Last Updated7 November 2022

Advanced Carving explores the technical aspects required for more advanced carving techniques and some tasks that can be used to progress riders to a higher level of performance.

Once students are comfortable carving on a variety of blue terrain we can start to advance and adapt their skills for steeper pitches, more varied terrain, higher speeds, increased board performance and to become more creative. Riders should already be exploring use of a high performance stance and a variety of turn types.

High Performance Carving

What, Why, How

Large, high-speed carved turns with increasing performance.

Aside from being incredibly fun, this type of riding is required in racing scenarios like boarder cross and banked slaloms.

VIDEO: High Performance Carving with Richie Johnston

Begin reviewing/introducing advanced angulation techniques and the high performance stance required. Show how an increased edge angle can manipulate the side-cut of the board to tighten our carve.

Try some stationary edging tasks like hopping up the hill on the heel edge and down the hill on the toe edge (whilst facing downhill), focusing on a strong and blended movement through the lower body. Ensure that a strong edge in the snow is maintained, not allowing the board to skid or slip out, as well as adjusting balance over the contact edge.

Spend time carving on familiar terrain with consistent pitches and fall lines, using a larger range of vertical movement and exploring use of both extended and flexed-edge-change turns.

Slowly begin to reduce this vertical range, focusing on using the position of the body to regulate pressure (i.e. advanced angulation) instead of vertical movement. The aim here is to maintain and regulate edge pressure throughout the turn, rather than having big increases and decreases.

Work through the same concepts with a faster retraction turn and use of terrain unweighted turns to provide options and prepare for terrain changes.

When ready, begin to challenge their timing and ability to regulate pressure with changes in pitch and fall line. Focus on manipulating the side-cut to adjust turn size and shape, rather than skidding the board.

Movements & Board Performance

Lateral & Vertical with Edging & Pressuring

The same lateral and vertical positioning required for advanced angulation should be utilised here. The COM should remain fairly low and laterally close to the snowboard throughout the turn; however, it will need to move across the board at the edge change. Extended and flexed-edge-change movement patterns can both be used, depending on what is required during the control and completion phases of the turn, i.e. flexing down to manage pressure or extending to build pressure. More often than not, extended-edge-change turns will be more useful when carving with this level of performance. A retraction movement can also be utilised to allow the COM to move quickly across the board without a significant decrease of pressure.

Longitudinal and Pressuring

The high performance stance and advanced angulation techniques help to create a slight aft position on the board without compromising the flex or absorption in the leading knee and hip. This can be utilised to the rider’s advantage when completing turns by making small aft adjustments to help increase edge grip at the tail of the board. This same movement can be applied with more power to achieve rebound from the board.

Rotational & Steering

Powerful rotation through the whole body is required here. This is only used as a complementary movement to the vertical and lateral movements, as the manipulation of the side-cut should create most of the steering.

Example

In high performance carving, the focus should be on regulating and maintaining pressure, avoiding sudden increases or decreases. The analogy of pressure sensors under the feet works well here. Each sensor has a metering arm that flicks and bounces when pressure is suddenly increased or decreased. The aim is to keep the metering arm in the middle and reduce flicking or bouncing as much as possible.

Terrain & Group Management

As with all carving, morning corduroy with minimal traffic is ideal. Begin on the widest trails you can find, but ensure there is enough pitch for your students to gain speed. Without this, the high performance stance is not needed. Progress to trails with changing fall lines and undulations, but encourage scope and tactics when you do. Look out for points on the side of trails where the groomed corduroy suddenly changes to off-trail conditions and make your students aware of this. Reinforce the checking of blind spots in heelside turns.

Hot Tip

Take the time to review students’ equipment. Blunt edges will make carving at this level very challenging. Highback forward lean will help maintain edge angle through the heelside. Be particularly aware of binding angles. A more neutral back foot will certainly achieve the necessary high performance stance, whereas an even duck stance is likely to put unnecessary pressure on the back knee.

Corrective Teaching

Student looks off-balance when speed is increased:

Check that the equipment used is adequate and appropriately set up. Check for heel/toe drag as the edge angles increase.

Remind them that the purpose of the high performance position is to help with the increasing forces. If the speed of the riding is not sufficient enough to increase the forces acting on the rider, then there is no real need for a high performance position or advanced angulation.

Focus on progressive edging movements using lower limbs, helping the upper body remain calm and balanced as it moves through the turn. Progressive edging will help your student to blend pressuring movements.

Student has difficulty maintaining a higher edge angle at speed:

Focus on keeping the COM low and inside the turn.

Reintroduce advanced angulation whilst stationary. Ensure that any use of the upper body does not move the upper body’s mass over the opposing edge. This will decrease tilt and be detrimental to performance.

Use tasks that will isolate that phase of the turn where the issue is occurring and allow your student to work on a progressive blending of vertical and lateral movements to increase edge angle. As the snowboard begins to grip the snow, increase the speed used in the drills to help students balance and explore a greater range of movement and edge angle.

Student skids during the transition from the control to completion phase of the turn:

If using flexed-edge-change turns, discuss extended-edge-changes as an option. This promotes movement down into a low stable position moving through the student’s problem area.

In a closed turn, redirect their line of sight through the turn and across the hill to help them direct their mass in that direction.

Ensure that any adapted stance positions (e.g. advanced angulation) do not have an inefficient effect of excessive pivot or twist on the board. Remember that every student has an individual level of flexibility and it is possible that an adapted stance in one student with no inefficiencies arising can still create inefficiencies in other, less flexible students.

Student struggles to create a more closed turn shape at higher speeds:

Encourage progressive flexion/extension movements, blended with progressive edging to continually manipulate the side-cut. The vertical range is not the important thing here, it is timing that counts.

Try increasing the edge angle of the board at the tail through the completion phase, by pulling the toes on the back foot up slightly on the heelside and driving the back knee towards the snow more on the toeside. The hips will need to be slightly aft to achieve this.

No matter what turn type is being used, encourage the student to look across the slope in the direction they intend to travel.

Self Reflection

“Are the snow conditions suitable for the increasing level of performance?”

“Are the students aware of how the side-cut can be manipulated to tighten the turn radius?”

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