Falling on the edge change when carving? Let your edge angle grow with the external force

The turn has barely begun when you tip into it and sit down. Or the turn is over and you still won’t let it go; you can’t get into the next one, and you sit down all the same. Both are stalled carving edge changes, but for opposite reasons.

This is Part 5 of Carving Lab: the two reasons an edge change stalls, how the angle should build, and whether to rise for the edge change.

This post is for you if you:

• are already working on carving, and often land on your butt at the edge change
• see photos of strong riders laid out close to the snow and want to push the angle to the maximum the moment you enter a turn
• have been told “come up” by one instructor and “don’t come up” by another, and don’t know whom to listen to

What follows is the teaching view of KAKU and 西西, drawn from their Threads posts and from 西西’s teaching notes. It is not JSBA textbook wording. If you are just learning edge changes, read the fake weight shift in a beginner’s first week first; this post is only about carving.

Two ways to stall: maxing out too early, letting go too late

In a post in early August, KAKU took apart a common myth: treating edging as an on/off switch.

The first stall happens at turn entry. At the moment of the edge change, the support from the old turn is disappearing, and the new turn’s curvature, the snow’s reaction force and the lateral support have not built up yet. Push the angle to the maximum right then and, as KAKU puts it, you are essentially “using your weight to borrow against an external force that doesn’t exist.” You end up on the snow not because you weren’t decisive enough, but because you skipped the physics.

The second stall happens at turn exit. As the board gradually turns across the slope, the component of gravity along the direction of travel gets smaller. Hold on to a high edge angle anyway, and the load on the snow and the energy lost keep rising; your speed gets eaten, and your weight is trapped in the old turn. You can’t get into the next turn, and in the end you sit down anyway.

Edging can be fast, but it can't skip the process; the angle can be high, but every degree needs an external force to hold it.

KAKU

Edging is a curve

KAKU describes edging as a curve: release the old edge, set the new edge, increase the angle as the external force increases, reach the peak, then release gradually.

KAKU also points out that when strong riders seem to edge extremely fast, they haven’t skipped the process; they have practised every adjustment until it is as natural as breathing. Forcing the mid-turn maximum angle into the turn entry “isn’t imitating strong riders; it’s passing off the answer as the process.” So a photo of a rider laid out close to the snow is not a tutorial.

西西’s drill makes the same point from another direction. 西西 calls it “progressive edging”: don’t flip straight to the maximum angle; push it up gradually, the way you ease down on the accelerator when driving. 西西’s example: if your usual maximum angle when skidding is 20 degrees, raise the maximum edge angle to 30 degrees, but step it up 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 degrees, one notch at a time. This is an example 西西 uses to illustrate the idea, not a standard angle.

As 西西 puts it, once you begin to understand that the force the snow gives you is fluid, the edge change doesn’t actually need big movements.

Key point: the angle grows with the external force and lets go after the peak; fast is fine, but not without the process.

Heel to toe needs a little more lateral movement

Another of 西西’s posts is about an asymmetry between the two edges: getting onto the heel edge takes less lateral movement than getting onto the toe edge. So when you change from the heel edge to the toe edge, add a little more lateral movement, about half the length of your foot.

西西 starts from the boots. Snowboard boots are L-shaped, so when you stand upright, your weight naturally tends to land on your heels. To go from the basic stance to the heel edge, you only need to let your shins tip toward the snow (usually the uphill side), like chopsticks falling over, and you get a high edge angle.

Heel to toe is different: your body first has to move your weight laterally to the ball of the foot, at the front of the sole, then press down toward the snow (usually the downhill side). So getting onto the toe edge takes about half a foot-length more lateral movement than getting onto the heel edge.

西西 also says that in actual riding, this difference may amount to only a few tenths of a second. But if you can feel that time difference, your edge changes get smoother.

Key point: heel to toe takes a little more lateral movement, about half the length of your foot. This is 西西’s teaching observation.

Rise for the edge change, or not

On whether to come up during the edge change, instructors often say opposite things. In an October post, KAKU relayed two opposite teaching methods a friend had shared: one says don’t just roll straight across from edge to edge, come up; the other says don’t break the pressure between edges, don’t come up.

KAKU uses both. The difference lies in the snow conditions and the goal at that moment:

• Firm, smooth snow with good support: KAKU leans toward rising. You can flip the board quickly, even get briefly airborne. As long as the timing and landing posture are right, the pressure comes off in between, and once the board is back on the snow, support can be rebuilt. The movement is clean and decisive.
• Loose, broken-up, uneven snow with unstable support: KAKU leans toward not rising. Keep the board in contact with the snow as much as possible, with both legs adjusting to the terrain. That keeps the feel underfoot that the snow’s reaction force gives you, lets you correct the board’s position and pressure distribution at any moment, and lowers the risk of catching an edge or the nose digging in.

KAKU made a point of adding two things: “don’t break the pressure” doesn’t mean stamping down hard the whole way, and “come up” doesn’t necessarily mean jumping. Nor is it that good snow allows only rising and bad snow allows only staying down, and still less that one is more advanced than the other.

Learning technique isn't about picking a side; it's about giving yourself one more option.

KAKU

This section describes two approaches KAKU uses. Getting briefly airborne is not advice for riders still practising edge changes; if you are just learning edge changes, start with the fake weight shift post.

Who this post is not for

• Riders who can’t yet link turns consistently: get your edge changes stable first. You won’t need carving edge angles for a while.
• Anyone looking for a standard answer to “how many degrees of edge angle is right”: neither KAKU nor 西西 gives one, and this post won’t make one up.

To smooth out your edge changes in Hokkaido, see the Snowboard Progression Lesson on the courses page; to sign up, you need to be able to link turns consistently. For 西西’s qualifications, see 西西’s profile; for KAKU’s, the principal’s profile. The previous part covered how low to crouch when carving; the next covers where to look when carving on steep slopes.

KAKU's material is drawn from KAKU's Threads posts of August and October 2026; 西西's material is drawn from 西西's Threads posts and teaching notes. The edge-angle curve is an editorial sketch based on KAKU's written description. Both instructors' views are their own teaching observations, not official JSBA positions.