How to break my boarder friend's REALLY ANNOYING habit?

I don't quite know what you mean by instead of turning. I'm not a boarder either, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn. Switching between goofy and regular sounds like a good idea if it allows you to turn on your toe side edge instead of your heel side edge.

Why is this a problem for you?

Exactly. Pay attention to what you do and you'll be too busy to mind anyone else's business.

He's been boarding for 6 years and it still takes him that long to complete a run?
Dude! He should get some skis!

One to two hours::: Sounds like the no friends on a powder day needs to be expanded a bit in this case

So how long does it take you to do these runs?

Well, if you've been waiting around an hour for him at the lift you're a pretty good friend

Get a new friend.

I'm guessing this means your friend is riding his heel side only, and drifting back and forth like a "falling leaf," instead of linking turns heel side-to-toe side. Am I right?

If it bothers you that much, maybe you should buy him a lesson.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner

Snowboarders aren't really into linking turns. We point it down the hill when we want to go faster and across the hill when we want to slow down. Basically sticking to the fall line. All that changing direction that you skiers do seems pointless. The three primary skills are sliding, skidding and jumping. He might be stopping and sitting down in the middle of the trail while he waits his turn to hit a little kicker on the side of the run. Forcing him to make a lot of turns will just slow him down more.

if you insist on remaining friends and riding with a FLCD (Falling Leaf Co-Dependent) then I'd suggest buying him a carving board. Then he'll have to turn. All the time.

other than ditching him, getting him lessons, or just dealing with it, that's your only recourse.

Get yourself a board, practice for a few days and then show him how to do it.

He's doing FALLING LEAF after 6 years?? No wonder you're so annoyed LOL! I can't imagine someone that can't turn trying chutes, trees and bowls. Crazy.

Yeah, get him a lesson or skis. Or snowshoes might be faster.

I believe what dookey67 is refering to is a downhill snowboard. Its basically a really wide ski that you ride like a snowboard, more or less. It only has 1 shovel instead of the "normal" 2. I usually see them on snowboard racers where I ski

If you can do the run in 20 min and it takes him an hour, run it twice (plus lift time) and it should all be good

If your friend is doing falling leaf, and taking that long to do a run....he never learned to ride properly. Ditch him. Tell him to go back to easy runs and learn to turn.

Babo,

Your friend is right, there is no correct way to board. He is an artist. Then again, a 2 year old with a crayon or an elephant with a paint brush can also be artists. You are also right. Some artists can be awfully annoying.

You could just go the blunt route: "Dude, you're a great friend and a talented artist, but you are painfully f'ing slow. Would you mind if I lapped you for a couple runs?". Or maybe you could just buy him a turtle shell helmet for Christmas? Or next time you're out with your rider friend conveniently schedule a lesson in the middle of the day. Make a remark like, "you know you we're right about being an artist, I'm going to take a painting lesson."

Otherwise it's time for a reverse psychology intervention. You need to find a snowboarder friend who can ride. As a last resort, you can get yourself a snowboard lesson (go for an AASI level 3 certified pro). This may sound crazy (ok, it actually is crazy), but you stay on your skis for this "lesson". The whole point of this exercise is to motivate your bud into action by:
a) showing him that there are "more fun" technique options available to him (i.e. he needs more color on his pallette)
b) he has no excuse for not picking up the pace (he's not just slow, he's reallly &^*^&$## slow)
c) he's in danger of losing his friend to people who can ride

The idea here is that the "friend" (or rented pro who is introduced as a friend) has several objectives:
-demonstrate various advanced riding techniques (e.g. carved turns, linked heel side and toe side turns via 180s)
- demonstrate your rider friend's technique with the speed turned up to yours
- gets in at least one turn riding a circle around the pokey
- has a good time by keeping up with you (e.g. synchro riding)
- talks technique with you (while you're waiting), but not with him (just let him hear tidbits as he catches up)
- subtly manipulates the pace (gradually increase the length of the get ahead gaps and decrease the length of catch your breath time) without complaint (and really just mostly ignores rider friend) until the end when he says "Babo, this run's taking like forever. I gotta meet my coach at 2:30. Dude, could you pick up the pace? " Time it so he has to leave in the middle of a run without saying goodbye to your slow friend.

Where do you ski? Maybe we can get a Bear to help.

Rusty...you're joking, right? Linked and carved turns aren't really advanced riding technique...I was linking turns my first day on a board, and carving so I could lean over and do the gloves to the snow thing in my first season. I don't board to omuch anymore, but when I did one of my buds who thought he was and "expert" because he could slowly get down steeps and bumps used to annoy the h-ll out of me...and I'd only wait 5-10 minutes for him at the lift (small eastern mountains).

There is no artistry in sideslipping or doing falling-leaf technique down a steep. That's like the folks who ski a double black diamond by eithetr traversing it or doing slow wedge turns all the way down. It's not art. It's not good sport. It's not smart either. Skiing is so forgiving that people can get away with stuff like this. In other sports, when you try to run before you can walk...you often get spanked.

if he continues to progress at the rate you are at, a tree or a rock will stop this! Seriously, two hours to get down a run, this guy has no place on runs like that.

Definitely time for a lesson...
But he has to want to take a lesson...
My kids started snowboarding last season...
They are going back up for the first time this season next weekend...
They are all getting a lesson to start off with...THEY WANT THIS...
One has a problem with heel side turns, the other has a problem with toe side turns...
To compensate they both do the falling leaf style...
But even then they get down the mountain fairly well...
But they want to snowboard better...
They both want lesson to fix their respective problems and get better...
I am more than willing to pay for this...
I look forward to the day they can go with my wife and myself on all of the ski runs with us...

Like the jokes in West Virginia, it's all relative.

So this is the guy everybody talks about side sliding all the snow off the hill.

I kinda like Rusty's idea of a hired hand to show this fella what snowboarding actually looks like.

Or the resort could hire him out as a groomer.........