Tag Archives: Advance snowboarder

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Teaching Children To Snowboard Part 3

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This snowboard video will give you tips on Teaching Kids To Snowboard. If you love to snowboard sharing that passion with your children will create endless positive memories. Get them to love snowboarding. Other Snowboard Videos on YouTube & Flowing Freeride go over equipment technologies to teach you how to get the best gear. You’ll have access to all our snowboard tutorials when you signup that cover every step and feedback from your coach. We also have some free snowboard videos to prepare for snowboard weather and equipment to bring on our YouTube Page. I recommend watching these snowboard videos; Beginner Snowboard Lesson on Steering, Toeside Heelside Stance, Learn How To Ride The Lifts Safely, How to Snowboard: Balance Twist, Beginner Snowboard Stance, Snowboard Pads, Snowboard Training Hill, Demo Boards, Snowboard Camber, Building Rhythm, Snowboard Freestyle Boards, Snowboard Dynamic Flex & Extend, & How To Size Your Snowboard. Learn to snowboard online with flowingfreeride.com, Take Our Placement Quiz, take a look at Our Blog for more free content, and Learn To Snowboard Right!

I’ve been talking to my brother about taking his kids out snowboarding but they live in Phoenix, AZ. We finally got the chance with the great early conditions this Thanksgiving to get up on the slopes. My boys went out with their cousins. I knew this had a good chance of being successful because I brought several adults along. They were willing parents and grandparents that had a stake in outcome. They helped with the difficult times. A big part of teaching kids is the preparation. Some of the cousins had taken a snowboard lesson with a negative result. One was good at skateboarding. Their parents had prepped them to be excited and grateful. That made it easy for me to teach. The kids ranged in age from 3 to 12 so I was dealing with multiple cognitive developments. I studied child development in college and have my Advanced Children Educator  ACE 2 certification. I talk to the kids to see what hobbies/interests they like. If you have knowledge of the shows they watch, sports they play or books they read you can talk about those subjects to get them to relax and not over think snowboarding.

When you have really young kids just be prepared for them to break down. Every child has a unique personality. Get down to there level when teaching them. Some kids are happy and stoked to be out snowboarding while others will throw tantrums and outbreaks. These kids are too young or need extra attention. You might have an idea of difficult kids before you take them on the slopes but you won’t know until you take them up and try. You can use the leash systems or hold their hands but they need to be able to go by themselves. When a child starts crying take a break or call it for the day if it’s a real bad outbreak. Remember this is suppose to build positive fun memories, so that they want to do this with you in the future.

The older kids are more likely to be coachable because their brains and bodies have developed. I will teach things to the group and then let a stronger rider demo things for me. I like to use a reward system or let the children compete amongst themselves. If you can make things a game and fun it will keep them engaged. Some games are to see how long you can ride without a fall. Time them to see how long they can go straight. Who can do the best stop and so on. I know last Easter I brought an egg up with a toy in side. I let my son find it and told him it gave him magic powers to snowboard better. He was so excited and confident. It was his best day snowboarding ever. I might have to teach the skill differently to kids that don’t have much of an attention span or don’t listen. Teach something and then let them discover things on their own. You don’t have to always be teaching, give them time just to practice on their own.

I took them to our shop where I sized their boots, boards and I set up there snowboard angles to 9º, -9º. I’ve talked about how to setup a beginner binding angles in an earlier video. Binding Angles. To get the kids going we strapped in one foot and skated around doing circles, figure 8’s and straight glides. I taught them that it was important to lift the board up and not keep it flat. Using big strong power moves would make them crash. It took a bit but they started to edge their boards. Get the kids to lift the snowboards up. Practice with them by spotting them so the can get the right balance. I talk about this in some early videos but the twist drill is something you should know by watching this video, to help teach your kids edging and to twist the board. Once they’re doing that they are ready to practice gliding and stopping. If they aren’t stopping have them practice lifting their edge up. They can drag their toes or heels in the snow to act as an anchor but I’ve found it better to just go right into edging the board to stop. They want to step uphill or towards their uphill edge. Kids want get the board around quick using upper body strength but they keep the board flat and unless they lift the edge up they usually will fall. (crashes)

This first part is where they hike and skate in flat terrain. This are is where you can help kids get their balance because it’s flat and they’re not moving a lot. They will build muscle memory by repeating the drill of skating and stopping. Bring water and take breaks because the kids will get tired. If you have other adults during a break you might get to go take a quick run to get your shred on. After they can stop on toeside and heelside let them start going down the beginner slope. This slope should be fairly flat but steep enough to keep speed. Have them make laps on this area stopping one foot in. Surface lifts are the best for beginners so find an area that has a conveyor belt or a gondola to make laps. Refer to this video to help with lift knowledge. Getting on and of the chair lift comes later. You may need to help the kids but use caution because this is where they move and more likely to fall. I will have them practice the ankle, knee, hips and spine flex and extension movements for toe and heel stationary and then while they go down the mountain.

You might have to stay on this practice slope for a while doing one foot in stops. When they’re doing toeside and heelside stops strap in the back foot. I will sometimes help spot the kids to transition from toeside and heelside or making C-turns. Get the kids to do that and make sure they can stop with two feet in. If one kid is advancing faster then teach them S-Turns. The focus is steering the board with their front foot, getting the board to across the fall line then parallel to it. Let the board flow down with gravity and focus energy to their ankles/lower body to steer not their shoulders and arms. When they balance on the edges and stop they’re ready for the lift. Check out loading the lift video.

The next Teaching Children Snowboarding video I’ll give tips on how to load and unload the lift safely with kids. You can signup to get access to all of our snowboard lessons, study guides, textbooks, glossary, tests and direct feedback from your coach. Learn to snowboard right online with flowingfreeride.com. My name is Blake Tholen Clark Contact Me if you want to book a lesson or have any questions about Snowboarding.

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Learn Snowboarding Upper/Lower Body Separation

Blake Tholen Clark Certified Snowboard Instructor, Flowing Freeride Online Snowboard School, Free Snowboarding Lessons, From Your Snowboard Coach, Snowboarding Tips, , , , , , , , ,

This online snowboard lesson will go over Snowboarding Upper/Lower Body Separation. There are certain times and places that we want to separate our upper body from our lower. It helps in tight situations like in trees, freestyle, glades, chutes and steeps. Freestyle moves on features like boxes and rails look super stylie. You can use slash turns and power stops to spray snow or to stop quickly. In chutes you can make fast turns to avoid obstacles and escape danger. Have this movement in your ‘snowboard tool belt’ to help you avoid injuries. Other Snowboard Videos on YouTube & Flowing Freeride go over proper snowboard alignments, movements & techniques to get you flowing with freeride carving rhythm. You’ll have access to all our snowboard tutorials when you signup that cover every step and feedback from your coach. We also have some free snowboard videos to prepare for snowboard safety on our YouTube Page. I recommend watching these snowboard videos; Building Rhythm, Advanced Snowboarding Getting Air, Snowboard Dynamic Flex & Extend, Advance Snowboard Lesson: Dropping Cliffs, Snowboarding Off Piste, Snowboarding Chutes, Snowboard Lesson Navigating Trees & Obstacles, Active Passive Absorption, Eruo Surfer Carves, Basics For Freestyle Features, Advance Snowboard Carving: Surfer Turns & Grab Carves, Funnel Turns For Navigating Obstacles, Snowboard Jibbing & Snowboarding Moguls. Learn to snowboard online with flowingfreeride.com, Take Our Placement Quiz, take a look at Our Blog for more free content, and Learn To Snowboard Right!

I ride most of the time with my body in alignment. I can absorb better and prevent myself from tweaking my legs or back. When I hit bumps my natural body movement is to absorb in alignment. If I’m riding with my upper and lower body separated all the time I’m going to wear my body out. After a long day of riding your muscles and joints get tired. If you’re riding out of alignment and using a lot of strong movements instead of finesse you’ll feel it the next day. There are techniques and movement patterns that will keep you snowboard fit. There are many times that I need to separate my upper/lower body when snowboarding. I have a set stance that I go back to or refer to. It’s my natural body stance except I angle my feet out. I keep my ankles, knees, hips and spine slightly flexed so I’m able to move smoothly and I my upper body is naturally aligned with my lower. We’re going to move in and out of alignment so we’re ready to handle whatever is thrown at us on the mountain.

Gravity pulls us down the mountain and the most direct path gravity takes is called the fall line. In steep terrain we follow that line much more. When we point our front hand down the slope we are setting ourselves up to be aligned with the fall line. This will make it easier to start your turn but it’s more difficult at the end of the turn. In tight situations you need to turn immediately to avoid trees, rocks or other obstacles. We want to be able to slow down and stay in control especially in steeps and trees. The upper/lower body separation drill will help you be able to ride through advance level terrain better.  

Start on mellow terrain that has some slope like a Blue or intermediate (in Europe Red). If it’s a Green or Easy (in Europe Blue) slope that is too flat this drill won’t work well. Point your front hand and upper body down the slope. Your lower body will be very dynamic rotating your snowboard around from toeside to heelside. Think about focusing more energy into your hips to help pivot. Bend your hips, knees and ankles to make the board flow around easily. Be sure to keep the front hand pointed down the slope. It is easier to achieve on the heelside. Really focus on the toeside to keep you arm pointed down the mountain. Your turn shape should be small and done quickly. If you’re still having trouble getting this movement review Snowboard Dynamic Flex & Extend to give you another example.

After you’ve got the drill on Blue terrain move into steeper Black Advance trails. As you get better flow down tree runs and steep chutes using this technique to Rip the whole mountain. You can practice efficiently and get Hooked On Snowboarding with Snowboardclass/FlowingFreeride’s techniques so go back to other snowboard videos that teach you about other snowboard equipment. You can signup to get access to all of our snowboard lessons, study guides, textbooks, glossary, tests and direct feedback from your coach. Learn to snowboard online with flowingfreeride.com and take a look at our YouTube Page for more free content and learn to snowboard right! My name is Blake Tholen Clark Contact Me if you want to book a lesson or have any questions about Snowboarding.

 

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All Mountain/Freeride Snowboards And Asymmetrical Snowboards

Blake Tholen Clark Certified Snowboard Instructor, Flowing Freeride Online Snowboard School, Free Snowboarding Lessons, From Your Snowboard Coach, Snowboard Gear Reviews, Snowboarding Tips, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This online snowboard lesson will go over Freeride Snowboards. There are different technologies in a Freeride Snowboard that make this ride the whole mountain more efficiently. The three main types of snowboards are Alpine, Freestyle and Freeride. Freestyle Boards are shorter and softer in flex to get spins around faster and to absorb with forgiveness while Alpine Boards are longer for more response, not as wide for quick edge change and stiffer to hold an edge in harder snow conditions. Freestyle Snowboard stances usually are wider with a ‘duck stance’ or your feet angles are pointing towards nose and tail like 12º, -12 so they can use a full range of motion to absorb landings and jump of kickers. Alpine Snowboard stances are sharp towards the nose like 70º, 67º to be able to carve and switch edges quickly. Freeride Snowboard stances are a combo of these two styles picking out the best attributes. A lot of snowboarders like freeriding because you can ride the whole mountain hitting trees, moguls, cliffs, park, pipe, off piste, groomers, etc., Other Snowboard Videos on YouTube & Flowing Freeride go over equipment technologies to teach you how to get the best gear. You’ll have access to all our snowboard tutorials when you signup that cover every step and feedback from your coach. We also have some free snowboard videos to prepare for snowboard weather and equipment to bring on our YouTube Page. I recommend watching these snowboard videos; What To Wear Snowboarding, Demo Boards, Snowboard Camber, Building Rhythm, Advanced Snowboarding Getting Air, Snowboard Freestyle Boards, Snowboard Dynamic Flex & Extend, & How To Size Your Snowboard. Learn to snowboard online with flowingfreeride.com, Take Our Placement Quiz, take a look at Our Blog for more free content, and Learn To Snowboard Right!

Asymmetrical Snowboards can be wider with softer flex in the front or nose and then more narrow with stiffer flexin the tail. It’s shaped like an ‘A’ and it tapers down being wider at the beginning and narrow at the end. This will help you plow through the crud conditions and in powder to ride up on top and float to make it easier to ride. These boards are directional and meant to go one way more efficiently. You can ride them switch or fakie but they won’t perform the same way. You can have an asymmetrical sidecut, your heelside edge has a deeper sidecut to lock you into your carves better by giving you more leverage or similar to your toeside carves. On my toeside I eliminate one more angle by extending my hips instead of flexing like on my heelside thus creating more leverage on my toeside edge. These type of snowboards are ‘A Sym Twins’ or twin tip in every way except you have a designated heelside edge weather you’re riding goofy or regular. This snowboard is great for freestyle but I want to include it with freeride boards too. You don’t need to have an asymmetrical snowboard for it to be a freeride snowboard and the Asymmetrical Twin Tip is great for freestyle. I do like to ride twin tip snowboards but when I’m out riding the whole mountain or freeriding I set my bindings back a bit so that I have a longer nose and shorter tail. When you set your bindings back or the holes are already set back then it’s a directional twin. I’ll talk about sidecuts in a second. This let’s me ride powder and crud a bit better by staying on top of the snow and not sinking in.

Freeride Snowboards or All Mountain Snowboards usually ride better through bumps, trees, off piste conditions and at high speeds because they’re longer and stiffer flex. The sidecut is usually set back a bit, off-centered or it doesn’t start arching back out in the center of the snowboard. A few centimeters back from the center is when the sidecut starts heading back out. This gives you a better solid ride when you’re riding the board directionally with your bindings set back along on your snowboard and that’s why you sidecut is set back, off-centered. You lose that when riding switch because now you have a short nose and long tail. The technologies of an All Mountain let you ride the whole mountain efficiently in one direction and you’re still able to ride backwards or fackie fairly well also.

Freestyle Snowboards that are shorter for quicker rotation and softer flex to absorb landings and tricks. They are True Twin Tips with same flex patterns at the nose and tail. The sidecut is not set back it arch back out right in the center of the snowboard and the binding holes are also centered. This makes the snowboard ride and perform exactly the same no matter if you’re going goofy or regular.

All Mountain Snowboards are going to have regular camber or hybrid camber in them. If you’re on a reverse cambered board you won’t hold an edge as well and you butter very easily. Banana boards are reversed cambered great for freestyle, tricks, butters and less likely to catch an edge which is a huge plus to beginners. I have to really lift my edge higher on my back leg to hold a carve, my movement patterns differ on reverse camber boards. I like to ride regular camber boards for the edge control, flex patterns, speed and pop from edge to edge. Hybrid camber gives a combo of both and helps you float more in powder conditions. There are different technologies in different types of snowboards. Know what type of camber your board has, how big is the sidecut and if it’s off-centered or directional, the shape and flex patterns are all technologies that can make your riding look better. You can practice efficiently and get Hooked On Snowboarding with Snowboardclass/FlowingFreeride’s techniques so go back to earlier snowboard videos that teach you about other snowboard types and gear. You can signup to get access to all of our snowboard lessons, study guides, textbooks, glossary, tests and direct feedback from your coach. Learn to snowboard online with flowingfreeride.com and take a look at our YouTube Page for more free content and learn to snowboard right! My name is Blake Tholen Clark contact me if you want to book a lesson or have any questions about Snowboarding.

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Snowboarding & Weather Patterns

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This online snowboard lesson will go over Snowboard Weather Patterns. Snowboarding is a sport that relies heavily on Mother Nature. Without snow we don’t have snowboarding. Resorts have opening dates and will blow snow or make ‘man made snow’ when there isn’t enough snow. Man made snow uses the cold temperatures outside to freeze high pressured water. You can think of the snow guns as huge spray bottles spraying a ton of water out and it freezes making ‘man made snow’ which isn’t the same as natural snow. Snow from Mother Nature can be light and fluffy. Man made snow is more dense and turns to ice quickier. With less snow at the beginning of our seasons and warm temperatures it’s making it hard to open on schedule or to have enough snow in early season. Winter Tourism Will Take A Hit If Winter Months Continue To Lose There Chill. I watch the weather and will chase the good snow especially during early and late season when snowboard coaching is slower. Other Snowboard Videos on YouTube & Flowing Freeride go over weather tips and to teach you how to be prepared. You’ll have access to all our snowboard tutorials when you signup that cover every step and feedback from your coach. We also have some free snowboard videos to prepare for snowboard weather and equipment to bring on our YouTube Page. I recommend watching these snowboard videos; Building Rhythm, Advanced Snowboarding Getting Air, Snowboard Dynamic Flex & Extend, Advance Snowboard Lesson: Dropping Cliffs, Snowboarding Off Piste, Snowboarding Chutes, Snowboard Lesson Navigating Trees & Obstacles, Active Passive Absorption, Upper/Lower Body Separation, Basic Carving: Circle Drills, Basics For Freestyle Features, Advance Snowboard Carving: Surfer Turns & Grab Carves, Funnel Turns For Navigating Obstacles, Snowboard Jibbing, Snowboarding Moguls.Snowboarding Moguls, Slope Faces, 5 Red Flags of Avalanches, Learning Snowboard Avalanche Conditions, & Heli Boarding. Learn to snowboard online with flowingfreeride.com, Take Our Placement Quiz, take a look at Our Blog for more free content, and Learn To Snowboard Right!

When I know I’m going to be traveling to an area during the snowboard season I stay aware of the conditions in that area. I look to see how much snow they’re getting and what the temperatures are. They are many times that a mountain gets a ton of snow but then gets a lot of warm temperatures. There was a lot of snow but it melts making conditions sketchy. During bad winters I may just look to go where the temperatures are the coldest and they have the best snowmaking. I watch weather patterns to know where the snow is piling up or staying fresh. I know the wind patterns around my area but they may differ greatly at another mountain. It is rare but some places actually get too much snow making it very difficult to travel there and no lodging. The big thing is when you have some time warning that you’ll be traveling to a different mountain look at their forecasts and pay attention to there weather so you know what types of snow layers are underneath your board and how to prepare for those conditions.

It’s important to watch the weather when I surf, water ski, wakeboard, snowboard, paddle board, fish, kayak etc,. When I surf I want to know when the waves are going to be bigger. There are tides, winds, currants and temps to consider. If you get into to surfing or you already do, then you know that weather patterns play a big role into when the surf is best. You may chase storms for the best waves. I watch the weather and look to see where the winter storms are building up and will travel to the powder! The best water to ride on is glass when surfing, wakeboarding or water skiing. It’s usually going to be good water early  in the morning or later in the evening. The wind usually picks up in the afternoon. Just having some basic knowledge on weather can help you schedule activities in the future. I know that when I go snowboarding it’s probably going to be cold but temperatures can vary. When you snowboard in a blizzard you’ll want to wear different clothes and goggles than on a clear sunny day after a storm. You might be going somewhere that is very windy or somewhere that is very high up with a very different climate that you’re not use to. I’ve been in Colorado when the snow has been so cold making the the snow crystals very sharp that no matter what wax you put on your board you still went slow. In cold conditions I wear more layers to keep me warmer or I break out my puffy jacket made with down feathers keeping me super warm. I look at the weather forecast to help decide on google lens to wear depending on how much light we’ll get. Weather is a huge factor when you’re going out snowboarding.

When I start to go out of bounds and into the backcountry there are weather resources that I rely on like Utah Avalanche Center UAC, Forest Service/National Avalanche Center or NOAA to get reliable reports and forecasts. Look for these types of resources in your area. I want to know if it’s going to be worth heading out of bounds or if conditions are going to be similar by staying inbounds. If we’ve had a recent snowstorm the snow might be fresh and untracked inbounds but it will get chewed up and that’s when I like to start going into the backcountry. I recommend you take some basic backcountry training like Classes Through UAC and FFR has several Backcountry, Avalanche Awareness & Avalanche Safety Snowboard Tutorials that will get you some skills to survey the terrain and teach you about snow layers. Faceted snow is snow that has melted or doesn’t compact together it doesn’t bond to other crystals that causes a weak layer of snow and higher risk for avalanches. I like to tell people that it’s the snow that doesn’t make snowballs. Faceted snow doesn’t bond or make snowballs and that layer is the one that’s weak causing slides. The National Forest Avalanche Center gives this definition: “Snow metamorphism determines if individual snow crystals are rounding (becoming stronger) or faceting (becoming weaker). The relationship between snow crystals ultimately dictates what kind of layer, strong or weak, is formed. The interaction between individual layers determines snowpack stability.” This is why I say to watch the weather. If you know that there has been some melting and variation in temperatures then there could be a higher avalanche danger.

Wind lets you know where the snow will be piling up or if the storm will be a warm, wet, cold etc,. They actually know by wind speeds and directions how much snow to predict and that helps you as a snowboard to prepare. Snow weighs a lot and when there is 3 or 4 meters of snow out there a slide could be deadly. Depending on the snowpack and where you go there could over 10 meters or 30 feet of snow and an avalanche like that could easily bury anything in its path. Before you go out in the backcountry take some training or a class. You can practice efficiently and get Hooked On Snowboarding with Snowboardclass/FlowingFreeride’s techniques so go back to earlier snowboard videos that teach you about weather and hitting the backcountry. You can signup to get access to all of our snowboard lessons, study guides, textbooks, glossary, tests and direct feedback from your coach. Learn to snowboard online with flowingfreeride.com and take a look at our YouTube Page for more free content and learn to snowboard right! My name is Blake Tholen Clark contact me if you want to book a lesson or have any questions about Snowboarding.

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Snowboarding Steeps & Alignments

Blake Tholen Clark Certified Snowboard Instructor, Flowing Freeride Online Snowboard School, Free Snowboarding Lessons, From Your Snowboard Coach, Snowboarding Tips, , , , , , , , , , ,

This online snowboard lesson will go over Closing Your Turns Body Alignments. In steep terrain every little movement can cause a huge reaction. When I’m taking students out on steeper terrain I take a few runs on intermediate slopes to see what type of movement patterns they have and if they’re even ready to be on steeper difficult runs. Most the time I need to work with my students a bit before I take them to steeper areas. They need to be able to make turns using lower body movements and keeping their upper body aligned with their lower. After they are making turns with better alignment I like to take them to a run that has some mellow slope then steep and back less slope. This way the student can practice their movements on the way to the steep difficult terrain, then actually ride the steep advance terrain and then back to intermediate terrain. Other Snowboard Videos on YouTube & Flowing Freeride go over movements to teach you how to ride steep terrain. You’ll have access to all our snowboard tutorials when you signup that cover every step and feedback from your coach. We also have some free snowboard videos to prepare for Advance Snowboard Skills & Drills on our YouTube Page. I recommend watching these snowboard videos; Building Rhythm, Advanced Snowboarding Getting Air, Snowboard Dynamic Flex & Extend, Advance Snowboard Lesson: Dropping Cliffs, Snowboarding Off Piste, Snowboarding Chutes, Snowboard Lesson Navigating Trees & Obstacles, Active Passive Absorption, Upper/Lower Body Separation, Basic Carving: Circle Drills, Basics For Freestyle Features, Advance Snowboard Carving: Surfer Turns & Grab Carves, Funnel Turns For Navigating Obstacles, Snowboard Jibbing & Snowboarding Moguls. Learn to snowboard online with flowingfreeride.com, Take Our Placement Quiz, take a look at Our Blog for more free content, and Learn To Snowboard Right!

Human nature is to lean backwards when we are going forwards fast. Think about that. When you are moving down the mountain you gain speed and instead of leaning backwards you need to fight that urge to lean forward putting weight on your front leg. Let’s review what are alignments are. We want to be perpendicular to the slope. Our board, knees, hips shoulders are parallel to the slope. When you start to lean back on steep terrain snowboarding is harder because you’re using movements that are out of alignment. An easy fix to leaning back is to reach down towards the nose of your snowboard and grab it. Start doing this in a flat area so that you’re stationary or static. Then start snowboarding and at the beginning of your turns each for the nose of your board and at the end of your turn release and stand taller in your stance. As you feel more comfortable doing this drill start going on steeper slopes doing these movements. You will gain more confidence in your riding doing this movement pattern.

Speed and going down the mountain is what snowboarding is. We want to be able to control our momentum and that’s what I’m teaching in this snowboard tutorial. I just went over being aligned when you’re going down the fall line or parallel to it, now let’s focus on going across the fall line being perpendicular to it. I want my turn shapes to be the same size on both toeside and heelside edges. It happens all the time where people don’t finish their turns in steeps and then they carry too much speed for their next turn and skid. The fix to this is to turn up the hill on your turns for a second or two longer than you normally do. It’s usually the toeside edge that people do a quick short turn because they keep their upper body facing down the mountain creating upper body separation. Their bodies are out of alignment on their toeside edge and aligned on their heelside edge. To balance this out I’d have them spend more time on their toeside edge and have them look uphill to actually see what is behind them. When you finish a turn on your toes and look uphill you’re aligned. It’s a good idea to look uphill once in awhile when you make toeside turns. Clean up your heelside edge too by looking uphill to finish your turns. Finishing you turns is at the end get your board perpendicular to the slope or even turn up the hill the slow down your turns. This will keep you a symmetrical and balanced snowboarder.

To make faster more efficient turns in steep terrain bend your front knee excessively so that you can reach down and grab your nose on your snowboard at the beginning of your turns. As you finish your turns stop grabbing your nose, stand taller in your stance and look uphill to bleed off extra speed you gain from being in steep difficult terrain. Learn how to Rip Steep Terrain by keeping your body alignments good and finish your turns to stay in rhythm. You can practice efficiently with Snowboardclass/FlowingFreeride’s techniques so go back to earlier snowboard videos that teach you about stance alignments. You can signup to get access to all of our snowboard lessons, study guides, textbooks, glossary, tests and direct feedback from your coach. Learn to snowboard online with flowingfreeride.com and take a look at our YouTube Page for more free content and learn to snowboard right! My name is Blake Tholen Clark contact me if you want to book a lesson or have any questions about Snowboarding.

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Advance Snowboard Lesson On Jumps, Freestyle and Pond Skimming

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This online snowboard lesson will go over Freestyle, Jumps, Air Tricks and Pond Skimming. Let’s start to focus on your freestyle. A great way to practice tricks while you’re in the air is to get on a trampoline. I’ve read that NASA would train their astronauts by having them jump on a trampoline after being in space or to prepare for space. These studies showed that jumping was %68 more efficient than running and less impact on your joints. I’ve done experiments on myself as well and I’ve seen the improvements when I jump on the trampoline over other exercise. It’s a natural movement and most people can get on a trampoline and start jumping without much coaching. Bend your legs more and more to get higher and higher. You will start to feel that unweighted feeling at your apex. Once you’ve started jumping and testing how high you can jump start to get into a rhythm of jumping the same height. Once you’ve got your balance and feeling comfortable you can start doing some tricks. Other Snowboard Videos on YouTube & Flowing Freeride go over movements to teach you how to perform spins and rotations that will improve your freestyle. You’ll have access to all our snowboard tutorials when you signup that cover every step and feedback from your coach. We also have some free snowboard videos to prepare for Advance Snowboarding Getting Air on our YouTube Page. I recommend watching these snowboard videos; ; Building Rhythm, Advanced Snowboarding Getting Air, Snowboard Dynamic Flex & Extend, Active Passive Absorption, Upper/Lower Body Separation, Basic Carving: Circle Drills, Basics For Freestyle Features, Advance Snowboard Carving: Surfer Turns & Grab Carves, Funnel Turns For Navigating Obstacles, Snowboard Jibbing & Snowboarding Moguls. Learn to snowboard online with flowingfreeride.com, Take Our Placement Quiz, take a look at Our Blog for more free content, and Learn To Snowboard Right!

Once you’re comfortable in the air start to pull your legs up at the apex and extended them back down. Get that rhythm and start to reach down and grab your ankle or foot. Switch legs and arms so that you’re doing different grabs. In snowboarding depending on what arm you grab your snowboard with and the location on your board is called a different grab like a mute, indy, nose, tale. melon or stalefish. Here is a Snowboard Grab Chart that shows different grabs. Once you’ve got some grabs down step it up. Start to reach down and grab your foot with both hands. Start to pull your knees up to your chest and grab your knees to start to tuck. Once you’re doing this you’re ready to start spinning and flipping. Start to spin by creating power from your hips. Build your spins up by doing a 90º rotation. Start your rotation by winding your body up when you’re low and about to jump. Jump and spin at the same time so while you’re in the air you rotate. If you get that easily start to spin 180º and then 270º and then to a full circle or 360º. In snowboarding we refer to a ‘3’ as a 360º rotation, 540º rotation as a ‘5’, a ‘7’ is a 720º rotation, a ‘9’ as a 900º rotation and so on. The big thing to remember is build up to this level. Follow the progressions that I’ve taught in previous snowboard lessons. Some of your spinning can be created by scissor kicking you legs. I can counter rotate my upper body and shoulders and throw my arms around to create rotation. I can use my core and hips to create pivot movements. My hip is a ball socket joint that can truly pivot and creates a ton of power. I use a combination of these movements when spinning. Depending on the type of trick will depend on the type of movement I’ll use. If I’m doing a 50/50 on a box and want to do a quick board slide I’ll scissor kick but if I want spin while box sliding I’ll use upper body and core to come on to the box and spin on. If you have trouble spinning use your upper body and keep turning your head to look at your back but remember to have your core and legs follow you.

Flipping is the next step. Flipping is more dangerous since you can land upside down. If you’re able to pull your legs up and grab your knees you’re ready. Jump high and straight up. Some people jump forwards when doing front flips and backwards when doing backflips. A front flip is easier so once you get to your apex you want to be tuck and drive your head to your knee and flip around. The stronger your move the quicker you’ll flip. If you’re really scared about flipping on a trampoline go to pool that has a diving board. You can build up by starting to dive and back dive. That’s similar to a 180º because you spinning half way and diving is doing a half flip. Once you get diving down start to rotate more. This takes time and not everyone can do it but if you can if brings a huge adrenaline rush. After you feel comfortable jumping, spinning and flipping we’re ready to put our board on.

When jumping on a trampoline we want to get a foam board for safety. Your snowboard is hard with metal edges. Your board can damage the trampoline and yourself so get a padded board is recommended but I’ve jumped on trampolines with my snowboard on and was fine. Start looking over your front shoulder because when snowboarding we’re sideways. Practice like you’re snowboarding to build your muscle memory. Try spinning the same ways I just talked about but now with your snowboard on. Try to land with both feet at once or your back first to develop good technique for landing jumps. If you’re able to spin 180º start to reach down and get a grab that we talked about. If you’re good with that start doing 360’s and more. If you still feel a bit unsafe check out a trampoline park with foam pits. These have sprung up all over the world over the last few decades and there should be one in your area. The foam pits have trampolines next to them and you can flip into them. This will help to to perform difficult tricks that eliminate hard falls. Getting out of the foam pit can be difficult but it’s worth it. After getting your tricks down on the trampoline you’re ready to blend those movements into your snowboard style.

I love powder and snowboarding in it. Powder can act as a foam pad also and that’s why real good snow is called ‘Hero Snow’, you do almost anything without consequences and you feel like a superhero. Know your snow conditions and your abilities. Don’t try to do a flip or chuck a 3 off a jump if you’ve never attempted one before. Build up to it by trying a 180 first or something easy and when the snow is soft your falls don’t hurt as much. When the snow starts to melt puddles start to form. If you carry enough speed you can glide or skim across it. Some places have ponds or lakes that thaw and you can pond skim across them. Some tips for that are to keep your speed, if you jump land with your board flat and nose up, lean back slightly, keep your core over your snowboard, keep the nose up and keep a solid stance. It’s a lot like surfing when you pond skim. When you build a jump by the pond you can get away with chucking almost any trick. I like finding awesome powder fields but when it’s late season it’s wet sloppy snow anyway so jumping into water and pond skimming are advanced fun ways to snowboard.

Learn how to snowboard better by pushing yourself to higher levels of efficient movements. Trampolines provide great core strength, improves jumping muscle memory, gives you snowboard practice off snow and is a more efficient exercise. You’ll start flowing into some good freestyle with some off season/off snow practice on your trampoline. You can practice efficiently with Snowboardclass/FlowingFreeride’s techniques so go back to earlier snowboard videos that teach you about kids and beginner movements. You can signup to get access to all of our snowboard lessons, study guides, textbooks, glossary, tests and direct feedback from your coach. Learn to snowboard online with flowingfreeride.com and take a look at our YouTube Page for more free content and learn to snowboard right! My name is Blake Tholen Clark contact me if you want to book a lesson or have any questions about Snowboarding.

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Snowboarding Euro Surfer Carves

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This online snowboard lesson will go over Snowboarding Euro Surfer Carves. Welcome to the 2018 AASI Rider Rally. We ripped at A-Basin, CO for a week. The snow was great considering in was May. There was a huge turn out with certified riders from all over the world! I was one of the many L3 Full Certified Riders including the AASI Team Riders. The Team Riders gave a good show sharing knowledge that we’ll bring back to our divisions and local resorts. If you’re an AASI certified snowboard instructor you should attend training events like this that combines all the divisions together in one event. Being a L3 Cert I train in events like DCL/Beyond L3 pushing our snowboarding to higher levels and I’ve been a snowboard trainer at resorts helping instructors pass their exams and certifications. Other Snowboard Videos on YouTube & Flowing Freeride go over carving tips and techniques. You’ll have access to all our snowboard tutorials when you signup that cover every step and feedback from your coach. We also have some free snowboard videos to prepare for Advance Carving on our YouTube Page. I recommend watching these snowboard videos; Building Rhythm, Advanced Snowboarding Getting Air, Snowboard Dynamic Flex & Extend, Advance Snowboard Lesson: Dropping Cliffs, Snowboarding Off Piste, Snowboarding Chutes, Snowboard Lesson Navigating Trees & Obstacles, Active Passive Absorption, Upper/Lower Body Separation, Basic Carving: Circle Drills, Basics For Freestyle Features, Advance Snowboard Carving: Surfer Turns & Grab Carves, Funnel Turns For Navigating Obstacles, Snowboard Jibbing & Snowboarding Moguls Learn to snowboard online with flowingfreeride.com, Take Our Placement Quiz, take a look at Our Blog for more free content, and Learn To Snowboard Right!

Snowboarding has many styles and you can adapt to the snow conditions. Our rhythm started flowing towards Surfer Turns and Euro Carves. Here we we’re doing some Euro Carves laying our bodies in the snow and getting our back arm to drag. We really talked a lot about practicing and focusing on one thing that you’re about 75% efficient on that movement, trick or skill. For this style of carving you want to get low at the very beginning of your turn and start dragging your back arm in the snow. Get your board to change edges across the fall line. Refer back to my Dynamic Flex & Extension Video to get you flowing in rhythm. Put a lot of your weight on your back leg, then extend through your turn and lay your body in the snow. Put pressure towards the nose of your snowboard to pop you back up. If you put a grab in you’re making Surfer Turns.

Carving is riding and balancing on the snowboard edge and sidecut. Your back foot follows your front foots direct path and you’re not skidding. Keep your core over the width of your snowboard and pressure down on the edge. If you’ve done snowboard training you can see there are many different styles, alignments and movements in these carves. Some carving styles here were to separate your upper body from your lower locking you into your carves but it causes alignment issues and can tweak muscles or joints. Carving like this is for higher level riders so build up to carving by trying Circle Turns. I’ve seen the sport of snowboarding go back to carving because it when you’re carving you’re flowing and using the snowboard the way it’s meant to be used. You use the side cut and move fore and aft of your board also using the camber to create pop. That pop can be used to start jumping and spinning. Carving can set you up for good flow in your freestyle. Putting your hand in the snow and grabbing your snowboard while ripping boosts your style and efficiency. If you’re training for your snowboard exams and certifications manipulating your snowboard to perform efficiently is what will get you to pass your L3, Freestyle Cert or High Level Exams. You need to have a good understanding of the biomechanics of the human body. It will help you to perform better in other sports also.

Snowboarding is a very active sport. Stay fit to be able to bend, absorb, flex and extend with little effort. When riding with a huge group of high level snowboarders you see cool style and tricks that you might want to be able to do. Build up to that skill by perfect practice. Do the same trick over and over again until you’ve got muscle memory and as you’re flowing down the mountain you can bust that trick out anytime no problem. You can practice efficiently with Snowboardclass/FlowingFreeride’s techniques so go back to earlier snowboard videos that teach you about kids and beginner movements. You can signup to get access to all of our snowboard lessons, study guides, textbooks, glossary, tests and direct feedback from your coach. Learn to snowboard online with flowingfreeride.com and take a look at our YouTube Page for more free content and learn to snowboard right! My name is Blake Tholen Clark contact me if you want to book a lesson or have any questions about Snowboarding.

 

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Backcountry Advance Snowboard Lesson

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This online snowboard lesson will go over Free Snowboard Tips On Backcountry. Other Snowboard Videos on YouTube & Flowing Freeride go over backcountry tips and preparation. Conditions vary depending on the area you’re going out into the backcountry. There will mostly be lots of powder in the backcountry and you can practice backcountry conditions by going off the groomers and riding crud, bumps and powder inbounds at the snowboard resort. Riding deep fresh powder is very similar to surfing the mountain. Our snowboards are wide and have a lot of surface area that allows us to float on the snow. Skiers have adapted snowboard technology and have made powder skis that are much wider than normal skis. The thrill and adrenaline rush from ripping a fresh powder field is something that is astounding and a feeling that can’t be matched! You’ll have access to all our snowboard tutorials when you signup that cover every step and feedback from your coach. We also have some free snowboard videos to prepare for Advance Powder and Heli Boarding on our YouTube Page. I recommend watching these snowboard videos; Building Rhythm, Advanced Snowboarding Getting Air, Snowboard Dynamic Flex & Extend, Advance Snowboard Lesson: Dropping Cliffs, Snowboarding Off Piste, Snowboarding Chutes, Snowboard Lesson Navigating Trees & Obstacles, Active Passive Absorption, Upper/Lower Body Separation, Basic Carving: Circle Drills, Basics For Freestyle Features, Advance Snowboard Carving: Surfer Turns & Grab Carves, Funnel Turns For Navigating Obstacles, Snowboard Jibbing & Snowboarding Moguls Learn to snowboard online with flowingfreeride.com, Take Placement Quiz, take a look at Our Blog for more free content, and learn to snowboard right!

Some tips for powder riding are to keep your nose up and your weight back. I set my bindings back so I have a longer nose when I’m riding deep powder. I still steer with my front foot but my back leg is doing a lot of work. Speed is a big part of riding powder, you need to keep enough speed and stay on steeper slopes when you’re in deep powder so you don’t sink, crash or get stuck. I like to keep my snowboard a little bit more flat in powder. When you lift your edge up too high the edge digs in causing you to lose balance and throw your rhythm off. That’s all it takes to make things go wrong in powder conditions. Stay stacked over your snowboard and what I mean by that is keep your center of mass over the snowboard. If you’re using body movements that aren’t efficient it will be hard to ride powder because there’s more snow to push. It’s usually making the toeside turn. People try to turn the snowboard by counter rotating, chucking their meat, and steering with their upper body. I progress my students through proper body movements and it’s easy to see when snowboarders aren’t using the best movements. You can send footage of your snowboarding to Virtual Pro and I can go over the timing, intensity, duration, edit and add voice over of your movements to improve your riding. Virtual Pro Example. Once you get comfortable keeping you balance start going to steeper terrain and do whatever you want.

I like to call powder conditions “Hero Snow” because you have tons of confidence with soft snow. You can do almost anything with smaller consequences. It’s like jumping into a foam pit. I like to got out in the the backcountry and build huge kickers and jumps. You can shoot out and do big grabs, flips, spins and get huge air and land in soft powder pillows. I lived on Donner Summit near Truckee, CA at Donner Ski Ranch and there’s some awesome places to build jumps in the backcountry. The old stagecoach trail is still there and we’d hike out along that and build kickers on it because it was perfect terrain. It’s steep, flat and then steep making building jumps easy. If you know a place that has a road cut into a mountain that can be a great place to build your kickers. A lot of roads are closed during the winter and aren’t plowed so find some terrain like that if you’re wanting to get your Big Air on. Take caution and scope out the landing. There needs to be plenty of snow. There are obstacles under the snow. Landing on snow is soft so make sure it’s snow and not rocks. In all my freestyle snowboard videos I always say to look before you leap so you can enjoy snowboarding for the rest of your life.

Jumping into deep powder is awe-inspiring and shredding the pow is awesome! I build up my students confidence in powder by taking them down trails that are groomed and have powder on the sides. I tell them to keep their speed and carry that speed into the powder and make just one turn so they can get back on the groomer. If they don’t do well they’re close to the groomed trail and can get out of the powder. Powder get chewed up as people rip through it and that makes it bumpy. If you surf, water ski or wakeboard you know how great it is when the water is glass. It’s easy to turn, the water is soft and the conditions are perfect. When the wind picks up or other boats create waves the water is bumpy similar to when the snow gets chewed. You need to be able to absorb these bumps and when you can you’re a Ripper! The powder will spray and you’ll get face shots. I was in  Ripping Kitzbühel, Austria last year and was getting face shots every turn. It was amazing powder conditions and the people there were great! I stayed inbounds and got tons of powder.

When I go out in the backcountry I take safety seriously. You need to have a beacon, probe, shovel and you should have a buddy. There is a lot to know about going into the backcountry. You need to have some basic skills on how to survey the terrain. Slopes that are over 30º can slide and create avalanches. I go over avalanche safety and teamed up with the Utah Avalanche Center to create a video on Snowboard Avalanche Safety 5 Red Flags. It’s a good idea to take a class and watch FFR’s videos to prepare you. You can practice efficiently with Snowboardclass/FlowingFreeride’s techniques so go back to earlier snowboard videos that teach Steering, Balance, Stance and Body Alignments. You can signup to get access to all of our snowboard lessons, study guides, textbooks, glossary, tests and direct feedback from your coach. Learn to snowboard online with flowingfreeride.com and take a look at our YouTube Page for more free content and learn to snowboard right! My name is Blake Tholen Clark contact me if you want to book a lesson through my local resort or have any questions about Snowboarding.

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Advance Online Snowboard Lesson: Heli Boarding

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This online snowboard lesson will go over Snowboard Tutorial On Heli Boarding. You don’t need to be the best snowboarder to go out Heli Boarding. You do however want to be able to snowboard in powder pretty well. Practice riding in powder by hiking or getting up to the resort early on a powder day. Riding powder is a lot like riding on water. You can dig your tail in to slow you down. You still use the same movements like steering with you front foot but fresh light powder is Superman snow where you can do almost anything. I know there have been many times that I’ve chased the storms for the epic powder conditions. You’ll have access to all our snowboard tutorials when you signup that cover every step and feedback from your coach. We also have some free snowboard videos to prepare for Advance Powder and Heli Boarding on our YouTube Page. I recommend watching these snowboard videos; Building Rhythm, Advanced Snowboarding Getting Air, Snowboard Dynamic Flex & Extend, Active Passive Absorption, Upper/Lower Body Separation, Basic Carving: Circle Drills, Basics For Freestyle Features, Advance Snowboard Carving: Surfer Turns & Grab Carves, Funnel Turns For Navigating Obstacles, Snowboard Jibbing & Snowboarding Moguls Learn to snowboard online with flowingfreeride.com, Take Placement Quiz, take a look at Our Blog for more free content, and learn to snowboard right!

The skills you’ll want to have when thinking about Heli Boarding is to be able to ride steep and deep terrain. Steep slopes with deep powder. Resorts will usually have areas to hike. I like to hike inbounds meaning they avalanche patrol but you have to hike to get to that terrain. If you start hiking out of bounds take an avalanche course or look back at some of FFR’s Avalanche & Resort Safety to know what to take with you and what to know in the backcountry. There are skills and body movements you’ll want to be proficient and solid with but also knowledge of slope aspects, snow conditions, slope angles, safety and survival.

The price to go Heli Boarding provides a guide. They’ll take the group out, find the best snow for your ability and keep you safe. Taking a snowboard lesson is like hiring a guide. Folks get to the intermediate level and don’t excel because they don’t have someone there to guide them to the next level. I’ve talked about deep practice or efficient practice and that’s what these snowboard videos are here to do if you can’t hire a coach. If you’re able to afford Heli Boarding then you should take a higher level snowboard lesson every so often to improve your technique and skill efficiency. Some snowboard tips to ride powder is keep your nose up so you don’t dig in, keep your board flatter to make turns so your edge doesn’t dig in, and pump through the powder to keep speed in flatter terrain. You’ll need to be comfortable with speed and have good balance.

Be aware of wild animals because they can charge and be aggressive. When you’re out in numbers usually that extra noise will frighten them off. You don’t want to stop in a avalanche zone or where there are steep slopes around you. Snowmobiles can make the snow icy under the powder. Try to avoid snowmobile tracks or riding lightly over them by unweighting your board. Heli Boarding was one of the best days that I have ever had and if you love snowboarding it’s an experience you should have! You can practice efficiently with  Snowboardclass/FlowingFreeride’s techniques so go back to earlier snowboard videos that teach Backcountry, Steep & Deep Terrain, Moguls & Off Piste Terrain. You can signup to get access to all of our snowboard lessons, study guides, textbooks, glossary, tests and direct feedback from your coach. Learn to snowboard online with flowingfreeride.com and take a look at our YouTube Page for more free content and learn to snowboard right! My name is Blake Tholen Clark contact me if you want to book a lesson through my local resort or have any questions about Snowboarding.

 

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Advanced Snowboard Lesson: Dropping Cliffs

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This online snowboard lesson will go over Advance Snowboard Lesson: Dropping Cliffs. When you’re confident enough in your riding to start jumping and hitting cliffs you’ll want to be able to enjoy the adrenaline rush for your whole life. It’s key to scout out your landing and takeoff. There needs to be enough snow to cover the rocks, scouting is the most important thing when hitting cliffs. You’ll have access to all our snowboard tutorials when you signup that cover every step and feedback from your coach. We also have some free snowboard videos to prepare for Advance Cliff Drops on our YouTube Page. I recommend watching these snowboard videos; Building Rhythm, Advanced Snowboarding Getting Air, Snowboard Dynamic Flex & Extend, Active Passive Absorption, Upper/Lower Body Separation, Basic Carving: Circle Drills, Basics For Freestyle Features, Advance Snowboard Carving: Surfer Turns & Grab Carves, Funnel Turns For Navigating Obstacles, Snowboard Jibbing & Snowboarding Moguls Learn to snowboard online with flowingfreeride.com, Take Placement Quiz, take a look at Our Blog for more free content, and learn to snowboard right!

 

Getting air is an awesome feeling. Review other snowboard videos and articles on how to get air and you’ll know that Speed is key and hesitation kills. To prep for cliff drops start pointing your snowboard straight and get a ton of speed. Getting comfortable with speed will launch you off your jumps. Progress up towards bigger and bigger terrain features. There has been many times that I’ve seen riders hesitate or not carry enough speed into the jump or cliff drops and the outcome has been grinding on the rocks and hard crashes. Have good efficient practice by not trying to do too much. If you’re just starting to get speed and little jumps you wouldn’t want to go huck yourself off a ten foot cliff drop. You build up to it. If you’re practicing getting speed going straight for 30 meters you should be getting that goal 80-90% of the time. When you get tired of doing that specific skill go have fun snowboarding your own style. Develop deep efficient practice by choosing skills that are within your ability but you haven’t mastered. This is how you’re going to develop into a better Ripper. Go out and practice getting comfort with speed and carry that speed off jumps.

You’ll get better with speed and to keep speed you’ll want to keep you body alignment straight. When you board leaves the snow if your upper body turn so will your lower body and you want the snowboard to land parallel with the fall line. Keep your upper and lower body aligned with the fall line. Let the tail touch first and then the nose with a flat board and not on it’s edge. It’s good practice to start grabbing your snowboard when you get a few feet of air. Keep the nose up and grab the nose or the toeside edge for your first few grabs. Grabbing the tail points the nose down and it’s not wise to land nose first so keep your tip up. Practice getting lots of speed then ollie moving for and aft on the board creating pop and also jumping. When you start dropping cliffs you’ll need that speed, pop and air to get over the rocks. Pull your legs up while in you’re up in the air and extend them down on your landing to absorb. It’s best to hit cliffs with tons of fresh powder for softer landings.

Develop your snowboard skills up so your fast and comfortable getting air. When we get some super stoked powder it can make you become a superhero! The adrenaline you get from hitting cliffs is an amazing rush and you’ll have bragging rights. “Practice doesn’t make perfect perfect practice makes perfect” so build your skills up with perfect practice. You can practice efficiently with  Snowboardclass/FlowingFreeride’s techniques so go back to earlier snowboard videos that teach Speed, Jumps and Big Air so you drop cliffs safely. You can signup to get access to all of our snowboard lessons, study guides, textbooks, glossary, tests and direct feedback from your coach. Learn to snowboard online with flowingfreeride.com and take a look at our YouTube Page for more free content and learn to snowboard right! My name is Blake Tholen Clark contact me if you want to book a lesson through my local resort or have any questions about Snowboarding.