• 5 Elements of Snowboarding
• Phases of a Turn
• Stance and Balance
• Pivot
  • Rotation
  • Counter-Rotation
• Upper and Lower Body Separation
• Unweighting
• Anticipation
• Edging
  • Steering
  • Inclination and Angulation
• Pressure Control
  • Un-Weighting
  • Extension
  • Flexion
  • Resisting Pressure
  • Terrain
  • Pressure Distribution Along the Board
  • Weight Transfer
• Timing and Coordination

Five simple elements to understanding riding are:

1. Stance and Balance
2. Pivoting
3. Edging
4. Pressure Control
5. Timing and Coordination

Phases of a Turn

All turning maneuvres can be divided into 4 basics phases of a turn:

1. The preparation (stance and balance) for the turn
2. The initiation (pivot) of the turn
3. The execution (edge and pressure)
4. The completion (pressure and edge) of the turn

	During isolated turns or when you first start to link turns, the 4 parts are easily defined.
	When linking turns, the completion of one turn prepares you for the next so only three parts are noticed.
	During short radius fall-line, narrow corridor turns, the turns are never quite completed as in the first two examples therefore only the initiation and execution parts are noticed.

In actual practice, the pivot and edge and pressure control elements are never equal. A novice rider will tend to use more pivot and less edge and pressure control. As their riding improves less emphasis is put on pivoting and more on edging and pressure control.

Stance and balance is ongoing throughout all turns, while timing and coordination plays more of a roll as the performance level increases.

STANCE AND BALANCE

The common denominator in all riding is stance and balance. The ability to balance through a wide variety of situations while sliding down a hill remains one of the most obvious objectives in snowboarding.

Balancing is a dynamic process needing continuous muscular activity involving the centre of gravity (COG). Balancing is ensuring that the resultant force acting on the body's COG goes through the base of support (the feet).

Balance is also related to stance. A good athletic stance is the cornerstone of every good technique. The task of the instructor is to communicate ways of reacting quickly and efficiently to maintain balance while doing specific movements. Lateral and fore-aft stability must be learned. A state of readiness should be encouraged through an "attitude" on the board.

Balance can be improved by maintaining a tall relaxed position, with the ankles, knees and hip joints slightly flexed. The arms away from the body but within eyesight. Head and eyes facing the direction of travel. Body weight distributed evenly between both feet.

This Basic (Balanced) Body Position (BBP) as it is referred to in the Reference Guide can also be referred to as the basic athletic stance for snowboarding.

The challenges of riding are based on achieving a comfortable, balanced athletic stance and having fun doing it.

PIVOT

The secret element of the pivot skill is the rider's ability to develop an effective steering angle. A steering angle is formed by placing the board across the line of momentum (direction of travel). The resulting placement will cause the riders course to be deflected in a new direction. The mechanics of how this placement is achieve will be discussed during each of the turning manoeuvres.

Pivoting the board is caused by turning the feet and legs in the direction of the turn. Pivoting the board in this manner causes a visible and sometimes undesirable reaction in the upper body. There are two basic principles involved in pivoting the board both based on a simple physical law: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

These principles are:

        a) Rotation
        b) Counter Rotation

a) Rotation

Rotation is caused by the upper body leading the turning movement around the vertical axis and lower body and board follow.

While the action is slower to initiate, it can result in maximum revolution Le.: 360's, 540's, 720's, etc. This rotation principle is more common to freestyle manoeuvres.

b) Counter-Rotation

The lower body and board is set in motion in the direction of the turn through muscle action of the legs and feet. Simultaneously, the upper body mass through its' own muscular effort, is pivoted in the opposite direction.

Counter-rotation is a quicker way to pivot the board for a limited distance (max. 180 degrees), as action and reaction occur at the same time. There is no preparation needed as in rotation.
Factors effecting these principles

Upper and Lower Body Separation:

The upper and lower body segments can be thought of as being separated at the waist and having nearly equal mass. If the board is not braced against the snow, turning the upper half of the body results in an equal and opposite rotating of the bottom half and vice versa. This assumes that the parts rotate about the vertical axis, against each other, at the waist.

Unweighting:

Both principles work better if the board is unweighted, reducing friction on the snow. CASI technical model incorporates an up un-weighting motion (extension) to help initiate the turn.

Anticipation:

The current concept, the most efficient way to initiate a turn is with the use of anticipation - the rider anticipates the next turn or the change of direction by facing the upper body towards the new direction, then counter- rotation is used to pivot the board beneath the body. At the end of pivot phase the rider has returned to a relatively neutral position.

If the point of rotation can be lowered from the waist to below the hip, then the mass of the upper body segment becomes significantly larger, and any rotary movements of the legs have less effect on the more massive upper segment producing a quieter upper body.

The length, weight, and friction of the board on the snow surface will also influence this.

EDGING (Edge Control)

When there is a change of direction, edging is involved. Even though we are edging when we are traversing a slope or when we are side-stepping on a hill, we are mostly referring to turns when we are talking about edging.

Proper edging is achieved by involving the ankle, knee and hip joints to increase the edge angle (the angle between the lateral base of the board and the snow).

Steering: The combination of pivoting the feet while edging is called Steering.

Once the new direction has been initiated, the completion can only be guaranteed during
the execution phase by the effective use of edging or edge control. This edging element is a direct response to the riders ability to control his/her board's edge angle, This angle varies depending on:

        (a) the steepness of the slope,

        (b) the radius of the turn,

        (c) the speed at which the turn is being done.

During the edging phase of a turn, external forces are affecting the rider. Through a predominant isometric effort, the rider utilizes these forces to create a turn. In other words, the rider moves on an arc.

The above concept of a "predominant isometric effort"  serves only as a means of describing the relatively "tense" body structure required in the edging phase of a turn. It is not a static "position" one holds. There are continuous reflex movements to maintain balance and respond to varying terrain and snow conditions.

Inclination and Angulation

For every change of direction we need to incline to the inside of the turn to stay in balance, as one would do if they were making a turn on a bicycle. This inclining movement is called "inclination." It is important to understand the relationship between angulation and inclination. Study the following examples carefully.

Inclination (only)
With inclination the edge angle is directly related to the amount of inclining we do. This technique allows a very limited variety of turns to be performed.

Angulation (with Inclination)
Edging using angulation is achieved by involving the ankle, knee and hip joints to increase the edge angle.

With inclination and angulation we  reserve the ability to increase the edge   angle while maintaining the same inclination. With this attitude itis possible to adjust pressure along the length of the board.

PRESSURE CONTROL

Pressure Control is a sensory skill in which the rider moderates the pressure on the board. The pressure refers to fore and aft pressures, lateral edge to edge pressure, up an down pressure as well as pressures due to edging and terrain. The rider can change the pressures by bending or extending the legs, changing the amount of edge, changing the amount of steering, or by a combination of these things. Obviously, pressure control is difficult to master and it is generally seen as the skill which defines the expert rider.

Some forms of pressure control are more obvious and easier to understand than others.

Un-weighting

The CASI promotes up un-weighting and because it is one of the fundamentals of our technique, an explanation is necessary. Whenever the mass is on a trajectory we call this unweighting, whether the impulse is generated by an extension of the legs or with a controlled flexion of the legs. The un-weighting phase should not be longer than needed. This means that the trajectory of the COG must be adjusted to meet the demands of different speeds and terrain. Because the variety of situations is virtually infinite, a regimented approach of teaching selected movements for each specific situation gives poor results.

Pressure can also be experience at the beginning of a turn by up un-weighting, in order to release the edge and pressure, and to aid in establishing a new steering angle.

Extension

During extension the body accelerates upward causing a temporary increase in the pressure on the board. When the extension is stopped, the inertia created causes a temporary decrease in the pressure on the board. The amount of increase in the pressure on the board depends on how quickly the extension is executed. If this motion is executed quickly enough, the body will experience total unweighting at the top of the extension.

To somewhat lesser degree this can also be done by a down un-weighting motion.

Flexion

During flexion the body accelerates downward. This temporarily decreases the pressure of the board. When flexion is stopped, the body decelerates causing a temporary increase of the pressure on the board. The amount of decrease in the pressure on the board depends on how quickly the flexion is executed. This movement can be done fast enough to eliminate all pressure on the board, causing unweighting.

Comment:

Flexion and extension are mostly pressure adjustments but they must consider the unique situation of each turn and are therefore hard to define. In general the extension is in a forward direction and flexion is only to control pressure, not eliminate it. Minimizing flexion will add pressure to the board and liveliness to the riding.

Resisting Pressure

Accompanying the edging phase is a compression force/a resisting pressure of the resultant forces.
The amount of pressure which is generated is a direct response to the radius of the turn, the steepness of the slope and the the speed in which the rider is travelling at.

Terrain

The terrain itself can also cause an increase and decrease in pressure.


The rider stays in a fixed position - as a result pressure varies a great deal on uneven terrain.


Here the rider adjusts to terrain changes with flexion and extension of the legs - maintaining constant pressure.

Pressure distribution along the board

By pushing the feet forward or backward, and/or shifting the upper body backward or forward, stance can be adjusted to achieve the desired pressure distribution along the longitudinal axis of the board (see Stance and Balance diagram).

Weight Transfer

Weight transfer is the changing of all or the majority of the pressure from one edge to the other.

Weight transfer may be thought of as pressure transfer. Pressure is mostly a result of steering angle and edging. At the initiation of a turn steering begins immediately and so does pressure transfer. Although the transfer happens early in the turn it can be seen that it will be applied gradually as edging comes into play.

TIMING AND COORDINATION

Timing and coordination refers to the skill of harmonizing movements so that the right things happen at the right time. In a sport such as snowboarding where the very essence of the sport is balancing while moving over ever-changing terrain, timing and coordination is crucial to progress beyond the beginner stage.

Initially the student learns to do such things as pivot the feet at the right time, extend or bend at the right time, etc. and then later, to do several of those actions at the same time (coordinated). In the expert riding, timing and coordination is the magical element that makes riding appear effortless, fluid and so fantastic.