Quote:
Originally Posted by noodle
Yeah I remember first time I went snowboarding... That Heel side thing didn't take me that long to get used to... But my problem is that I can only seem to go in a straite line and I'm unable to switch to heel side to slow myself down etc... i end up having to throw myself to the ground to stop.  |
The problem most beginners have is that no one bothers to explain that body weight makes up most of your control over the board. When you are turning, you need to turn your lead shoulder first before the board turns. Say you are making a heel turn, first you are going to come out of the turn by taking pressure off you heel edge. Then you initiate a toe side turn by first turning your shoulder in the direction of the turn. This will begin turning your board. Then you press your toe edge into the snow and the board's natural curve (sidecut) should do the rest for you.
The problem people usually have going from one side to the other is they press their edge before intiating the turn. This results in your edge digging into the snow (catching an edge) and you face (tail) planting.
Other common mistakes of beginners are things like leaning back too much on their tail. Say you start going down the hill and picking up speed. Your natural instinct is to lean back because you want to stop going forward. This un-centers your body weight. You want to keep your weight centered over your board as a beginner. Once you start riding the pow pow, it's a different story.