Snowboarding Techniques: Falling Leaf and Turns

There are a few things that you must master before you should try to take on the big slopes with your snowboard. These are falling leaf technique and turning. Start out on a small slope until you get good enough at it to go up on the chair lift. Remember to always keep most of your weight on your front (lead) foot. That is where your power is.

The Falling Leaf Technique

Think of snowboarding like a leaf falling to the ground. As a leaf falls to the ground it sways back and forth in the air. This is the same type of movement that you will have as you are snowboarding down a slope. We call this the falling leaf technique.
To do falling leaf you simply look down the slope to one side and as you do that you will feel your head and waist start to move in that direction. This will cause you to begin to slide down the slope. If you bring your head back to center you will feel your hips start to level back out and you will begin to stop. You can do this on either side of your body. All of your movements are based on your eyes and your weight placement.
This is what will make you turn on your snowboard. We are going to break it down into two different turns.

Toe Side Turn

Start out on your heels. Point your board down the slope. Once you are completely straight on your snowboard put your weight on your toes. You will have to rock your hips from back to front to get your weight placement right.

Heel Side Turn

Next is your heel side turn. You will start out with your weight on your toes. Then you will slide down the slope. When you rock your hips from the front side position to the back side position your weight will be moved from your toes to your heels. This will cause you to make a turn and stop.

When you get good at these techniques you will be able to take on more advanced techniques. These things that were discussed in this article will teach you how to turn and stop on a snowboard. These are very important things to know before you get onto a chair lift and begin to take on the bigger slopes.

See you next time for more snowboarding techniques and training.

Tags: falling leaf, lead foot, side position, snowboarding, snowboarding techniques

This entry was posted on Monday, November 29th, 2010 at 5:21 pm and is filed under Snowboarding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.