I was just working on my carving the other day and only now realise that I do exactly that same mistake as you point out in the beginning trying to touch the snow and often lose balance on heel side carves. Loving the grab cues that will guide me to stack the weight on the right place next time. Can't wait to try it out! Brilliant as always Malcolm.
Saw you riding last Saturday when I was on a lift. I've been working on some of the techniques you explain since last winter. Made lots of improvements on driving the board and not skidding. Great vids Malcolm.
Nice one, Malcolm!! I love how you explained de-cambering the board as you tilt it higher on edge!! And I love the animation that shows the pressure moving along the edge!! This is good stuff! Looking more dynamic there in your posi posi carving setup! So cool that you're trying it out. Thank you for mentioning my video. That's very kind of you!! I might be in Europe late January! We'll do a clip together, that'll be great! :-)
That was with riser pads on at the end too, boot drag is such an issue for me with my larger feet! Stay in touch, would be great to make some turns with you!
@@malcolmmoore what kind of riser pads do you use/would you suggest? I have size 12 boots and a 26.7 midwidth, but still it's such an iasue for me...any riser pads suggestions that work with the Cartel X or does that not matter which ones? Would love to get a bit higher angles to be able to carve a bit deeper
@@malcolmmoore alright, thanks. I couldn't find any so I thought I ask. Cool orange outfit btw, like the Japanese Orangeman ;) Merry Xmas and happy shredding
@@malcolmmoore we gotta get you on a Cheater 170W.... 275 waist.... Board rides like a dream! First Stranda I ever strapped into. Five turns in I was like "Oh shit... THIS is carving!" A new world with a new type of fun. The confidence boost an experienced rider gets out of 143cm of effective edge and the damping of the ash core is wild! Turns you into Superman of cord.
Just tried this and it is a game changer!!! I was always bringing my front arm across onto the toeside, and leaning for angle. That works but this angulation technique is so much more direct, just ‘bites’ in. Thank you Malcolm
At 6:55, love that you left that slide in there, haha. Happens to everyone. I've only managed to "bounce" out of a carve a few times in my life so far, where I actually popped off the ground at the end of a turn, but it's such a fun feeling, I'm gonna keep trying to make it work reliably for me. Personally, I ride with positive angles because I find it a lot more comfortable; and I think I'm so used to it that even riding in my normal goofy stance, but with a negative angle on the back foot, makes my foot hurt after a few runs. Probably gonna have to correct that, if I want more practice in riding switch 😆
The "bounce" you've experienced happens when you do down unweighted turns, whether carving or doing advanced turns, say on uneven terrain. It allows for the high board angle during the apex of the turn when your legs are extended, creating a ton of power to pop out of the turn/carve as you flex and unweight into the next turn. Easier said than done though! When you nail it, it's like a eureka moment.
@@78danhughesi think you're thinking of up unweighted turns but yes. jumping from carve to carve is like taking an up unweighted turn to the max and when you get it it's so fun
Thank you thank you thank you for not editing out that bit where you sat down. Love the videos, but was feeling very inadequate watching your seemingly endless perfection haha
Hi Malcolm, I'm going to challenge you to rethink your technique here. Having your shoulders more open at the beginning of the heel side turn helps create twist in the board over the lead foot to initiate the turn. That's good. Holding that body position has an unwanted effect at the finish of the heel side turn. Just like you want the edge angle steeper over the lead foot and more pressure over the lead foot to enter a turn, you want the opposite to finish the turn. You want more pressure and more edge angle over the rear foot by twisting the board in the opposite direction than holding your shoulders open on the heel side turn would allow. That's why you're trying to tuck your back knee to combat those forces which also moves your center of mass away from the rear foot and reduces range of motion. You also have a tendency to extend through the finish of the turn when the forces are building which would cause you to chatter out on steeper terrain or if trying to complete your turns across the fall line on harder snow. Think about torsional steering with slightly more edge angle and the center of mass slightly towards the lead foot to initiate turns on both edges. Your center of mass should be between your feet in the middle of the turn with no torsional twist. And then to finish the turn, you should have more edge angle over the rear foot and more pressure over the rear foot by having your center of mass move slightly towards the rear foot to complete turns and then there is a diagonal movement from the rear foot to the lead foot at transition to initiate the next turn. Try to make your extension movements more lateral and less vertical to maintain even pressure on the edge and use the rebound in that way rather than losing contact with the snow. Try completing some dynamic carved turns on steeper terrain while controlling your speed through turn shape without skidding by completing the turns across the fall line and don't allow the rear of the board to chatter out. If you can do this while tucking your knee and with dramatic vertical rises of the center of mass, I will be very surprised. A mentor once told me, I can't have an opinion until I stop tucking my knee. It took me a long time but I have finally unlocked the true secrets of carving. Would love to ride with you sometime. I think I could change your whole understanding of snowboarding. Think about a quiet and disciplined upper body with a stable center of mass and an active lower body that steers more than the upper body. You oftentimes show a dramatic upper body initiation to your turns rather than letting the movements happen from the feet up. Just a suggestion bro. I hope you have a great season.
You nailed it. The main thing I see is the opposite timing that one would desire if their goal is to maintain consistent pressure on the snowboard throughout the turn. Unfortunately, nobody talks about being most retracted at edge change on RU-vid, so there are no videos that I can tag for reference. Maybe somebody should change that? 😂 And yes, the stance is massively effecting the back knee tuck. It’s also preventing the natural squat position required to get low at edge change in addition to blocking range of motion aft to finish the turn. Ankles and toes and very powerful, and work best when in alignment with the knee and hip; which is impossible with a stance that isn’t mirrored. I too would invite Malcolm to change his perspective and movement patterns. Down-unweighting is phenomenal and should be talked about more online. It’s just so soft and flowy and everyone should try it. ❤
I thought you were supposed to tuck the back knee when carving with posi/posi angles and feet steering was more when riding with duck angles to twist the board torsionally? Carving boards like Malcom’s Stranda tend to be torsionally very stiff to keep them super damp and increase edge hold when executing hard fast carves. So foot steering with torsional twist isn’t optimal in this scenario. Double posi angles enables a body position that can maximise hip movement over the board & fowards/backwards movement necessary to steer torsionally stiff carving boards... check out the Just a Ride channel that explains the difference in techniques when carving posi/posi to duck feet (feet steering quiet upper body) & why tucking the back knee when carving in posi/posi is desirable. Malcom name checks Lars at Justaride at the end of his video so that’s possibly why he’s experimenting with tucking the back knee. Also the Korua shapes guys have some great carving videos on their channel in their yearning for turning series- they’re all tucking the back knee & rocking posi/posi for carving - they don’t have a super quiet upper body and they come from a pro race background. I could of course have completely misunderstood what you were saying though so apologies in advance if I’ve misunderstood your point 😅😂
He is riding a duck stance. Not positive, positive angles. The movement patterns on race boards with posi posi angles is much different. If you look closely, you can see he twists the board giving much more edge angle at the finish of his toe side turns and has much more pressure over the rear foot. He does the exact opposite at the finish of his heel side turns because he is tucking his knee and has an open body position. Because of this, he can achieve a much more effective finish to his toe side than his heel side. This is one of the most common movement patterns and obstacles to a more effective heel side finish. Sometimes called the "soft rear foot". A rider should allow the lower body to rotate more than the upper body while shifting the center of mass aft without tucking the knee during the completion phase of the heel side turn to achieve more edge angle and pressure over the rear foot to finish the turn. Vertical changes of the center of mass infer a lack of consistent edge pressure. Extending late through the finish of the heel side turn increases pressure and causes chattering and makes the toe side initiation late.
Something a clinician showed me over 20 years ago has helped my heelside carving over the years with a weak duck stance (I ride a lot of switch while teaching to give students a correct visual in demos). If you stay more aligned to the board (shoulders over the feet) on heelside carves, and put your back hand near/behind your butt as if you were about to put it in your back pocket, this keeps your arm's weight over(inside relative to the turn) the back foot, leading to less of a tendency to wash out the back end. Compared to opening your shoulders, which brings your back shoulder more toward the toe edge and must be counteracted by bringing your front shoulder closer to the snow on the inside of the turn, this allows a more aligned stance so maintains easier flexion and extension to deal with surface irregularities, key on heelside due to the lack of significant ankle joint use. The only downside of this is that you have to be sure of what's around you, as you don't have as much view to the heelside, unless your neck has the flexibility of an owl's.
Malcolm, you have no idea how much this video helps me. I recall doing fore-aft movements across the turns because I felt much more in control of my edges while shifting the weight back during the turns, because I mimick a slight popat the end of a curve to unload the board just before the edge change because I try to avoid making the board stay flat as much as possible. I do that mostly because I'm afraid of how the board might behave when catching more speed so I end up doing something that resembles dolphin turns except I never leave the ground because my fat ass keeps me grounded lmao. Also my board is rather wide and doing so gives me room to shift my weight inside the new curve during the edge change. Perhaps I should find a stiffer board but I'm not sure if it's wise to ride something different while still learning. I would have loved something like the Dada you had, but I ended up picking a twinpig because, beside being cheaper at the time, I thought it was punishing enough to make me pick good habits from the get go and work on technique and posture. Speaking of which, I probably should have somebody film me but I might be bending forward a lot while trying to touch the snow, and I might have realized that when I lost control of my board it was because my center of mass, while being bent instead of laying low, was much more eccentric than it should have for the speed I was going at. I'm looking forward to my next trip to try and correct my mistakes, thanks as always for your videos, they are always tremendously helpful.
I just wanted to say thank you for your videos! I started snowboarding three years ago and find your videos very informative and helpful. I also like the mix of carving input and beginner freestyle input on your channel. The linked video at the end is also awesome - thanks for the channel recommendation! Greetings from Germany :)
@7:07 i'd suggest adding the importance of the 'building of torsional-flex-preload' ( torsionally twist, as you call it )that stores energy from the tip of the (rear) edges while weighted to the rear in the end of a turn, as a process to setup an edge change and a weight shifting forward, to help 'flip' you to the transition to the opposite (nose) edge it is to say the harder you load up the back foot while on edge, the more pop comes from the tail releasing its edge during an edge change and you can use that Fyi, if boot drag is an issue then you are limited, period.
Double posy changed my snowboarding life, please try it out, go +9 +24 or even more exaggerated especially in the beginning to see how your whole body adapts, then you can tweak everything to however you like it, but simply going super posy posy will teach you a new style
RE angles, I started with mild positive on the rear foot, and if I could guarantee I'd only ever be carving I'd stick with that. But in the real world, on a day out you hit all sorts of conditions, so I generally settled on running the back foot square!
Amazing video, Malcolm! Very good tips in one video. Using your back foot in the middle to the end of the turn is crucial because otherwise you overload the front foot, which results in a skidded turn. Other tips are very good too. Like that you need to direct your hips towards the slope in the toe-side turn, not your arms. Thanks a lot!
Hi Malcom, I‘ve been watching your videos on and off for years now. They really helped me to improve my snowboarding technique a lot. Thank you for your work so much. Also I do find that only quite few „youtube instructors“ are able to explain the techniques so precisely and simply as you do! Anyways, I am still struggling to carve at higher speeds on my toe edge. I do wash out, even while applying pressure on my back foot. At the same speed I don’t have these problems on my heel edge. I’am pretty helpless and don’t know how to solve that problem. I also seeked help from an instructor which told me to apply more pressure on my front foot. That helped a little but I still wash out… Maybe you have an idea? Appreciate you time and work, keep up the good work!!! Regards Pete
Hey Pete, many thanks for the nice comment and glad you're enjoying the video. Ultimately without seeing you ride it is hard to diagnose what is causing you to wash out, and therefore my best tips are really just the ones in this video! It might be worth carving at slower speeds, making sure you are really leaving a pencil thin line through the entire turn, and then as you increase speed or gradient of slope, see what part of the turn washes out first. After the edge change, or closer to the end of the turn, and this will help you understand what is going on.
@@malcolmmoore Hey Malcolm, Thank you for your quick reply. I did watch the video over and over again. Next day after your answer I went out to give it another go. Finally I was able to improve that toe side turn by GRADUALLY applying pressure. Somehow I can do it on the heelside without being conscious about it. But on the toe side I really have to focus hard 🙈. Thank you again for your Vids!!! With best regards, Pete
Very nice. As a surfer I really like to push my carving you have here some really nice tip. You should consider an on-line course to practice some of the turns at home ;)
When I really started to explore full power squating on edge to dig the deepest trench I could, I would try to power out. Thinking at extension I would get more power. Now with a few seasons on.. I find i get way more power and control progressively squatting deeper through turn initiation and peak arc, at that point you then have a mariad of options to flow into.
Great explanation as always!!! Learned down unweighted turns last year, thanks to you!!!! If it's not too much trouble, can you make a video explaining the snowboard levels and how to understand in which level we are? 1000 Thanks again!!!! You are awesome!!
You always time the videos perfectly for when they're needed! I quick question about posture/body position. Should this more open approach be ones standard on the slopes, or should the "shoulders stacked over board" kind of position be preffered in most situations still? What about in icy / steep terrain, where it is difficult to achieve grip? And thank you so much for all of the free resources you put out! I am contribute a lot of my progress last year to your teaching, and I can't wait to get going this year :) Best regards
Very nice tutorials Malcolm. In Tyrol, this has been a season with lots of heavy, slushy snow. Any thoughts on boarding those conditions ? Thanks & keep it up !
Hey Malcolm, The graphic that you've added in your videos showing where and when to apply pressure to the board is super helpful. That's why I recommend new riders to watch your videos. 👍🏽
Nice explanation as ever Malcolm, really helpful and great shout out to Lars, justaride is another great channel. You are smashing your videos this seaon already.
Your duck stance is working against your ‘hard carving’ technique. A posi/posi stance will improve your directional ride capabilities and riding comfort.
Will the pressure you put on your front foot control the arc of the turn? Like if I wanted a a big wide turn, I'd put less pressue there, and more pressure if I wanted a very short turn?
Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitzerland! :D If you're ever further across the country, would love to say hello. I'm based in Zurich, mostly on Flumserberg :)
How do you find the balance between staying in a “stacked” position vs open body position. Is there a time for both or do you advocate for the open position all the time?
Hi Molcom! Thanks for your Videos I have a question. For an open ride, which is the best angle and position for the binding. I'm a goofy rider. Thanks for all. I hope you can answer
Here I'm riding +18 -9, theres no best position, but purely for carving then a more positive stance will help you get lower, that said I'm not sold on posi posi for all mountain riding. But you can experiment!
Awesome video Malcom, I was struggling to understand what people mean when they say camber profile allows you to load the board through the turn, and you have just explained it clearly. Another thing I am struggling to understand, and you touched on it a little bit in this video, is the role of the front and back foot which ultimately influence if you ride regular or goofy. I am a right footed person and usually it should mean I should ride regular, but when I tried both styles I found riding goofy was much more comfortable for me. The issue is I feel that I am missing out on something when I have my dominant foot on the front of the board, unlike most people where they have it at the back (i think). Should I force myself to ride regular as it might enhance my riding on the long run?
As a left-handed, right foot dominant person, who rides goofy, I say do whatever you feel most comfortable in. In snowboarding, there's the theory of what works, and then there's what works for an individual rider. If having your right foot in front is what works best for you, then you're goofy. Don't overthink it.
So in each turn (heel or toe) your back knee needs to look the direction you are riding towards. Especially when turning heel side, I feel like my back foot points the oposite direction, sort of a duck stance. Can anybody enlighten me on this? I feel like this might be solution of me turning too much on my heel side.
I was going to comment about the stance angles at the end but it looks like you read our minds. Did you switch from a -6 to a -9, or were you always -9 for the back leg? Nowhere close to being able to carve like this but hoping to one day. I imagine carving hard like this is more difficult on a flat top board than a camber board, given that we can build less energy?
What are your thoughts on opening the body position for heel side, but closing for toe side? I feel like gradually closing my lead shoulder throughout the toe turn gives the same type of power that opening it does for the heel turn. Amazing video, I just discovered opening the body position on heelside carves last year, and it 100% changed my riding.
Hey Malcolm, love your videos. I'm looking to get the Biru for a fun carver for myself. For someone 6'2 210lbs (~1.8 meters, 100 kg) would you recommend the 157 or 154? Cheers
How much difference does it make in an all mountain board vs a flexible park board? I've always rode a rigid all mountain board, but have wanted to get a freestyle board for more flex.
What boots do you wear? I find my 32 tm2 with a 7 flex to be too soft for carving after breaking them in - my big toe gets strained so much it wants to fall off. And the boa system isn’t helping, the top goes loose after every hard charge or carve. (I ride +18 -9 as well 😃) Great video!
Is it always as empty in Switzerland? I've been to Austria and Germany a couple of times and the runs arebso full that I don't feel it's safe for me to practise since I am not that good
While on the frontside carve, do you try to push in with your toes or is it your shin that’s doing all the work? For me it’s mostly the shin pressing against the boot/binding but that sometimes despite 8/10 boots Leads to my boot flexing more than I want. Is a stiffer boot the solution or should I use some other techniques?
Honestly this is a question I've asked alot of other riders and instructors and had mixed responses. For me I think you really need to mostly feel your weight in your shins, however you are obviously still standing on the balls of your feet as well, but the problem with pushing down into your toes is that you can end up opening up your ankle joint when we are in fact trying to close it. If your boots aren't very stiff this can however lead to, like you say, flexing too much. I've had the same issue to be honest, and stiff boots always get soft pretty quick, so I have found myself not flexing to my maximum, and using pressure on the balls of my feet more so than thought my shins. I think in an ideal world the boots would have enough response that they don't collapse under your weight! Sorry for the not very clear answer!
Hi Malcolm, I've been practicing curving for the last three days. The problem I'm facing is that I start from the Green route, but most of the paths are flat. I've tried to pick up speed as you suggested, but when I try to go to the edge, I encounter difficulty. Placing the center of mass on the edge of the board, especially on hills, causes my back foot to push the board back, hindering my ability to curve. I suspect I'm not distributing my weight evenly on both feet. Any recommendations?
Welcome back mate! I have a question. How do you accomplish more pressure to the board to create reverse camber during the curve. If you push with your legs, you would extend at knees, causing you to stand up, if you flex and extend your ankles, pushing against the board it seems that would create more edge angle, or do you stack your weight more over the edge? I understand creating reverse camber, but not sure how to create it? What are you feeling at you split more pressure against edge, what part (s)of body are working to create this extra pressure and pop. Thanks
You're pushing against it just by having your centre of mass on the inside of the turn, and therefore the more speed you take the more you increase that force, but you absolutely can also extend the legs throughout the turn, when I do this it becomes more like a retraction turn as you then need to suck the legs in at the end of the turn to bring the board back under for the edge change!
Is it possible that i can have back leg knee pain because of the duck stance? Considering the foot is pointed the other way, and a knee does in, it makes sense why it would be more stressful on knee rather than lets say 0degree back leg?
