Not only I've learned how to make turns but also for the first time I saw real clean UFO sighting, not some unidentifiable dot or smudge on the picture. Well done, you got them. It's official we're not alone.
That counter rotation one is what is natural to go to as a new rider. It just feels right. Once a guy stopped me on the hill and told me and asked me if I catch a lot of edges and I told him yes, he explained it to me. Changed my boarding forever. Thanks to whoever you were.
Can confirm: took lessons with Malcolm in Alpe d'Huez last season, went into it having real trouble staying in alignment on the toe edge. After trying some of the other exercises on this list, he eventually got me to do the ski pole one, and it basically worked like magic. I went from struggling on anything beyond blues, to being able to do just about every black run except for the super moguled ones - still working on that! Now, every time I go for a trip after not having ridden for a while, I do this drill for the first couple of runs (usually don't even use a ski pole if I don't have easy access to one, but just keep my hands resting against my thighs where the pole would be, and make sure to never move them). Found this really useful to ensure that bad habits don't creep back in. Now I'll only have to master those carved edge wiggles! - it's harder than it looks! Cheers Malcolm, and thanks again for helping to take my riding to the next level!✌
@@cpitney In my experience, this really is the best drill to eliminate counter rotation. It forces you to be fully in line without even thinking about it. After a few runs like this, my body just naturally reconditioned itself to riding in alignment.
Imagine if all instructors taught snowboarding like this.. When's the Malcom Moore school of snowboarding (the centre for kids who can't snowboard good) coming.. The hero the world needs.
I’m still a beginner snowboarder starting into my third season. And all the bad exercises you have mentioned in this video messed up my snowboarding completely that I’m struggling right now to break the bad habits that I have built up. Btw, your videos were the best piece of advice I could find anywhere to figure out what I’m doing wrong. I was starting to exercise with your videos in the end of last season and I was working on posture and knee stirring and I’m way more confident on the board. Biggest achievement was a consistent early edge change to the heel edge. Now I can’t wait for the lifts to open here in Japan to practice more! Anyway, thank you so much for all your videos!
I didn’t realize how terrible I’ve been snowboarding for the last 8 years until watching this. I’ve mostly done counter rotation and always wonder why I can’t progress much further. Thank you for this video!
Turning with your knees as levers - the best piece of advice I’ve ever had. Took my snowboarding to a new level - made my riding more solid and in control, especially at higher speeds. Love your videos❤❤❤❤
I have 2 days of snowboarding under my belt and I have to say your videos have helped more more than any advice I got while actually out there, I managed to clear a blue square on my first day of taking the lift up, I spent the whole first day on the begginer hill because I was scared of the chair lift, thank you for your videos, and I hope you have an amazing day.
Great video Malcolm. I've been snowboarding for 20 years and even after snowboarding for so long, I've learned so much from your videos. You teach the fundamental techniques in a simple and practical way that few other snowboard channels do. Keep up the great videos. 👍
I know this is a year old but this is me too. I learned by watching my friends in high school 20+ years ago. Little did I know most of the people I see riding down the mountain are skidding or counter rotating (including myself). Currently trying out a lot of these tips and tricks and trying to unlearn my bad habits. Thank you!!
I'm still learning a lot on how to turn and carve, but it's really amusing to realize that I can do better the knee turn than a basic one cause I'm so afraid of speed that my body learnt how to drastically stop... Thanks for all these tips 🥰
I'm happy to see more and more instructors talking about knee steering. It's the best and only technique and I first came across is by the youtuber SnowProfessor about 10 years ago. No one explains the first steps better than those two. This is the way.
I had lessons with Malcom last feb to start out boarding - now i’m out in Whistler doing a season and slowly building my skills. The knee turns I was doing hours ago and it was really helping me get into it. Thank you Malcom, can’t recommend you enough keep up the good work! 🤟🏼
@malcolmmoore no way! How amazing to have a job like that, especially something u enjoy. Btw, thank you for everything. year two for me, and I've learned so much more this time around, thanks to your videos 👊💪
I really appreciated the "knee steering" exercise since I have a tendency to focus on my foot action (as you pointed out!), as if I'm driving a manual. I am a beginner, I only get to go maybe 3-4 times a year in the poconos at most, and I only started 3 years ago! I always focused on looking where I wanted to go, trying to keep my shoulders aligned with my hips, but this gives me a new perspective, and I can't wait to try it!! Thank you!
Thank you for this video. I took some snowboarding lessons in Poland last year and finished them and thought i'm a snowboarder. Then I went to Georgia, Gudauri ski resort and had a lot of troubles with doing turns. For the first time in my life, I know what I was doing wrong and all the private lessons I took were simply bad. I did learn much more from your vids than during my private lessons and it also saved me a lot of money and I guess avoided some pretty bad injuries!!!
Thanks so much Malcolm. Just returned after a week in alpe d’heuz , with lessons from the man himself. There is so much detail given in these videos for free . But having Malcom video my mistakes and then take me through corrective exercises , took me from not being able to carve to some off piste fun by the end of the week . A Great teacher and very patient . The counter rotation advice given elsewhere can be confusing . Have a great season everyone and merry Christmas 😊.
I’ve been following your channel for 2 years. I started in Feb 2020 and there were no instructors due to the pandemic. Your videos helped a lot and I mean A LOT!!! This is my 4th season and still learning. You are an amazing instructor online and I’m 100% sure the experience in real time with you is amazing. Keep the good work you are the best!!!
Malcolm, you make by far the best board instruction vids! Your way of teaching is all about clever thinking how to get your message across in a way that the receiver will be able to not only understand, but also follow up on your instruction. In short: not only the How, but also the Why. This is really high class teaching and therefore stands out from the majority that mainly focuses on pressing the send button. Combined with your immaculate riding style and well thought out (and casual) way of filming, this makes for the next best thing to real life teaching. Thanx for that!
Awesome thanks for taking the time to write that, I appreciate it, I've had to take a little pause from UA-cam due to some other stuff going in, but I'll be back to it very soon!
12:55 that hidden gem there is kind of one of the most important ones. Keeping low and keeping your knees flexed (and relaxed most importantly) makes a lot of things go that much smoother and it's a super important part of all of these exercises (and one of the reasons why the standing up one is kind of a bad idea). I kind of stopped progressing for so long until I started forcing myself to concentrate on this specifically and it changed so much.
After a while you'll get used to whatever position, I only crouch at high speeds and on really bumpy terrain. Well-groomed slopes you can literally stuff your hands in your pockets and just lean into the movement, let your weight do all the work for you. I do that rapid turn excercise pretty straight so I don't default to kicking out a leg every now and again.
Maaaan, Malcolm, your a youtube god. I started watching your videos last year. I feared trasitioning to heal edge (catching heel edge does that). The lever trick introducing torsion changed my entire game in 1 run and was a new snowboarder in 1 day. My girl got a board and was able to use these tools to have her doing blacks in a very controlled manner in 6 days. I cannot put into words how valuable your material is
Man watching Malcolm's tutorials before ever setting foot on a board before makes me feel like i'll be nailing black slopes after my first day, that's how good he is at explaining things - everything just clicks in my head perfectly. I wonder if I should even bother with an instructor and just do Malcolm's exercises on my own off to the side of the bunny slope lol, I don't want someone teaching me bad habits like I see some people in the comments are saying. January can't come soon enough!
Appreciate the words, but I would still recommend an instructor. Some of these drills can be ok (I don't think the first one ever is to be honest) but so long as the second one is done and the weight shift over the centre of the board is properly explained then its OK. It's dangerous if you try to do it without already being able to properly traverse across the slope, which is why it sits low on this this list, but if its done at the right time in your progression it can work!
@@malcolmmoore Thanks for the response! I meant it in a more sort of a general sense when talking about your tutorials because I've just been binging all of them non-stop as preparation and visualization training for my first trip, not this video specifically (although I'll be definitely doing the ski pole drill because it seem the most useful to keep my posture in check). And you're right, it's better to have an experienced instructor with me to check my progress because I can't see myself in 3rd person so I won't know what I'm doing wrong. The friends I'm going with are all skiers so they won't be of any help lol.
I've been riding for 20 years, and consider myself pretty advanced. This video is the first basic form tip guide I've seen on UA-cam that has made any sense thinking back on my own progression. Usually I see the instructor giving overly vague instructions, or incorrect misleading drills like the airplane arms shown at the end of the video. I've finally got someone I can actually point friends towards if they want tips on how to improve
Love these videos Malcom! You truly manage to break down all the steps to get the right technique. Your lesson on the torsional twist and knee steering really unlocked a new level for me and made my rides lots of fun! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us and keep these videos coming!
Malcom just came across your channel and appreciate all you efforts. I am 60 and have been snowboarding for about 15 years in the mid-west developing bad habits. I do not get to snowboard much and for me it seems that when I get nervous from going to fast my bail out is using the counter rotation to slow down. I know it is dangerous as many times it feels like I almost catch my back edge. I will continue to watch your videos and try to practice your tips. My real struggle is confidently going down the mountain and maintaining a more straight line. I feel as if once my speed picks up I must immediately slow my self down to keep from falling. I wish I could develop the confidence to accept the speed and be able to carve as necessary. Hopefully as I watch more of your videos I will improve.
Great progressions, love it. How about some stuff on vertical range of motion? 'Tall as a house, small as a mouse' turns are a variation on the 'stand tall to turn' drill from here, but if you can get riders to reach right down and touch their boards on a turn it could open up much more dynamic motions in turns as the board is pushed away from the body by extending the legs.
I especially love the ski pole drill. I've whispered "hold the pole, hold the pole" to myself on runs to keep focused on my hand position and posture. Your videos are so helpful, thank you!
When I've tried snowboarding in the past, I remember instructors telling me to hook my thumbs into my pockets so I'm less tempted to flail my arms about. I guess it's supposed to be a stand in for holding the skipole across your body if you don't have a skipole
I am not sure, I would want to catch an edge with my thumbs in my pants. :D But that explains why Malcolm suggested to use a ski pole instead of e.g. his selfie stick. :D
I went snowboarding for the first time at the age of 42yrs old this past March at Heavenly Lake Tahoe and took a snowboarding lesson by one of their instructors. He taught the pointing your hand to turn. I was catching my edge constantly. I plan on snowboarding again this season and so glad I saw this video. I’ll be using the knee steering and using the ski pole exercise (hiking pole instead of ski pole).
Hahah... I know they posted this video a while ago, but why is a spaceship crossing the screen at 8:39? 😂 hahah... first I thought it was a bird or something! Great video btw x
I’ve watched a lot of videos and this one is definitely the best I’ve seen. I like that you have a couple different progressions of one skill in one video, instead of a 20 minute video of a bunch of exercises for one level
I am a beginner with just three seasons under my belt. This season I started doing some continuous turns on blue and small red slopes but after seeing this video I just realised, I have been doing the upper body twist and the arm turning the whole time. I guess I need to rectify apparently these mistakes to progress further. I can't even begin to thank you Malcolm for such valuable and in detail explained techniques and tips, which would be hardly taught in any of the schools out there. Looking forward to the next opportunity to improve my skills :). Cheers to you and keep the superb work! :)
After watching and devouring almost every video of yours with gratitude, I find it very valuable that you have made this overview video. Here, everyone can see where they stand and watch the corresponding detailed video again. Great. Thank you
Yeah, I was waiting for this, it's a fair point. So the reason I don't like the pointing of the arm exercise is because often people rarely explain what is going on with the lower body, the upper body doesn't actually turn the board, but it is a by product of turning with the front knee first, when you do this your shoulders and front arm open up ahead of the board. If it's explained in that context then the arm can be a useful tool in visualising that position. Secondly it is often used at the wrong time in people's progression, if the learner isn't yet properly traversing across the slope and they try to just point the arm down the hill then they can catch an edge. However if it is used at the right time in the progression it can be useful guide in getting people into the right position to make a turn, but the key point is understanding its effect on the lower body! Hope this makes sense and I'm guessing you were referring to this video: ua-cam.com/video/IBconmClJks/v-deo.html
tks!! on my first day the person showing me how to... turn was telling me to JUMP to turn... and brought me directly at the top of the mountain to practice instead of the learning hill. 😢 but I countinued and some other cool friends helped me and I'm getting better ...7th time this year !! Started this year at 47 yr old ooh yes!! living my best life! tks for the knee trick to turn I'll try it nx we. Defenetly struggling with toe turns. 😊
I have been trying to help my daughter improve her turns, classic airplane. We tried the ski pole technique today and it was a complete game changer. Thanks for the advice.
I remembered my first course 7 years ago with age 38, I don’t ski but ski crossing, you know what my Swiss teacher said to his co-workers, this one will be difficult to teach, his right, difficult but possible, I can do very well now, but watching videos and get a teacher who doesn’t see me as a dummy adult. ,….thanks God, there are still good teachers out there…❤
This drill. I am definitely going to use it. As a beginner I am using the 2nd one. Using hand / upper body to guide the turn. And it is indeed prone to catching edge. I catched edge 5 times in a run. It is no fun. Thanks a lot for the amazing tips. Will work my way to the number 1 best exercise. Looks so elegant and efficient.
This video is all well and good but your techniques are only useful for boarders who have confidence and are able to at least do the basics. If you are a newbie turning your upper body first is the most comfortable way to get the board turned because the board will follow. The falling leaf drill is a classic example. Once people have the basics then it makes sense to learn to do it the way you are stating, but getting people to do it your way from the off doesn't seem like a good way of learning to me.
That's not really the intention of this video. For beginners I would suggest my complete beginner walk through here: ua-cam.com/video/lpx2kH96L_A/v-deo.html This video goes over falling leaf as you recommend, however it does it from the view of using your lower body to turn the board, falling leaf, or teaching beginners should not be taught purely from the upper body. The reason being is because if you turn with just the upper body before you are able to traverse across the slope properly, ie you are in a skid or a sideslip, then it is very easy to catch an edge. That's why I place the leading with the arm drill near the bottom of the pile. If you are already gripping across the slope in a traverse then the upper body leading into the turn can be an effective way of getting the board to turn, however most beginners aren't yet doing this, which is why I say that it is often made to look easy in demonstrations but in reality for the beginner it can be dangerous.
@@malcolmmoore surely the problem with counter rotation is the fact that "some people" dont shift their weight appropriately and by not shifting your weight that when you run the risk of catching an edge? My first time on a snowboard was on real slopes with no lessons, with my mates that were snowboarders. I came back home and took lessons in an indoor ski slope. For months before going snowboarding again I stood on my snowboard in my house and would shift my weight slightly heel or slightly toe first - then turn my upper body. I found when I went snowboarding again having that muscle memory meant I didnt have to think about what I was doing. Now I can turn as you say by just shifting my body position a little on the board, from lower down, but I think if you shift your body weight prior to turning your upper body you get far less slip and more turn. Question - on a steep slopes/black runs where you don't want to travel far with a turn, surely thats where shifting your weight and turning your upper body allows the board to turn quicker? If not in your opinion how do you do a small "C" turn on a black run?
@@kevinjohnson4039 see this video here, it talks about using the upper body to create a bit of rotation to pull you into the turn, but it is in the same direction as the board, not the opposite: ua-cam.com/video/IBconmClJks/v-deo.html The rotation helps initiate the edge change as well as then pulling the board around in a tight arc. It isn't all that different from the second exercise but it makes sure to relate the upper body movement to the lower body, and it is not used as a tool for beginner riders to achieve an edge change. That is where the second exercise can be dangerous, because without properly traversing across the slope first and attempting to just point your arm down the slope you can catch an edge easily. However used at a later time in your progression when you already have better edge grip and the ability to traverse across the slope, and when explained in context with the lower body, it can be a good tool to achieve small tight c turns on black runs as you say. I'm not sure if you're trying to disprove me here or fight for counter rotation but in case you are I will give it credit for where else you might use it, but also another situation where it won't work. I have seen Jeremy Jones use it on incredibly steep exposed spines and couloirs. He uses it to hop around onto a new edge when falling is not an option. If the goal is to change edge with minimal acceleration but maximum speed of getting from one edge to the other, then here it has a place, and I'm not going to argue with Jeremy Jones, he is a far more accomplished rider than I will ever be. It does also work on the piste, and alot of riders are able to go very fast, and in control whilst using it. So on one hand it could be seen as a good way to ride piste. However it doesn't translate well to riding powder for instance, which is the goal I often come back to with people who are unwillingto give up counter rotation. Generally speaking most people want to be able to ride powder, and if you can eliminate counter rotation from your piste riding, you will be able to make the transition into powder much easier. I hope this clarifies some issues, but ultimately board performance is the best metric to look at snowboarding from, as in what the board is doing - rather than getting too bogged down with what is going on on top of the board. And if you're getting good board performance then you'll be doing something right, and there are often different routes to achieve the same outcome. 👍
Such an insightful vid Malcolm. I just got back from 4 days in Kronplatz, having lessons on the first three. I was progressing well until we got a new instructor who introduced the 'aeroplane' and I actually felt like I regressed because of it, as I was focusing on the moving of the shoulders rather than anything below my waist. Everything you explained with that method was essentially me and confidence naturally took a hit that day.
It can get people turning, so I see why it gets used, as some people make the arm movements and then make the correct movements with their lower body afterwards. But if they don't then it really doesn't help at all. If you're not already traversing the slope and you try it, that's when you can catch an edge, hence why I put it lower down on the list. I have actually made an older video where I talk about the use of the front arm, but it really needs to be explained in context to the lower body too! ua-cam.com/video/IBconmClJks/v-deo.html
Just came back from a week in the mountains and I just bumped into this movie. Good recollection of way to turn you on the board. Been thinking about the ways to explain it to myself and my girlfriend (she's been catching up sharply and started to switch ride loads faster than I ever did - we both started to, switching after learning to ride on one side is rather quick because you already know how to do it the other way). Imho the core phrase here is relaxing your body. People flail around on the board like a drunkard and do weird things with their arms which often lead to catching an edge or falling over in one way or another. There are three things that are needed for snowboarding to happen. It needs a rider, a board and a snowy mountain. You will never win against the mountain it's a force of nature so don't try to fight against it. You can learn to control the board whilst its being influenced by the mountain which is a sort of a medium between you and the snow. So it's kind of push and pull because on one end you are trying to tell it how to turn/where to go; on the other end is the snow under your feet that directs it and influences what's happening to you through it. So the board is a balancing act literally and figuratively. Last part is mastering your own body which may fight against you (at least in the beginning, e.g. tensing thus giving you cramps and aches in places you didnt knew you had muscles). In the end you just have to realise that you need to let it all go. Relax your body, get in tune with how your board reacts to the mountain and to you, and then cooperate with it and stop fighting with yourself. Going from reactive riding at the beginning to proactive and confident riding where you direct where you want to go. But the bare essentials need to be properly adressed for all that to happen. Things like learn how to fall down to save your wrists and elbows from injuries, emergency breaking/stopping, remembering about the proper posture, relaxed body, waist pointing at the right edge/side of the board, keeping your nose pointing down/direction down the slope when switching position to avoid catching an edge and keeping an eye out/being aware of your surroundings to keep yourself safe and others around you. And of course safety gear like helmet, waist protector (falling down on your arse will probably happen a lot in the beginning), knee pads (falling forwards does not happen that often but when it does... well better have those knees protected) and some wrist protection as a bare minimum. To keep you safe and sound. Oh and one quick feedback that never lies and always tells you that you are doing something wrong is the fact that your body starts to ache (e.g. muscles on your legs/feet, e.g. you're posture is wrong/you're body is tense), that's a signal that tells you something is off and needs your attention. Don't ignore it. If you do it properly you don't tire nearly at all when riding in normal speeds. Thanks for everything Malcolm and keep those vids coming :)
The lever analogy transformed my snowboarding stance and edge control - i went from the counter-rotation movement and greatly struggling at speed to breezing it at 40-50 km/h while doing edge changes in just one season. This method should become the gold standard as far as i'm concerned.
I wish you taught me when I started out. The pole exercise transformed my boarding! I never understood why I was sweating so much and taking so much effort. Thanks Malcolm!
Great video.. great channel. I havent boarded in 7 years, hit the slopes this week and was doing a lot of these drills without realising. You are SUCH a good teacher and I wish I'd watched this before I started the week.... gonna have to go again this season now! Cheers mate
Yet another fantastic video from Malcolm, your way of laying down and explaining basic principles is unrivalled. I like to think I'm past these issues but I can't stop watching these as you upload them. Simply brilliant.
Except for the 15 year break I'm just coming back from I've been riding since 1989 and I'm blown away at how many bad habits I've picked up/taught myself.. Thanks for putting these videos together!
Dude, THANK YOU for making this. I was doing the first exercise without even realizing it and skidding all over the place. I knew I was doing something wrong but could really sort it out. This really opened my eyes well done.
Stumbled across your videos, I'm snowboarding since I'm twelve years old and I LOVE to ride. Did not have the chance to use my snowboard this season, so your videos made me realy jealous. In the same your videos confirmed my skills and this made me realy happy. Thank you very much for your uploads!
Last year I had a kid I could not get to stop the counter rotating turns. I had him use a ski pole just like you did here. Worked like a champ! Quited down the upper body almost immediately!
I saw this video yesterday and I was on the slope today and tried Ski Pole Drill, conclusion: 1. It took a while to get use to as knee steering and putting my arms down was just not natural to me, being too used to leading with the arms 2. I caught the edge one time and went down hard, like real hard... broke my glasses which i wore inside my googles, first in 15 years of skiing/snow borading. 3. I had to stop by 12 noon as my arm was really hurting. But before I had to stop, 4. I finally can ride on my right leg now, I could never ride on my right leg since I started snowboarding, I thought I am naturally a left leg boarder, now I know I did not learn my turning right. 5. I can finally lower my body weight and turn on a half-bending body closer to ground, and have better control on my heel or toe side turn, since my knee now leads the turn. 6. I can do knee steering now, so for me Ski Pole Drill is a natural drill to learn knee steering 7. It was exhilarating to feel my turn and have control on my ride with knee steering, I was so happy I was singing on my ride.... and that was when i caught the edge....ouch! Conclusion 1: Ski Pole Drill rocks! Absolute best way for me to correct what i called my Turn-On-A-Prayer!! Conclusion 2: Don't get excited and get carried away! As far as catching an edge is concerned, well, who doesn't? How about a video : How to catch an edge (Ranked easiest to least likely)
Wow this is a great summary, especially for beginners. I have 6 days of snowboarding under my belt in the span of this year, and I notice that I apparently often use the first method, rotating my upper body. This makes it very difficult for me to feel confident on the board, especially on narrow slopes I am always scared that I can not react fast enough to not fall of the edge. Will try the knee-steering exercise this saturday, excited to see if I'll be able to do it!
don't worry, we all need to practice and take that first step to get better in order to actually get better. I also used to counter rotate (self learned) for years before I took the leap to the correct posture. I've improved MUCH more within the last season than any of the years before that. For reference, I only was able to slowly and awkwardly side skid down mellow blues at best before it, but I'm riding the same blues as a warmup this season. Keep on keeping on!
@@xXTiggaBoBXx I worked my way from airplane mode to be honest. cuz it's also pretty hard to jump straight into knee steering from counter rotating. Your brain understands it, but your body will fight you lol. Probably easiest way is just to work from airplane mode up, but keep the knee steering concepts in mind so you don't pigeonhole yourself into being stuck at airplane exercise.
WHen teaching I would end up having to default to the knee steering at the mtn I work at due to traffic and slope width. I started out with the first couple demos like in the video, then as soon as my students got to that point, boom we were off the low slope and into knee steering and higher pitched runs. Usually got them linking turn with about 1.5 hrs into my 2 hr block lessons. I tried to get through that "feelout" stage as soon as possible so the student would not default to the "wrong" ways to turn. They have their place in the lesson progression, but as soon as the student got to that point, of we go to the best and most dynamic ways to turn. Great vids, almost makes me want to get back in to teaching.
Wanted to leave a comment to a big thank you for your content. Self learned snowboarder from your videos now I'm teaching my gf though these videos. Gave her some basic tips from here and paid for her snowboarding lesson but she said she learned more from me than the actual instruction. All the info I gave her was just info from your videos so thank you :)!
Great work, I've been watching these since I got myself back in to the hobby last season, been at it now for the last 12 months and I'm so much more confident, even tried a few boxes and small jumps at the local indoor slope. I've put your techniques in to practice and improved my boarding no end. Need a holiday now to really put it all in to action, the problem with indoor slopes is they're too short and just as you find your stride you're at the bottom.
Thank you so much for your video and explanation🙏🙏. It was mostly of it clear but even I watched many times this part "knee steering" i continue not understanding how to do it. I know that is a important part because I could feel tired my feet and anterior tibial and I know that this happens because I am using my feet instead my knees. Please make more long explaing "knee steering". Thank you so much 😘
I am an AASI certified instructor, and for years I had the luck of working at a place that regularly held clinics with AASI examiners and coaches. I moved to a smaller place, and the small town mountain was run by a man who had taught himself to snowboard with counter rotation, and that was /the/ edge change, along with the pointing hand, that he taught in his lessons, and taught his instructors to teach. I'd been spending years teaching twist as a first level turn skill, and I'm not sure he even knew what that was. I couldn't work at that mountain, because I knew if someone took a lesson from me, then took a lesson from someone else, they would get confused with the two different ways of teaching, and I was NOT going to start teaching counter rotation to beginners. This video confirmed for me that I wasn't just being an "AASI snob", and I admit I feel some small vindication. I love the ski pole exercise and will use it in lessons now, because getting that bent knee without bending over posture is one of the hardest things (I found) to teach. I had one kid that I have no idea how he was making his turns, he must have had super strong ankles, because his legs were stiff as boards, and I tried everything I knew how to get him to bend, and nothing worked. Excellent suggestion.
snowboarded for the first time yesterday and after watching this, i realised i was actually doing the knee steering technique. but instead of going toes, id switch between regular and goofy and side slip only on my heels bc i had hurt my knees a couple times. im looking forward to practising it again
I went snowboarding for the first time last weekend and I was doing that counter rotation and leading with my arm. Glad I found this video before it became a habit. I will try your recommended drills this weekend at big bear. thanks so much.
It honestly doesn't matter how you turn as long as you can control your speed comfortably for you. Controlling speed is the only thing before you step up to hitting features, as long as you can do that efficiently and comfortably you'll be fine. The exercises are kind of useless, other than the wiggle one just because it gets you used to going faster and turning at the same time.
Really enjoyed this and found a great deal of value here! Heading back to the hills with a new board after a LONG hiatus (9 years) these fundamentals were a very excellent reminder!
Yo, Malcolm. 5 days away from my first snowboard. In fact, first winter sport ever. New GF can shred so big shoulders, dude. You're videos are my new theory bible. (Mantra: My hips are my centre of mass. My hips are my centre of mass. Keep it above my edge. Knees out! ) Wish me luck, man! ❤
This is amazing, exactly all my problems I had are covered, also the lessons which most give are with the arm steering but they don’t give you the important lessons Malcom gives with the knee and toe steering, its really strange because it’s THE key to improved riding 🙏🏆 I made my riding much better by only watching the videos 🎉
I consider myself an advanced snowboarder and I have taught a few if my mates how to board but these videos are amazing at teaching technique. I learned a few things also
Now my french teacher didn't speak much english, but the english he spoke was "Bend your knees". Haha, that accent still haunts me to this day. I feel like that's the only thing you barely mention. Bending your knees and then to switch edges, straighten your body only to come back down bending your knees. Other than that great video. Also you call it turning your front knee, which basicly is the same but I call it applying pressure on your front foot. As many people tend to lean on their back foot, because they're scared to go downhill so they want to stick close to the ground in order not to fall too hard. It's exactly that however which makes the turn hard to make, by applying pressure on that front foot, the work almost gets done for you.
Malcom have you consider founding your own snowboard academy? Your talent of teaching people should not be limited by several courses. You should be training other instructors about your concepts and ideals so that more snowboarders can be benefited. As the team grows, you can probably hold snowboard camp all over the world! I found something really interesting is that the snowboarding concept of different regions are quite different, and Asia DEFINITELY needs instructors like you who really focus on posture and fundamentals. Cheers mate!
I started with the 2nd exercise but teacher told me to point and look far away, or point at him and giving me a point to aim. Well it really helped and also helped me create my first turn shapes and traverse across the slope.
Yeah to be honest that exercise can help get people turning. A pre requisite is that you're already traversing across the slope, if you're not then that's when it can be dangerous, which is why I stuck it near the bottom of the list here, but provided its taught at the right time it can help for sure 😉
Mate, from now on I call you Mr. professor doctor of Snowboarding! Hands down, this is the best Snowboard coaching on YT! Big up for sharing your knowledge! #micdrop
Awesome tips with the knee levers and that ski pole drill. Never heard, nor seen those but I will certainly be giving those a try. I've heard of teaching knee steering by relating talking about 2 swinging doors, like on an old barn or french doors. Get down in the snow and draw two doors and the arcs they make as the swing open and shut. Each knee is like a door and so on your toe edge the doors are shut and on the heel edge the doors are open. To switch edges, you swing your 'lead' door to the other position (front leg) and follow with the other. So rather than moving levers, you're swinging doors
Great stuff here dude, very decent video. I do remember way back learning an instructor demonstrated passing a snowball using a figure of 8 around the thighs, did actually work changing direction before moving quickly onto knees and shoulders
Malcom you're fantastic, I learned to snowboard from zero to get going 😆 following your videos and a ton of practice... I practiced your advices slow and now I can turn amazingly... still working on curves and short turns but I'm getting there... I was able to do a black diamond yesterday doing the exercise on this video about the turn... on 06:04 minute of the video. 🙏🤝👊
Thanks for the high quality video, will try those exercises in the next few days. Getting some speed definitely helps, but being able to have a nice form at a low speed is really a sign that you are starting to master things.
@@malcolmmoore The other memory I have is the quality (and rigidity / stiffness) of the board ; I started with an entry level board, which was fun as a start, but I once tried a higher quality one and the board would respond much better instead of falling appart like butter. Having a pro sharpen your edges is also well worth it, especially when the snow isn't top quality and a bit icy.
Really great video. My GF is intermediate and while I am a competent snowboarder I don't think I am a very good teacher...I admittedly used the leading hand technique to try and get her to stop twisting her body. I think she is better off taking real lessons but if we find ourselves on the slopes again I will try and implement some of these ideas =)
I think I've pinned a comment discussing this a bit more, but ultimately the leading with arm technique can help people change edge, so don't stress too much if you've used it. And although it is near the bottom of the pile here, I didn't just want to give out terrible drills, so besides the first one, none of the others are that offensive!
Back leg steering and swinging your back arm, is a terrible form I got into the habit of doing. Counter rotation is another one. Thank for this vid 🙏 I can mow pass this knowledge down to my buddies.
Great video thank you Malcolm! I took my friend's suggestion in the past to do the arm-leading technique, aka "tea-pot" (forearm extending out, and backarm holding the waistline, looking like a tea pot), and it did get me catching my edge a few times which got me even more nervous. Now it's time to get that exercise out of the picture!
If you are already traversing across the slope before trying it, then it can help, but if you're skidding alot and then trying it, that's when it can lead to an edge catch. So if it's used at the right time in your progression it's not too bad, but it is easy to get wrong, hence why I put it near the bottom of the pile!
That’s what exactly happened to me with the “airplane arms.” I tore both the meniscus and cartilage in both knees. It’s been 3 months and the pain is finally gone. I’m starting PT. I wish you could be near to come for a class 😖. Your teaching techniques are amazing and clear!❤
I was taught decades ago to lift or press my toes on my forward foot and allow my body to follow. I believe this is a step to help with knee steering that I never see mentioned in videos like these. Also the speed at initiating the board to do what you want seems much faster as you are not initiating the turn at your knees but the board itself.
You shouldn't be actively pressing or lifting your toes, hence why I say I don't like the term foot pedalling, as the movement with your feet is passive. The idea with the knees is to properly use the front of your boots and your highbacks as levers to tilt the board onto its edge. Lifting your toes for example is a movement you can make to further increase edge angle for extra performance, but it's not a movement you should be relying on. As for the second part of your comment, I'm not exactly sure what you mean I'm afraid.
@@malcolmmoore thanks for the reply. For lifting ones toes or giving pressure is specific to only the forward foot only which is why I said I believe it was too help with knee steering. This was also over 20 years ago that I was told this by the way. The second part is in regard to the time it takes for the board to react to your inputs. For instance your board initiates the turn faster when knee steering compared to leading with your forward arm. If this is the case then initiating the turn with your forward foot prior to knee steering should be even faster. If you go to the 10 minute mark of this video you will notice your boards twisting flex causes the forward foot toe edge to contact the snow before your back foot toe edge. Lifting or pressing the toes on your forward foot would initiate that twisting flex faster than knee steering alone will.
Hey thanks for your videos! I've been snowboarding since I was 12 years old (now 23) and I'm really starting to get back into it after a break of a few years. I can down pretty much any hill but I don't know how good my technique is ... I really want to get into some proper carving so I wanna eliminate my counterrotation I have every now and then as much as possible and then check what's going on with the pole trick :) And If that's not how it's supposed to be, I will atrt from the biginning of this list! :) A good season to everyone! The weather forecast announced some heavy snow for next week in germany so fingers crossed this will be a nice start into the season in the black forest :)
Great vid mate, Thank you. Was kooking around washing off all my speed and catching edges like the start of the vid. The ski pole demo and carved edge demo were great. Now i crash at much faster speeds but not as often! It's sick!
4:06 This is exactly what I was doing and my instructor didn't correct me. I was catching the edge and fell two times on my back. He said nada. Thanks for this super tip! Now I understand what was happening to me.
As a long time instructor, CASI, I can confirm “airplane arms “ was, is?, part of the curriculum. It’s been 30 years since I took my level 1 course but it was still part of the course in 2001 when I took my level 2. We called it “steering the bus”. Not too bad for heel side turns but quite problematic for toe-side turns. Counter rotation was taught but more in reference to jump turns on steep terrain. I would be interested to see a complete beginner lesson upto first turns. Wondering what else might be different from Europe as opposed to Canada. Great video btw!
I'm not against leading with the front arm completely, I actually cut a bit from this video because I was going on a bit, and just reduced it to saying you can catch an edge, but you'll catch an edge if you do this exercise and you aren't able to traverse across the slope yet, if you're still skidding. If you can traverse and grip across the slope then leading with the front arm can help, so as long as its used at the right time, then it's OK!
Not only I've learned how to make turns but also for the first time I saw real clean UFO sighting, not some unidentifiable dot or smudge on the picture. Well done, you got them. It's official we're not alone.
That's a win win!
Between 8:38 and 8:39 there is an object in the sky. I froze the screen and it’s crystal clear! Malcolm you got ‘em ! 😅
@@vik-rai omgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg
Fake?
@@agustinruhle2430 I think aliens are just trying to learn snowboarding from Malcolm and that’s ok. We welcome everyone to his channel.
That counter rotation one is what is natural to go to as a new rider. It just feels right. Once a guy stopped me on the hill and told me and asked me if I catch a lot of edges and I told him yes, he explained it to me. Changed my boarding forever. Thanks to whoever you were.
Can confirm: took lessons with Malcolm in Alpe d'Huez last season, went into it having real trouble staying in alignment on the toe edge. After trying some of the other exercises on this list, he eventually got me to do the ski pole one, and it basically worked like magic. I went from struggling on anything beyond blues, to being able to do just about every black run except for the super moguled ones - still working on that! Now, every time I go for a trip after not having ridden for a while, I do this drill for the first couple of runs (usually don't even use a ski pole if I don't have easy access to one, but just keep my hands resting against my thighs where the pole would be, and make sure to never move them). Found this really useful to ensure that bad habits don't creep back in.
Now I'll only have to master those carved edge wiggles! - it's harder than it looks!
Cheers Malcolm, and thanks again for helping to take my riding to the next level!✌
Lucky man. Going to give that one a try next time. Only got 4 days out in the snow, but if I can start to solve my counter rotation I'll be happy.
Got lessons with him too, got great improvement with this excercises!
@@cpitney In my experience, this really is the best drill to eliminate counter rotation. It forces you to be fully in line without even thinking about it. After a few runs like this, my body just naturally reconditioned itself to riding in alignment.
Cheers Beni, hope you're well and still enjoying that Bakery board!
Thought this looked like Alp Duez! I was there in 2001..
Back then I was about the only snowboarder out there!
I swear this channel is so criminally underrated.
Thanks man, appreciate it 🙌
As a brand new snowboarder all i can say is this video helped me more than any advice or lessons i got from friends! Thanks man!
Cheers Jordan!!
Imagine if all instructors taught snowboarding like this.. When's the Malcom Moore school of snowboarding (the centre for kids who can't snowboard good) coming.. The hero the world needs.
I truly appreciate a lesson taught without words like: stoke, awesomeness, etc.
Sorry, that centre is for ants 😂
We need that education so we can avoid dying in a freak gasoline fight accident.
@@pauljarine Haha so true!
I do like overstoked though, because I take it in a persiflage way.
@@elho001 hahaha!! Well done!
I’m still a beginner snowboarder starting into my third season. And all the bad exercises you have mentioned in this video messed up my snowboarding completely that I’m struggling right now to break the bad habits that I have built up. Btw, your videos were the best piece of advice I could find anywhere to figure out what I’m doing wrong. I was starting to exercise with your videos in the end of last season and I was working on posture and knee stirring and I’m way more confident on the board. Biggest achievement was a consistent early edge change to the heel edge. Now I can’t wait for the lifts to open here in Japan to practice more! Anyway, thank you so much for all your videos!
Awesome! And I'm very jealous of you in Japan, enjoy all that powder!
third season isn't beginner lol anymore unless you didn't go that many times each season
I didn’t realize how terrible I’ve been snowboarding for the last 8 years until watching this. I’ve mostly done counter rotation and always wonder why I can’t progress much further. Thank you for this video!
Turning with your knees as levers - the best piece of advice I’ve ever had. Took my snowboarding to a new level - made my riding more solid and in control, especially at higher speeds. Love your videos❤❤❤❤
I have 2 days of snowboarding under my belt and I have to say your videos have helped more more than any advice I got while actually out there, I managed to clear a blue square on my first day of taking the lift up, I spent the whole first day on the begginer hill because I was scared of the chair lift, thank you for your videos, and I hope you have an amazing day.
You're welcome!! Yeah I had a great day! Happy holidays !!
Great video Malcolm. I've been snowboarding for 20 years and even after snowboarding for so long, I've learned so much from your videos. You teach the fundamental techniques in a simple and practical way that few other snowboard channels do. Keep up the great videos. 👍
Thanks, I appreciate it 🙏
I know this is a year old but this is me too. I learned by watching my friends in high school 20+ years ago. Little did I know most of the people I see riding down the mountain are skidding or counter rotating (including myself). Currently trying out a lot of these tips and tricks and trying to unlearn my bad habits. Thank you!!
I'm still learning a lot on how to turn and carve, but it's really amusing to realize that I can do better the knee turn than a basic one cause I'm so afraid of speed that my body learnt how to drastically stop... Thanks for all these tips 🥰
I'm happy to see more and more instructors talking about knee steering. It's the best and only technique and I first came across is by the youtuber SnowProfessor about 10 years ago. No one explains the first steps better than those two. This is the way.
I had lessons with Malcom last feb to start out boarding - now i’m out in Whistler doing a season and slowly building my skills. The knee turns I was doing hours ago and it was really helping me get into it.
Thank you Malcom, can’t recommend you enough keep up the good work! 🤟🏼
🙌 jealous of you in Whistler, and thanks for the kind words!
@malcolmmoore wait, you teach people in person as well?!
@@crazyamerican8664 yes, that's my main job!
@malcolmmoore no way! How amazing to have a job like that, especially something u enjoy. Btw, thank you for everything. year two for me, and I've learned so much more this time around, thanks to your videos 👊💪
I really appreciated the "knee steering" exercise since I have a tendency to focus on my foot action (as you pointed out!), as if I'm driving a manual. I am a beginner, I only get to go maybe 3-4 times a year in the poconos at most, and I only started 3 years ago! I always focused on looking where I wanted to go, trying to keep my shoulders aligned with my hips, but this gives me a new perspective, and I can't wait to try it!! Thank you!
Thank you for this video. I took some snowboarding lessons in Poland last year and finished them and thought i'm a snowboarder. Then I went to Georgia, Gudauri ski resort and had a lot of troubles with doing turns. For the first time in my life, I know what I was doing wrong and all the private lessons I took were simply bad. I did learn much more from your vids than during my private lessons and it also saved me a lot of money and I guess avoided some pretty bad injuries!!!
Thanks so much Malcolm. Just returned after a week in alpe d’heuz , with lessons from the man himself. There is so much detail given in these videos for free . But having Malcom video my mistakes and then take me through corrective exercises , took me from not being able to carve to some off piste fun by the end of the week . A Great teacher and very patient . The counter rotation advice given elsewhere can be confusing . Have a great season everyone and merry Christmas 😊.
Thanks Gee, appreciate it, hope you got home safe and had a good Christmas with the family 🙌
I’ve been following your channel for 2 years. I started in Feb 2020 and there were no instructors due to the pandemic. Your videos helped a lot and I mean A LOT!!! This is my 4th season and still learning. You are an amazing instructor online and I’m 100% sure the experience in real time with you is amazing. Keep the good work you are the best!!!
Thanks, appreciate it 🙌
@8:38... Hahaha. Did anyone else even notice? 👾
Once again Malcolm thank you for the tips. Thank you
What was that?
@@nick_way If you pause and step frame by frame ("," or "." if you're on PC) you can see a space ship fly across in the background!
yup i commented too
I was just looking for that comment hahah
I think it is the proof that UFO exists. Roswell wasn't an accident. The government is lying to us! The end is near!
Have a nice day.
Malcolm, you make by far the best board instruction vids! Your way of teaching is all about clever thinking how to get your message across in a way that the receiver will be able to not only understand, but also follow up on your instruction. In short: not only the How, but also the Why.
This is really high class teaching and therefore stands out from the majority that mainly focuses on pressing the send button.
Combined with your immaculate riding style and well thought out (and casual) way of filming, this makes for the next best thing to real life teaching.
Thanx for that!
Awesome thanks for taking the time to write that, I appreciate it, I've had to take a little pause from UA-cam due to some other stuff going in, but I'll be back to it very soon!
12:55 that hidden gem there is kind of one of the most important ones. Keeping low and keeping your knees flexed (and relaxed most importantly) makes a lot of things go that much smoother and it's a super important part of all of these exercises (and one of the reasons why the standing up one is kind of a bad idea). I kind of stopped progressing for so long until I started forcing myself to concentrate on this specifically and it changed so much.
After a while you'll get used to whatever position, I only crouch at high speeds and on really bumpy terrain. Well-groomed slopes you can literally stuff your hands in your pockets and just lean into the movement, let your weight do all the work for you. I do that rapid turn excercise pretty straight so I don't default to kicking out a leg every now and again.
Maaaan, Malcolm, your a youtube god. I started watching your videos last year. I feared trasitioning to heal edge (catching heel edge does that). The lever trick introducing torsion changed my entire game in 1 run and was a new snowboarder in 1 day. My girl got a board and was able to use these tools to have her doing blacks in a very controlled manner in 6 days. I cannot put into words how valuable your material is
Awesome to hear, thankyou, I appreciate it 🙏
Man watching Malcolm's tutorials before ever setting foot on a board before makes me feel like i'll be nailing black slopes after my first day, that's how good he is at explaining things - everything just clicks in my head perfectly. I wonder if I should even bother with an instructor and just do Malcolm's exercises on my own off to the side of the bunny slope lol, I don't want someone teaching me bad habits like I see some people in the comments are saying. January can't come soon enough!
Appreciate the words, but I would still recommend an instructor. Some of these drills can be ok (I don't think the first one ever is to be honest) but so long as the second one is done and the weight shift over the centre of the board is properly explained then its OK. It's dangerous if you try to do it without already being able to properly traverse across the slope, which is why it sits low on this this list, but if its done at the right time in your progression it can work!
@@malcolmmoore Thanks for the response! I meant it in a more sort of a general sense when talking about your tutorials because I've just been binging all of them non-stop as preparation and visualization training for my first trip, not this video specifically (although I'll be definitely doing the ski pole drill because it seem the most useful to keep my posture in check). And you're right, it's better to have an experienced instructor with me to check my progress because I can't see myself in 3rd person so I won't know what I'm doing wrong. The friends I'm going with are all skiers so they won't be of any help lol.
I've been riding for 20 years, and consider myself pretty advanced. This video is the first basic form tip guide I've seen on UA-cam that has made any sense thinking back on my own progression. Usually I see the instructor giving overly vague instructions, or incorrect misleading drills like the airplane arms shown at the end of the video. I've finally got someone I can actually point friends towards if they want tips on how to improve
Thanks, i appreciate the kind words 🙌
Love these videos Malcom! You truly manage to break down all the steps to get the right technique. Your lesson on the torsional twist and knee steering really unlocked a new level for me and made my rides lots of fun! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us and keep these videos coming!
Thanks man 🙌
Malcom just came across your channel and appreciate all you efforts. I am 60 and have been snowboarding for about 15 years in the mid-west developing bad habits. I do not get to snowboard much and for me it seems that when I get nervous from going to fast my bail out is using the counter rotation to slow down. I know it is dangerous as many times it feels like I almost catch my back edge. I will continue to watch your videos and try to practice your tips. My real struggle is confidently going down the mountain and maintaining a more straight line. I feel as if once my speed picks up I must immediately slow my self down to keep from falling. I wish I could develop the confidence to accept the speed and be able to carve as necessary. Hopefully as I watch more of your videos I will improve.
Great progressions, love it. How about some stuff on vertical range of motion? 'Tall as a house, small as a mouse' turns are a variation on the 'stand tall to turn' drill from here, but if you can get riders to reach right down and touch their boards on a turn it could open up much more dynamic motions in turns as the board is pushed away from the body by extending the legs.
Malcolm has videos on up-weighted and down-weighted turns also.
I especially love the ski pole drill. I've whispered "hold the pole, hold the pole" to myself on runs to keep focused on my hand position and posture. Your videos are so helpful, thank you!
When I've tried snowboarding in the past, I remember instructors telling me to hook my thumbs into my pockets so I'm less tempted to flail my arms about. I guess it's supposed to be a stand in for holding the skipole across your body if you don't have a skipole
I am not sure, I would want to catch an edge with my thumbs in my pants. :D
But that explains why Malcolm suggested to use a ski pole instead of e.g. his selfie stick. :D
Yeah, that can help for sure 👌
I went snowboarding for the first time at the age of 42yrs old this past March at Heavenly Lake Tahoe and took a snowboarding lesson by one of their instructors. He taught the pointing your hand to turn. I was catching my edge constantly. I plan on snowboarding again this season and so glad I saw this video. I’ll be using the knee steering and using the ski pole exercise (hiking pole instead of ski pole).
Cheers man good luck
Hahah... I know they posted this video a while ago, but why is a spaceship crossing the screen at 8:39? 😂 hahah... first I thought it was a bird or something! Great video btw x
A small easter egg with christmas haha
Yup, UFO
I’ve watched a lot of videos and this one is definitely the best I’ve seen. I like that you have a couple different progressions of one skill in one video, instead of a 20 minute video of a bunch of exercises for one level
Is nobody going to talk about the U.F.O edited in at 8:39? 🤣
🛸😱😅
This is the exact comment I can to make it no one else did 😂
They tried to slip one past us
I did notice, but not sure if this is a fake one or real. Maybe Malcolm installed it for fun?
I am a beginner with just three seasons under my belt. This season I started doing some continuous turns on blue and small red slopes but after seeing this video I just realised, I have been doing the upper body twist and the arm turning the whole time. I guess I need to rectify apparently these mistakes to progress further.
I can't even begin to thank you Malcolm for such valuable and in detail explained techniques and tips, which would be hardly taught in any of the schools out there. Looking forward to the next opportunity to improve my skills :).
Cheers to you and keep the superb work! :)
Am I the only one who saw the UFO at 8:39?! @Malcolm is that an editing Easter Egg?
I saw it too
me too 😆
I have asked him about it as well. Looks real, but not sure. Too obvious.
After watching and devouring almost every video of yours with gratitude, I find it very valuable that you have made this overview video.
Here, everyone can see where they stand and watch the corresponding detailed video again.
Great. Thank you
Thanks!
I literally watched a video last year from u explaining to point ur arm in the way you want to go and now your saying that’s wrong I’m confused
Yeah, I was waiting for this, it's a fair point. So the reason I don't like the pointing of the arm exercise is because often people rarely explain what is going on with the lower body, the upper body doesn't actually turn the board, but it is a by product of turning with the front knee first, when you do this your shoulders and front arm open up ahead of the board. If it's explained in that context then the arm can be a useful tool in visualising that position. Secondly it is often used at the wrong time in people's progression, if the learner isn't yet properly traversing across the slope and they try to just point the arm down the hill then they can catch an edge. However if it is used at the right time in the progression it can be useful guide in getting people into the right position to make a turn, but the key point is understanding its effect on the lower body! Hope this makes sense and I'm guessing you were referring to this video:
ua-cam.com/video/IBconmClJks/v-deo.html
@@malcolmmoore i love that you reply in such detail, i love your videos, and i wish everyone taught like you do
@@hansemanse1935 thanks, appreciate it 🙌
Think of it as more of a dance like a figure 8 and not so I have to point in one direction.....
same. I've been doing the point your arm. he said it's like your opening a door/ then closing it.
tks!! on my first day the person showing me how to... turn was telling me to JUMP to turn... and brought me directly at the top of the mountain to practice instead of the learning hill. 😢 but I countinued and some other cool friends helped me and I'm getting better ...7th time this year !! Started this year at 47 yr old ooh yes!! living my best life! tks for the knee trick to turn I'll try it nx we. Defenetly struggling with toe turns. 😊
dude did you edit a ufo into the video?
I have been trying to help my daughter improve her turns, classic airplane. We tried the ski pole technique today and it was a complete game changer. Thanks for the advice.
That is awesome!
UFO at 8:39?????
👽👽
I remembered my first course 7 years ago with age 38, I don’t ski but ski crossing, you know what my Swiss teacher said to his co-workers, this one will be difficult to teach, his right, difficult but possible, I can do very well now, but watching videos and get a teacher who doesn’t see me as a dummy adult. ,….thanks God, there are still good teachers out there…❤
WTF? 8:38
How is NOBODY talking about this?😮
THERE'S A UFO!!!
I did notice, not sure if this is fake or real.
This drill.
I am definitely going to use it. As a beginner I am using the 2nd one.
Using hand / upper body to guide the turn.
And it is indeed prone to catching edge.
I catched edge 5 times in a run. It is no fun.
Thanks a lot for the amazing tips.
Will work my way to the number 1 best exercise.
Looks so elegant and efficient.
This video is all well and good but your techniques are only useful for boarders who have confidence and are able to at least do the basics. If you are a newbie turning your upper body first is the most comfortable way to get the board turned because the board will follow. The falling leaf drill is a classic example. Once people have the basics then it makes sense to learn to do it the way you are stating, but getting people to do it your way from the off doesn't seem like a good way of learning to me.
That's not really the intention of this video. For beginners I would suggest my complete beginner walk through here: ua-cam.com/video/lpx2kH96L_A/v-deo.html
This video goes over falling leaf as you recommend, however it does it from the view of using your lower body to turn the board, falling leaf, or teaching beginners should not be taught purely from the upper body. The reason being is because if you turn with just the upper body before you are able to traverse across the slope properly, ie you are in a skid or a sideslip, then it is very easy to catch an edge. That's why I place the leading with the arm drill near the bottom of the pile. If you are already gripping across the slope in a traverse then the upper body leading into the turn can be an effective way of getting the board to turn, however most beginners aren't yet doing this, which is why I say that it is often made to look easy in demonstrations but in reality for the beginner it can be dangerous.
Go watch the beginner videos. This isn’t meant to be a how to, it’s a toolkit for people who are intermediate and wanna improve.
@@malcolmmoore surely the problem with counter rotation is the fact that "some people" dont shift their weight appropriately and by not shifting your weight that when you run the risk of catching an edge?
My first time on a snowboard was on real slopes with no lessons, with my mates that were snowboarders. I came back home and took lessons in an indoor ski slope. For months before going snowboarding again I stood on my snowboard in my house and would shift my weight slightly heel or slightly toe first - then turn my upper body. I found when I went snowboarding again having that muscle memory meant I didnt have to think about what I was doing.
Now I can turn as you say by just shifting my body position a little on the board, from lower down, but I think if you shift your body weight prior to turning your upper body you get far less slip and more turn.
Question - on a steep slopes/black runs where you don't want to travel far with a turn, surely thats where shifting your weight and turning your upper body allows the board to turn quicker? If not in your opinion how do you do a small "C" turn on a black run?
@@kevinjohnson4039 see this video here, it talks about using the upper body to create a bit of rotation to pull you into the turn, but it is in the same direction as the board, not the opposite: ua-cam.com/video/IBconmClJks/v-deo.html
The rotation helps initiate the edge change as well as then pulling the board around in a tight arc. It isn't all that different from the second exercise but it makes sure to relate the upper body movement to the lower body, and it is not used as a tool for beginner riders to achieve an edge change. That is where the second exercise can be dangerous, because without properly traversing across the slope first and attempting to just point your arm down the slope you can catch an edge easily. However used at a later time in your progression when you already have better edge grip and the ability to traverse across the slope, and when explained in context with the lower body, it can be a good tool to achieve small tight c turns on black runs as you say. I'm not sure if you're trying to disprove me here or fight for counter rotation but in case you are I will give it credit for where else you might use it, but also another situation where it won't work. I have seen Jeremy Jones use it on incredibly steep exposed spines and couloirs. He uses it to hop around onto a new edge when falling is not an option. If the goal is to change edge with minimal acceleration but maximum speed of getting from one edge to the other, then here it has a place, and I'm not going to argue with Jeremy Jones, he is a far more accomplished rider than I will ever be. It does also work on the piste, and alot of riders are able to go very fast, and in control whilst using it. So on one hand it could be seen as a good way to ride piste. However it doesn't translate well to riding powder for instance, which is the goal I often come back to with people who are unwillingto give up counter rotation. Generally speaking most people want to be able to ride powder, and if you can eliminate counter rotation from your piste riding, you will be able to make the transition into powder much easier. I hope this clarifies some issues, but ultimately board performance is the best metric to look at snowboarding from, as in what the board is doing - rather than getting too bogged down with what is going on on top of the board. And if you're getting good board performance then you'll be doing something right, and there are often different routes to achieve the same outcome. 👍
@kevinjohnson4039 Definately a wrong understanding, this one is a EXERCISE for those who already learnt the basic and practice for better.
Such an insightful vid Malcolm. I just got back from 4 days in Kronplatz, having lessons on the first three. I was progressing well until we got a new instructor who introduced the 'aeroplane' and I actually felt like I regressed because of it, as I was focusing on the moving of the shoulders rather than anything below my waist. Everything you explained with that method was essentially me and confidence naturally took a hit that day.
It can get people turning, so I see why it gets used, as some people make the arm movements and then make the correct movements with their lower body afterwards. But if they don't then it really doesn't help at all. If you're not already traversing the slope and you try it, that's when you can catch an edge, hence why I put it lower down on the list. I have actually made an older video where I talk about the use of the front arm, but it really needs to be explained in context to the lower body too!
ua-cam.com/video/IBconmClJks/v-deo.html
Worst way to carve, trying it in powder💀😂
Just came back from a week in the mountains and I just bumped into this movie. Good recollection of way to turn you on the board. Been thinking about the ways to explain it to myself and my girlfriend (she's been catching up sharply and started to switch ride loads faster than I ever did - we both started to, switching after learning to ride on one side is rather quick because you already know how to do it the other way). Imho the core phrase here is relaxing your body. People flail around on the board like a drunkard and do weird things with their arms which often lead to catching an edge or falling over in one way or another.
There are three things that are needed for snowboarding to happen. It needs a rider, a board and a snowy mountain. You will never win against the mountain it's a force of nature so don't try to fight against it. You can learn to control the board whilst its being influenced by the mountain which is a sort of a medium between you and the snow. So it's kind of push and pull because on one end you are trying to tell it how to turn/where to go; on the other end is the snow under your feet that directs it and influences what's happening to you through it. So the board is a balancing act literally and figuratively. Last part is mastering your own body which may fight against you (at least in the beginning, e.g. tensing thus giving you cramps and aches in places you didnt knew you had muscles).
In the end you just have to realise that you need to let it all go. Relax your body, get in tune with how your board reacts to the mountain and to you, and then cooperate with it and stop fighting with yourself. Going from reactive riding at the beginning to proactive and confident riding where you direct where you want to go.
But the bare essentials need to be properly adressed for all that to happen. Things like learn how to fall down to save your wrists and elbows from injuries, emergency breaking/stopping, remembering about the proper posture, relaxed body, waist pointing at the right edge/side of the board, keeping your nose pointing down/direction down the slope when switching position to avoid catching an edge and keeping an eye out/being aware of your surroundings to keep yourself safe and others around you. And of course safety gear like helmet, waist protector (falling down on your arse will probably happen a lot in the beginning), knee pads (falling forwards does not happen that often but when it does... well better have those knees protected) and some wrist protection as a bare minimum. To keep you safe and sound.
Oh and one quick feedback that never lies and always tells you that you are doing something wrong is the fact that your body starts to ache (e.g. muscles on your legs/feet, e.g. you're posture is wrong/you're body is tense), that's a signal that tells you something is off and needs your attention. Don't ignore it. If you do it properly you don't tire nearly at all when riding in normal speeds.
Thanks for everything Malcolm and keep those vids coming :)
Been riding for years and this is hands down the best explanation of how to control edge riding that I’ve ever heard
The lever analogy transformed my snowboarding stance and edge control - i went from the counter-rotation movement and greatly struggling at speed to breezing it at 40-50 km/h while doing edge changes in just one season. This method should become the gold standard as far as i'm concerned.
Awesome, glad it helped you!
Love the levers example. Makes it very simple to visualize what needs to happen with the knees. Another brilliant piece of advice.
Thanks so much!
I wish you taught me when I started out. The pole exercise transformed my boarding! I never understood why I was sweating so much and taking so much effort. Thanks Malcolm!
Awesome happy to help!!
Great video.. great channel. I havent boarded in 7 years, hit the slopes this week and was doing a lot of these drills without realising. You are SUCH a good teacher and I wish I'd watched this before I started the week.... gonna have to go again this season now! Cheers mate
Thanks Phil!
Yet another fantastic video from Malcolm, your way of laying down and explaining basic principles is unrivalled. I like to think I'm past these issues but I can't stop watching these as you upload them. Simply brilliant.
Thanks Chris 👍😊
Malcolm, you are clearly a master of your craft, that’s the practical, theory and tuition. Keep it up mate, your vids are busting it!
Thanks Tim, appreciate it 🙌
Except for the 15 year break I'm just coming back from I've been riding since 1989 and I'm blown away at how many bad habits I've picked up/taught myself.. Thanks for putting these videos together!
Snowboarding has changed alot in that time too!
@@malcolmmoore dude. The tech and boards and bindings now boggles my old mind.
Dude, THANK YOU for making this. I was doing the first exercise without even realizing it and skidding all over the place. I knew I was doing something wrong but could really sort it out. This really opened my eyes well done.
Thanks Edward 😊
Stumbled across your videos, I'm snowboarding since I'm twelve years old and I LOVE to ride. Did not have the chance to use my snowboard this season, so your videos made me realy jealous. In the same your videos confirmed my skills and this made me realy happy. Thank you very much for your uploads!
You're welcome thank you 🙏🙏
Last year I had a kid I could not get to stop the counter rotating turns. I had him use a ski pole just like you did here. Worked like a champ! Quited down the upper body almost immediately!
I saw this video yesterday and I was on the slope today and tried Ski Pole Drill, conclusion:
1. It took a while to get use to as knee steering and putting my arms down was just not natural to me, being too used to leading with the arms
2. I caught the edge one time and went down hard, like real hard... broke my glasses which i wore inside my googles, first in 15 years of skiing/snow borading.
3. I had to stop by 12 noon as my arm was really hurting.
But before I had to stop,
4. I finally can ride on my right leg now, I could never ride on my right leg since I started snowboarding, I thought I am naturally a left leg boarder, now I know I did not learn my turning right.
5. I can finally lower my body weight and turn on a half-bending body closer to ground, and have better control on my heel or toe side turn, since my knee now leads the turn.
6. I can do knee steering now, so for me Ski Pole Drill is a natural drill to learn knee steering
7. It was exhilarating to feel my turn and have control on my ride with knee steering, I was so happy I was singing on my ride.... and that was when i caught the edge....ouch!
Conclusion 1: Ski Pole Drill rocks! Absolute best way for me to correct what i called my Turn-On-A-Prayer!!
Conclusion 2: Don't get excited and get carried away!
As far as catching an edge is concerned, well, who doesn't? How about a video : How to catch an edge (Ranked easiest to least likely)
Wow this is a great summary, especially for beginners. I have 6 days of snowboarding under my belt in the span of this year, and I notice that I apparently often use the first method, rotating my upper body. This makes it very difficult for me to feel confident on the board, especially on narrow slopes I am always scared that I can not react fast enough to not fall of the edge.
Will try the knee-steering exercise this saturday, excited to see if I'll be able to do it!
don't worry, we all need to practice and take that first step to get better in order to actually get better. I also used to counter rotate (self learned) for years before I took the leap to the correct posture. I've improved MUCH more within the last season than any of the years before that. For reference, I only was able to slowly and awkwardly side skid down mellow blues at best before it, but I'm riding the same blues as a warmup this season. Keep on keeping on!
@@haurenceli9099 that's amazing, great work! So would you say I should just try to learn the knee steering and then I will get better?
@@xXTiggaBoBXx I worked my way from airplane mode to be honest. cuz it's also pretty hard to jump straight into knee steering from counter rotating. Your brain understands it, but your body will fight you lol. Probably easiest way is just to work from airplane mode up, but keep the knee steering concepts in mind so you don't pigeonhole yourself into being stuck at airplane exercise.
WHen teaching I would end up having to default to the knee steering at the mtn I work at due to traffic and slope width. I started out with the first couple demos like in the video, then as soon as my students got to that point, boom we were off the low slope and into knee steering and higher pitched runs. Usually got them linking turn with about 1.5 hrs into my 2 hr block lessons. I tried to get through that "feelout" stage as soon as possible so the student would not default to the "wrong" ways to turn. They have their place in the lesson progression, but as soon as the student got to that point, of we go to the best and most dynamic ways to turn. Great vids, almost makes me want to get back in to teaching.
Wanted to leave a comment to a big thank you for your content. Self learned snowboarder from your videos now I'm teaching my gf though these videos. Gave her some basic tips from here and paid for her snowboarding lesson but she said she learned more from me than the actual instruction. All the info I gave her was just info from your videos so thank you :)!
Nice work!
Great work, I've been watching these since I got myself back in to the hobby last season, been at it now for the last 12 months and I'm so much more confident, even tried a few boxes and small jumps at the local indoor slope. I've put your techniques in to practice and improved my boarding no end. Need a holiday now to really put it all in to action, the problem with indoor slopes is they're too short and just as you find your stride you're at the bottom.
210% agree on the knee steering. Ive taught a few mates and this iswhat blew their mind and got them onto their toe edge safely and feeling natural
This is probably the most game changing tutorial for non-native beginner snowboarders. Liked, Subscribed and Saved for posterity 😅
Awesome, I'll be back in December with more!
Hey Malcolm you make the best snowboard Vids. Thank you so much. So helpful.🙏🙏🙏
Thank you so much for your video and explanation🙏🙏. It was mostly of it clear but even I watched many times this part "knee steering" i continue not understanding how to do it. I know that is a important part because I could feel tired my feet and anterior tibial and I know that this happens because I am using my feet instead my knees. Please make more long explaing "knee steering". Thank you so much 😘
you're a great teacher, I hope you get pushed into a broader audience.
I am an AASI certified instructor, and for years I had the luck of working at a place that regularly held clinics with AASI examiners and coaches. I moved to a smaller place, and the small town mountain was run by a man who had taught himself to snowboard with counter rotation, and that was /the/ edge change, along with the pointing hand, that he taught in his lessons, and taught his instructors to teach. I'd been spending years teaching twist as a first level turn skill, and I'm not sure he even knew what that was. I couldn't work at that mountain, because I knew if someone took a lesson from me, then took a lesson from someone else, they would get confused with the two different ways of teaching, and I was NOT going to start teaching counter rotation to beginners. This video confirmed for me that I wasn't just being an "AASI snob", and I admit I feel some small vindication. I love the ski pole exercise and will use it in lessons now, because getting that bent knee without bending over posture is one of the hardest things (I found) to teach. I had one kid that I have no idea how he was making his turns, he must have had super strong ankles, because his legs were stiff as boards, and I tried everything I knew how to get him to bend, and nothing worked. Excellent suggestion.
The honest perspective on counter rotations benefits and negatives!! Thank you !!
The best snowboarding content out there. Thank you for teaching us to really understand and think! And please keep it up!
Thanks, will do!
snowboarded for the first time yesterday and after watching this, i realised i was actually doing the knee steering technique. but instead of going toes, id switch between regular and goofy and side slip only on my heels bc i had hurt my knees a couple times. im looking forward to practising it again
I went snowboarding for the first time last weekend and I was doing that counter rotation and leading with my arm. Glad I found this video before it became a habit. I will try your recommended drills this weekend at big bear. thanks so much.
It honestly doesn't matter how you turn as long as you can control your speed comfortably for you. Controlling speed is the only thing before you step up to hitting features, as long as you can do that efficiently and comfortably you'll be fine. The exercises are kind of useless, other than the wiggle one just because it gets you used to going faster and turning at the same time.
Really enjoyed this and found a great deal of value here! Heading back to the hills with a new board after a LONG hiatus (9 years) these fundamentals were a very excellent reminder!
Heck yeah get back on the board 🙌🙌
Been snowboarding for 25 years but this does put down on paper why we do like we do. Great one!
Thanks 😊😊
Yo, Malcolm. 5 days away from my first snowboard. In fact, first winter sport ever. New GF can shred so big shoulders, dude. You're videos are my new theory bible. (Mantra: My hips are my centre of mass. My hips are my centre of mass. Keep it above my edge. Knees out! ) Wish me luck, man! ❤
You got it 👊
This is amazing, exactly all my problems I had are covered, also the lessons which most give are with the arm steering but they don’t give you the important lessons Malcom gives with the knee and toe steering, its really strange because it’s THE key to improved riding 🙏🏆 I made my riding much better by only watching the videos 🎉
Awesome!
I consider myself an advanced snowboarder and I have taught a few if my mates how to board but these videos are amazing at teaching technique. I learned a few things also
Thanks so much!!
Now my french teacher didn't speak much english, but the english he spoke was "Bend your knees". Haha, that accent still haunts me to this day. I feel like that's the only thing you barely mention. Bending your knees and then to switch edges, straighten your body only to come back down bending your knees. Other than that great video.
Also you call it turning your front knee, which basicly is the same but I call it applying pressure on your front foot. As many people tend to lean on their back foot, because they're scared to go downhill so they want to stick close to the ground in order not to fall too hard. It's exactly that however which makes the turn hard to make, by applying pressure on that front foot, the work almost gets done for you.
Malcom have you consider founding your own snowboard academy? Your talent of teaching people should not be limited by several courses. You should be training other instructors about your concepts and ideals so that more snowboarders can be benefited. As the team grows, you can probably hold snowboard camp all over the world! I found something really interesting is that the snowboarding concept of different regions are quite different, and Asia DEFINITELY needs instructors like you who really focus on posture and fundamentals. Cheers mate!
I started with the 2nd exercise but teacher told me to point and look far away, or point at him and giving me a point to aim. Well it really helped and also helped me create my first turn shapes and traverse across the slope.
Yeah to be honest that exercise can help get people turning. A pre requisite is that you're already traversing across the slope, if you're not then that's when it can be dangerous, which is why I stuck it near the bottom of the list here, but provided its taught at the right time it can help for sure 😉
Mate, from now on I call you Mr. professor doctor of Snowboarding! Hands down, this is the best Snowboard coaching on YT! Big up for sharing your knowledge! #micdrop
As always 🙏
Awesome tips with the knee levers and that ski pole drill. Never heard, nor seen those but I will certainly be giving those a try.
I've heard of teaching knee steering by relating talking about 2 swinging doors, like on an old barn or french doors. Get down in the snow and draw two doors and the arcs they make as the swing open and shut. Each knee is like a door and so on your toe edge the doors are shut and on the heel edge the doors are open. To switch edges, you swing your 'lead' door to the other position (front leg) and follow with the other. So rather than moving levers, you're swinging doors
Great stuff here dude, very decent video. I do remember way back learning an instructor demonstrated passing a snowball using a figure of 8 around the thighs, did actually work changing direction before moving quickly onto knees and shoulders
Youre the best instructor I have ever watch here in youtube. I have learned alot from your videos!! Thank you so much!
Thanks Kristian!
Malcom you're fantastic, I learned to snowboard from zero to get going 😆 following your videos and a ton of practice... I practiced your advices slow and now I can turn amazingly... still working on curves and short turns but I'm getting there... I was able to do a black diamond yesterday doing the exercise on this video about the turn... on 06:04 minute of the video. 🙏🤝👊
Thanks again 🙏🙏
The lever method actually works, it helped me last season to learn how to turn, this man is a genius!
🕺👌
best turn instructions i have seen on youtube
Thanks 🙌
Thanks for the high quality video, will try those exercises in the next few days. Getting some speed definitely helps, but being able to have a nice form at a low speed is really a sign that you are starting to master things.
Absolutely 👌
@@malcolmmoore The other memory I have is the quality (and rigidity / stiffness) of the board ; I started with an entry level board, which was fun as a start, but I once tried a higher quality one and the board would respond much better instead of falling appart like butter. Having a pro sharpen your edges is also well worth it, especially when the snow isn't top quality and a bit icy.
Really great video. My GF is intermediate and while I am a competent snowboarder I don't think I am a very good teacher...I admittedly used the leading hand technique to try and get her to stop twisting her body. I think she is better off taking real lessons but if we find ourselves on the slopes again I will try and implement some of these ideas =)
I think I've pinned a comment discussing this a bit more, but ultimately the leading with arm technique can help people change edge, so don't stress too much if you've used it. And although it is near the bottom of the pile here, I didn't just want to give out terrible drills, so besides the first one, none of the others are that offensive!
Back leg steering and swinging your back arm, is a terrible form I got into the habit of doing. Counter rotation is another one. Thank for this vid 🙏 I can mow pass this knowledge down to my buddies.
🙌
Great video thank you Malcolm! I took my friend's suggestion in the past to do the arm-leading technique, aka "tea-pot" (forearm extending out, and backarm holding the waistline, looking like a tea pot), and it did get me catching my edge a few times which got me even more nervous. Now it's time to get that exercise out of the picture!
If you are already traversing across the slope before trying it, then it can help, but if you're skidding alot and then trying it, that's when it can lead to an edge catch. So if it's used at the right time in your progression it's not too bad, but it is easy to get wrong, hence why I put it near the bottom of the pile!
That’s what exactly happened to me with the “airplane arms.” I tore both the meniscus and cartilage in both knees. It’s been 3 months and the pain is finally gone. I’m starting PT. I wish you could be near to come for a class 😖. Your teaching techniques are amazing and clear!❤
I was taught decades ago to lift or press my toes on my forward foot and allow my body to follow. I believe this is a step to help with knee steering that I never see mentioned in videos like these. Also the speed at initiating the board to do what you want seems much faster as you are not initiating the turn at your knees but the board itself.
You shouldn't be actively pressing or lifting your toes, hence why I say I don't like the term foot pedalling, as the movement with your feet is passive. The idea with the knees is to properly use the front of your boots and your highbacks as levers to tilt the board onto its edge. Lifting your toes for example is a movement you can make to further increase edge angle for extra performance, but it's not a movement you should be relying on. As for the second part of your comment, I'm not exactly sure what you mean I'm afraid.
@@malcolmmoore thanks for the reply. For lifting ones toes or giving pressure is specific to only the forward foot only which is why I said I believe it was too help with knee steering. This was also over 20 years ago that I was told this by the way. The second part is in regard to the time it takes for the board to react to your inputs. For instance your board initiates the turn faster when knee steering compared to leading with your forward arm. If this is the case then initiating the turn with your forward foot prior to knee steering should be even faster. If you go to the 10 minute mark of this video you will notice your boards twisting flex causes the forward foot toe edge to contact the snow before your back foot toe edge. Lifting or pressing the toes on your forward foot would initiate that twisting flex faster than knee steering alone will.
Hey thanks for your videos! I've been snowboarding since I was 12 years old (now 23) and I'm really starting to get back into it after a break of a few years. I can down pretty much any hill but I don't know how good my technique is ... I really want to get into some proper carving so I wanna eliminate my counterrotation I have every now and then as much as possible and then check what's going on with the pole trick :) And If that's not how it's supposed to be, I will atrt from the biginning of this list! :)
A good season to everyone! The weather forecast announced some heavy snow for next week in germany so fingers crossed this will be a nice start into the season in the black forest :)
Great video. I enjoy your teaching, I recommend your channel to random people on the slope.
Haha, that's awesome to hear, maybe not so awesome to the random strangers on the slope! 😂✌
@@malcolmmoore Well, not completely random. Noob snowboarders with whom I am going up on the lifts. 🙂
Great vid mate, Thank you. Was kooking around washing off all my speed and catching edges like the start of the vid. The ski pole demo and carved edge demo were great. Now i crash at much faster speeds but not as often! It's sick!
4:06 This is exactly what I was doing and my instructor didn't correct me. I was catching the edge and fell two times on my back. He said nada. Thanks for this super tip! Now I understand what was happening to me.
Happy it helped 😊😊
As a long time instructor, CASI, I can confirm “airplane arms “ was, is?, part of the curriculum. It’s been 30 years since I took my level 1 course but it was still part of the course in 2001 when I took my level 2. We called it “steering the bus”. Not too bad for heel side turns but quite problematic for toe-side turns.
Counter rotation was taught but more in reference to jump turns on steep terrain.
I would be interested to see a complete beginner lesson upto first turns. Wondering what else might be different from Europe as opposed to Canada.
Great video btw!
I'm not against leading with the front arm completely, I actually cut a bit from this video because I was going on a bit, and just reduced it to saying you can catch an edge, but you'll catch an edge if you do this exercise and you aren't able to traverse across the slope yet, if you're still skidding. If you can traverse and grip across the slope then leading with the front arm can help, so as long as its used at the right time, then it's OK!