The steeper a run is, the faster a snowboarder will travel down the fall line. The pitch will influence our decision making around when and where we introduce skills, and how we manage fear in our students. It can be instrumental in a student’s success on snow.

For first-timer snowboarders, a slightly steeper pitch can be more favourable in some tasks and a flatter pitch more appropriate in others. When a rider is first learning how to balance on an edge during toeside or heelside control, a slightly steeper pitch allows the student to gain a clearer sense of edging. Terrain that is mellower in pitch can be helpful as they progress to steered traverses and learning to turn, as the student won’t accelerate as quickly when they steer their board into the fall line.

For novice students beginning to link turns, keep in mind that if a run is too flat and the students haven’t developed an open turn shape yet, it can be difficult to turn and balance on an edge. As students progress and to safely introduce them to slightly steeper runs, finding shorter pitches of steeper terrain on a mellow (green) run can be a great introduction before committing to riding a blue run.

Width

The width of a run describes how wide it is from side to side. On wide, open runs there’s a lot more space to move and turn, making it a great place for students to begin turning. On narrow runs, the appearance of having little room to turn as well as people being naturally condensed can make students nervous. Before riding busier, narrow runs or cat tracks, being able to control the size and shape of turns is a key skill.

Reflecting on how the terrain and fall line influenced each student’s progress will help when teaching future lessons especially on new terrain and at new resorts.

Obstacles

Obstacles are an ever present aspect of moving around and riding at a resort. Being aware of what obstacles there are on any given day or run will help create a safer approach to them and at times may even present opportunities to incorporate them into the lesson.

Typical things to be aware of are other people and traffic in general, snow guns, lift towers, snow mobiles, fences/poles/signs and natural obstacles like rocks, trees, tussock etc.