If you genuinely love snow, you will love every activity associated with it. Such activities include skiing and snowboarding. If you’re a new snowboarder, let us tell you you’re in a world of fun as you’ll love being out in the snow while surfing on your snowboard.
Snowboarding involves many different tips and tricks, each difficult to master. If you’re constantly in awe of expert snowboarders and want to snowboard precisely like them, you’ll be happy to know you can. It would help if you had plenty of practice to master techniques like turning on a snowboard.
Let us guide you through the steps, so you’ll know what you need to do to master turning on a snowboard.
Turning on Your Snowboard: What to Know
Every technique involved with a snowboard takes precision. You must know such methods aren’t easy to perform, especially if you’re new to snowboarding. You’ll have to follow a few preventive measures in the snow when you’re learning to turn on your snowboard. Below are all the measures you’ll have to take.
Wear Protective Gear
You must wear the appropriate clothing while in the snow. It can be pretty chilling out there, so you must ensure you’re protected from head to toe. You will have to wear layers of clothing, followed by the proper socks, boots, gloves, and helmet. If you fail to wear even one of these things, you might fall sick from so much cold when you return home.
Practice Makes Perfect
Another thing you’ll have to ensure is to practice as much as possible. Snowboarding tricks such as this may seem exciting (they are), but they’re also pretty dangerous if you’ve never done them before. So, please ensure to have practiced your jumps before officially doing them in the snow. The more you practice, the safer you’ll be in the snow.
Do it Under Supervision
It’s always better to have an expert by your side when performing such dangerous tricks. They can guide you properly regarding the dos and don’ts while monitoring you. If you don’t have expert supervision like a pro snowboarder by your side, we suggest you don’t dabble with something that can potentially be of harm to you and others around you.
Study the Slope
Before performing any turns on your snowboard, it’ll be better to know your slope. If you have no idea of how steep the hill is, you will injure yourself by having a terrible fall. So, please check the pitch out first as a favor to yourself. If you have a clear-cut picture of the hill in mind, it’ll help you mentally prepare for performing your turns.
Steps to Turn on a Snowboard
Since you’ve made it halfway through the article and know what preventive measures you need to take, it’s about to go through all the required steps to turn successfully on your snowboard. The steps below will guide you regarding the specific things you need to ensure your turns are successful in the snow.
Step 1: Bend Knees Outwards
The first thing you’ll have to do is bend your knees so that your weight falls on your heels. However, please be mindful that too much weight on the heels can inflict pain on your legs, causing you to experience difficulty riding. Also, everybody has a different body weight, so the amount of pressure you’ll have to exert on your heels will be dependent on that. Please remember not to put too much weight on your legs, or you might lose balance.
Step 2: Stretch Hands to the Side
If you wish to be stable on your snowboard, you will have to stretch both hands to the side and above the snow. Stretching your hands will allow you to be balanced on the board, preventing you from falling off. Another tip is to put some weight on your back leg, so your front leg can control the steering. You must learn to balance yourself on the snowboard, or you might encounter a pretty bad fall.
Step 3: Slide Down the Hill
After coming into your initial position, you may begin sliding down the hill on your heel. It’s safe to start slow, as too much speed might make you lose control of the board. As long as your hands are to your side and there’s sufficient weight in your back leg, you won’t fall. When sliding down the hill, please stabilize your balance as much as possible. The more balance you have, the easier you’ll glide down the mountain.
Step 4: Flatten Your Snowboard
The next step to making a sharp turn is to let go of the weight from your heels and let your snowboard start going downhill. Making a quick turn is somewhat technical, as it’s all about angles and legwork. You’ll have to move your back leg in the opposite direction and not do much with your front leg. The more appropriately you swing your back leg, the sharper your turn. Please try not to point your front foot as that’ll ruin your turn completely.
Step 5: Come Back to Your Heel Edge
Since you were swinging your back foot in the opposite direction to make a turn, you automatically put pressure on your toes. That brought you to your toe edge, so you will have to make another sharp turn to come back to your heel edge. The way to do that is to remove weight from your toes first. Then, slowly start transferring the weight to your heels. While transferring weights, you can also decide which direction you want to go in.
Our Final Thoughts
Making a turn on your snowboard requires plenty of technicalities, so you should know doing it without practice isn’t a good idea. If you wish to become an expert at snowboard-turning, you will have to follow all of the steps mentioned above in that specific order. The more you practice, the more familiar you’ll become with it. Also, please do not skip a step, as they’re all pretty vital to make a sharp turn.
