Steeps

It's funny how early on in my riding career I went from riding blues to black quickly simply by just going out west and having more room and softer snow. Yet after many years, I haven't really advanced to being comfortable on the super steep double blacks. Being an Easterner, I don't get many opportunities to practice. C'est la niege.

Where I teach, our mountain has distinct zones with distinct pitches. When I see riders have trouble moving from the blue-green (14 degree pitch) zone to the blue (20 degree pitch) zone, most of the time it's because their legs are stiff and they get "stuck" trying to initiate their turns. This seems to be a common reason for many people in trouble on the steeps. Emphasizing bending of the legs practice on steeper sections of flatter slopes seems to help.

One of the techniques I use for getting people out of their comfort zones is the "you are already doing this" approach. For example, to get people into chutes, we'd practice short radius turns on a similar pitch. Then when we're ready to jump in the chute, we've already made the same turns without running into the walls (when there were no walls). Being able to explicitly see the "why you can"s stops the "I can't"s

One of the keys for dealing with fear is preparedness. Getting comfortable with speed and developing the ability to make short radius turns certainly helps there. Learning how to self arrest is another more subtle way to prepare yourself. You have to be able to say to yourself "I know how to do this safely." There are lots of little things that people can do to get to this point. What combination works will vary for each person. Great idea to start collecting tips.

Steep and deep

Steep and icy's not so bad once you get used to it. A friend and I trained for Demo team together and all we did was ride the steepest, super iced over/coral, bumped up terrain we could find and most of the time we were practicing switch. So, it sounds wierd, but I don't mind steep and icy so much any more. Having said that here's the topics we focused on when practicing:

- torsional twist movements
- fore/aft movements
- extremely flat board usage (more pivot, than hard core edging per se)
- COM (center of mass) over the board
- shoulders and hips parallel w/ the slope
- aggressive flexion/extension movements

These probably sound like the same techniques necessary for bumps or trees or dynamic carving (except for the flat board) so they can be applied to other riding situations. I will tell you this, that there was a huge difference in control and confidence when we rode with the board as flat as we could keep it and with our COM's right over the board. The idea didn't make sense to me at first 'cuz I like my edges, and know how to use them, but when getting the COM out away from the board and using higher edge angles, the ride was not much fun and took a lot more work to negotiate the same terrain.

A good exercise to combine all those topics from above would be to flat spin over the steeper, crappy terrain in between every turn, or have someone follow you and you have to through down a flat spin any time they yell. So it could come at any point of the turn. Being constatnly ready for the flat spin forces alot of the above topics to happen on their own without much thought. Even if you don't have super steep terrain available, you can practice the topics individually or combined in drills or exercises and amp up your skills for when you get to be on some wild slope out West.

See my response to your Jump Turn thread.

Hem

I spent most of yesterday trying to figure out how to do this. I observed the more skilled boarders did pretty much what have been mentioned here. The thing I did not get from observation is “extremely flat board usage”. I saw them basically going down the steep in a straight line and pivot the board in both directions quickly. It makes more sense now after reading this thread. The bumps are very uncomfortable if I use edge too much, and will lost traction frequently.

I see skiers can scrub off speed easily and going slow on the same steep. Is this not possible for snowboard?

To give some context, I was on Alpine Meadows Lake View chair. I am pretty comfortable with Sherwood run but the trails on Lake View chair are a challenge to me.

I watched skiers come down steep slope with smooth linked turns but at a much slower speed. Skiers seem to be able to scrub off speed tuning smoothly. Snowboarders turn faster and shorter. This is just my observation. Previous posts in this thread indicate speed is an element in the steeps too.

A lot of athletic kids do this sort of sliding and pivoting. They basically go straight, but do heelside, the toeside, alternating all the way down. It's functional, but not very good boarding. It's a high speed slide with little speed control and even less direction control.

Better would be to start in a traverse, no matter how wide or narrow the trail, then project your CM downhill to engage the new edge, then hold it until you cut a "C" turn and find yourself in another traverse--then to do it all over again--alternating all the way down.

It's a basic drill for developing both carving and racing turns, both of which give you much better speed and directional control.

And, if you have trouble getting into the next traverse, because your board is sliding, you have discovered a major flaw in your technique. Probably, you are pivoting your board to turn it, not giving your edge enough time to engage itself.

Thanks for your replies, they are helpful. The main problem I have is all these bumps on the surface.

I understand better, now. I've taken many a somersault trying to get through a bumpy and steep piste. Usual culprit is my own impatience. My advice--which is easy for me to give since I'm not the guy out there dealing with difficult terrain--First, develop better turning skills so you can vary and maintain your turn shape to suit the conditions. Next, I'd say, focus on the short turn as a strategy to get all the way through the hard part. That said, don't think too much about it before you go down, but try to pick a line as you board through it. I know for me thinking always brings in all the problems I see in the piste and then I can get get pretty hesitant, which means, usually, a fall. Another strategy would be to spot a stopping point somewhere ahead and plan to stop there, if you need to. I'm sure, though, if you get the short turn down, it'll all work out.