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.