Here are some of my thoughts about snowboard carving – this one style/technique in particular.
I personally think this is a great way to carve on variety of terrains and conditions. Furthermore, it does work both in hard and soft boots.
We’ll start with toe-side turn:
Here’s the end of the heel-side turn.
The upper body is quite still, in neutral position.
The board is almost flat – the edge change is taking place. The rider is standing quite high on the board – knees are only slightly flexed and the upper body is almost straight.
On front side edge now.
The rider is beginning to lower his position – the rear knee is visibly more flexed than on the previous picture.
Inside arm (left) is beginning to move forward. At the same time the hips are swinging towards the center of the turn and the rear knee is more towards the front of the board rather than to the side (center of the turn).
This position allows rider to lean quite far into the turn, without the rear knee dragging on the snow.
Furthermore, the position during the toe-side turn is very stable – the hand on the snow helps to stabilize the rider. At the same time the hips are not locked down in one position allowing for additional balance or rescue action if something goes wrong.
To me this is the most important part of the toe-side turn – assuming the most stable position. Quite possibly it is not the best body position to assume during toe-side turn, but it’s definitely the one where the rider has the best balance over the board. Why ?
Read The Unstable Toe-Side Turn
Continued in Anatomy of Snowboard Carving Turn 2
All the stills are taken from this video: