Going faster in the snow only increases your confidence, helping you feel like you’ve got everything under control. While it’s a great feeling, you also must know when and how to stop. However, if you genuinely want to enjoy your snowboarding trip, you must learn how to increase your speed on your snowboard.
Please do it under professional guidance or with someone you know who knows a thing or two about controlling speed. Learning how to snowboard faster will allow you to have a tremendous amount of fun in the snow, making you an expert on more challenging terrains.
If you’ve come looking for tips to increase your speed in the snow, you’ve come to the right place.
Preventive Measures to Take
Before we start handing out tips on increasing speed in the snow, we must tell you about a few preventive measures you’ll have to take. Firstly, if you’re learning to go faster on your snowboard, please also know how to slow down. If you go too fast and don’t know how to stop, you can cause severe harm to yourself and other snowboarders around you.
Secondly, please understand the importance of wearing adequate snowboarding gear before stepping into the snow. You should be fully packed head to toe, reducing the chances of injuries if you fall. It would help if you wore snowboarding shorts and a shirt underneath your thermal outerwear. You should combine this gear with proper gloves, socks, boots, and a helmet.
The Hockey Stop
Okay, we know you’re dying to come across some tips to go faster in the snow (we’ll get there), but you must first learn this exercise that will help you with increasing speed in the snow. The hockey stop is an exercise (or a body posture) that allows you to gather momentum, increase your speed bit by bit, and quickly stop when you feel like it.
After you’ve garnered sufficient momentum, you’ll have to position your snowboard downhill to gather speed slowly. When you feel like you have enough speed, slowly push your snowboard back to the fall line and twist your body in the opposite direction to the nose of your snowboard. This exercise will give you a demo of increasing your speed and immediately stopping or slowing down.
How to Go Faster on a Snowboard?
Now that we’ve covered the importance of taking preventive measures and the hockey stop, we’ll get into the fun part of this article: how to go faster on your snowboard? Going faster in the snow requires you to possess the right skill and techniques. As long as you master a few methods, you’ll find yourself surfing the snow at a fast speed. Let’s get into those few techniques that’ll teach you to increase your speed.
Tip # 1 Riding Straight
Another way to increase your snowboarding speed is to ride straight into the snow. It can be dangerous if you fear the edge or don’t know how to stop. However, if neither of those things is a problem for you, riding straight in the snow will help you maintain a fast speed throughout your snowboarding. The snow will give sufficient bounce to your snowboard, helping you keep your pace and only stop when you want to. Try this method of increasing your speed (if you haven’t already).
Tip # 2 Turning with Speed
This won’t be challenging for you if you’ve mastered the hockey stop. You must know that changing speeds is significantly dependent on your turns. When you’re about to go downhill, you’ll have to take a sharp turn, allowing you to surf with speed.
You’ll have to take an open turn shape instead of a close turn shape. The former lets you gather momentum to surf with speed. At the same time, the latter will start you off with increased speed but will also make you immediately stop as it creates friction in the snow.
Tip # 3 Gain Control of Your Legs
If you wish to have an increased speed on your snowboard, you’ll have to master your body language. You’ll have to ensure your hips are aligned with the snowboard while your arms are stretched over the nose and tail of your snowboard.
Another thing you’ll have to be careful about is not twisting your shoulders. Whatever you do, you must ensure your body works as one unit. If you don’t look after the alignments mentioned above, you might lose control of your legs, preventing you from increasing your speed. Try gaining control of your body and enjoy the fast pace in the snow.
Tip # 4 Balance and Steer Your Snowboard
One of the most effective ways to increase your speed is to learn how to balance and steer your snowboard adequately. You’ll be in a lot more control when you master to balance your snowboard. It can become problematic if the terrain you’re snowboarding on is topsy and turvy.
So, to prevent yourself from falling and injuring yourself, it’s better to gain control of your snowboard. Also, it will significantly help with speed if you learn to steer your snowboard correctly when in the snow. This can allow you to enjoy snowboarding with increased speed while staying safe.
Tip # 5 Master Snowboard Control
Our last tip for the day is that you must learn to control your snowboard. The snowboard is the only way you can increase your speed, and the more you control it, the more you can be in charge of your speed, whether fast or slow. Being in control of your snowboard will allow you to make sharper turns, increasing the pace at which you surf in the snow.
You must realize the importance of making sharper turns to go faster on your snowboard. The only way to maintain your speed in the snow is by being consistent with your turns. Professional snowboarders claim to effectively practice your toe and heel edge if you wish to go fast on the snowboard and learn how to surf with speed.
