Where to look when carving steep slopes on a snowboard: on the toeside, get low first, then follow the nose

On a steep slope, the moment you put the board on edge, your speed jumps. 西西 says intermediate and advanced riders aren’t really afraid of speed; what they fear is having to turn at that speed.

This is Part 6 of Carving Lab. It collects what 西西 has said about carving steep slopes: toeside gaze, the back hand, turn shape, rhythm, and three details from 西西’s own riding.

This post is for you if you:

• can already carve consistently and are starting to want steeper slopes
• lose your nerve entering a toeside turn whenever the slope gets steep
• are preparing for the JSBA Tech Test and want to know how others think about steep slopes

Two things up front. First, what follows is 西西’s practice notes, including what 西西 heard at a JSBA Tech Test prep seminar; it is not an official JSBA standard. Second, this post is not telling you to go and take on a steep slope; the last section covers how to stay within your limits.

The fear is turning at speed

西西 gives an example: nobody is afraid of riding in a straight line at high speed, but take a turn at that same speed and most people are frightened out of their wits.

This isn't a matter of being timid. It is a natural reaction of the human brain.

西西

西西’s explanation is that people are naturally used to handling directions such as forward, back, left, right, up and down. When several changes of direction happen at once in the middle of a turn, the untrained cerebellum’s anticipation fails in an instant. That is 西西’s account, not an experimental finding.

Toeside: lower your gaze first

Watch an expert carve a steep slope: after entering the turn, the whole body falls straight toward the centre of the turn, folding at the hips on the way down. 西西 says that someone trying it for the first time can use a small trick:

1. Lower your gaze first, so your centre of gravity drops.
2. Go low enough that you can see the nose of the board.
3. Then complete the turn by following the board’s track.

西西 stresses this order. The reason: once your gaze drops, body and board become one unit, your head is closer to the nose, your weight naturally moves forward, and the nose gets into the turn more easily.

西西 compares it to a sports car: lower the centre of gravity and the chassis, and the sense of stability rises sharply. Once that stability is there, you only need to lean slightly and hand yourself over to the board. You don’t need to actively put in much force. On a steep slope, less is more.

The tip above is about how low your gaze goes. In a separate post on the medium-radius turns used in the Tech Test, 西西 talks about how fast your gaze turns. On the heelside, your gaze can be more active and turn faster than the board; the keywords are gaze and ankles. On the toeside, your gaze can turn half a beat behind the board, so you can get the angulation right, and it isn’t too late to bring the shoulders round after you’ve passed the fall line. The two posts each make their own point, so we keep them apart rather than merging them into one formula. For heelside gaze, see also Part 3.

Key point: on a first attempt at the toeside on a steep slope, lower your gaze until you can see the nose, then turn by following the board.

Back hand, turn shape and rhythm

After one JSBA Tech Test prep seminar, 西西 wrote down several of the instructor’s key points. 西西 also admits that, without already knowing the basics of technical riding before the class, the sheer amount of information would have left 西西 completely lost.

Tension in the back hand. When riding, the front hand usually has natural strength, while the back hand tends to go limp. The instructor asked for outward-stretching tension in the back hand, firm enough that it doesn’t wobble wherever someone presses on it. 西西 compares it to a steering wheel: if the wheel isn’t rigid enough, how do you turn a body travelling at high speed? 西西’s understanding is that in carving, internal and external forces act on each other, and stretching out the back hand strengthens the internal force. But this stretch doesn’t mean bracing stiffly.

The kiriage turn (切り上げターン). This is a turn shape for steep slopes. Delay the edge change slightly, so the top half of the S is ridden as a C. The stretch where the C hooks back up is the kiriage: go slightly back up the hill, then move quickly into the next turn. 西西 says that because the test slope is very steep, this turn shape lets you control your speed, and it also makes it more comfortable to tip the body into the turn early in the upper arc. 西西 didn’t know how to translate the term into Chinese, and we don’t translate it either.

Rhythm for short-radius turns on steep slopes. The upper arc has a slight skid, and the rhythm is “extend and skid, carve”: the skid is slow, so it takes two beats; you carve straight after it, and the carve is fast, so it gets only one beat.

Rotation on the toeside. In another post, 西西 discusses angulation on the toeside: don’t rush to rotate. The top half of the turn can be done with edging alone; only after the fall line do you close the shoulders a little, and that is when rotation comes in. To judge how much, look at your front hand as the toeside turn is nearly finished. If it has swung from one knee across to the other, you’ve rotated too far: when you switch to the heelside, your body will struggle to twist, and your weight won’t get onto the heel edge. One drill 西西 offers: try bringing your head toward your back shoulder. With the back hand and the head both closer to the board, it is easier to keep your weight on the toe edge.

西西’s own three details

On another occasion, after a seminar, 西西 spent several evenings in a row watching carving DVDs, then read a manual of Baguazhang, a Chinese martial art, and suddenly felt able to carve down steep slopes with control. 西西 wrote down the three details added to the riding. This is 西西’s personal experiment, not a general rule.

1. Loosen the back shoulder joint. 西西’s way of putting it is that power comes from distance: when your hand reaches far out, a small hollow appears at the back shoulder. With distance comes power, and the back hand can then apply pressure for the body.
2. On the heelside, keep the pelvis upright, perpendicular to the ground. 西西 suggests trying this on the chairlift: slump into the seat and standing up takes real effort; sit with the pelvis upright, as if a fine thread were holding you up from the crown of your head, and standing up is easy. Hip rotation on the heelside should be strong; on the toeside it is gentle. The toeside closes: the hips gradually close, the front hand brushes lightly past the front binding, and the turn is closed. The heelside opens: bring the rear side of your chest toward your front thigh.
3. Riding to the left, look with your right eye; riding to the right, look with your left eye. That keeps your gaze level, and your head naturally brings your chest, waist and hips into the right position.

西西 maps the three details, taken together, onto nine characters from the manual: 上節起，中節隨，下節催. The upper section initiates, the middle section follows, the lower section drives.

• The upper section initiates (上節起): the head and hands start the entry into the turn. Entering a heelside turn, the front hand reaches forward and the head tilts slightly forward, putting weight on the front foot so the board can change direction.
• The middle section follows (中節隨): the hips rotate to hold the edge, the hollow of the back shoulder opens, and the back hand actively presses down on the body, bringing the centre of mass closer to the edge.
• The lower section drives (下節催): the feet put pressure on the tail. As 西西 describes it, on a steep slope, press your weight down and the board flexes; ease off the back foot, shift your weight slightly forward again, and you get a catapult effect.

西西 also points out that initiate, follow and drive happen to be three beats: count 1, 2, 3, and one medium-radius C-turn is done. When you watch experts carve, the stroke across the middle of the S leaves almost no track; in 西西’s view, that is because they use the board’s rebound to change edges.

Key point: all of the above is 西西’s personal synthesis; practise one thing at a time.

Practise on a slope you can control

The steep slope isn’t the goal; control is.

Writing about high-speed carving, 西西 put it this way: in long-radius or short-radius turns, at whatever speed, the board must always keep supporting your body. If the board runs away, your body can’t keep up and that support disappears, a test treats it as a sign of lacking control.

KAKU, in a post about external force, also says to start on a slope that is safe and controllable. And as 西西 said earlier, on a steep slope your speed jumps the moment you put the board on edge. So:

• First, on a slope and at a speed you can control, get each of the moves above solid on its own.
• The yardstick isn’t whether you dare; it is whether the board keeps supporting you the whole time.
• When in doubt, pick a gentler slope, not a steeper one.

Who this post is not for

• Riders who can’t yet carve consecutive turns consistently: read stalled edge changes and edge angle first. Steep slopes can wait.
• Anyone looking for a standard answer to “what slope angle and what speed are safe”: 西西 doesn’t give one, and this post won’t make one up.

If you want an instructor to look at your carving 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. The previous part covered edge angle and edge changes; the next covers the upper and lower arcs of a turn.

This post is compiled from 西西's Threads posts and teaching notes. The seminar content comes from 西西's notes after class, and the instructor is not named. These are 西西's practice insights, not an official JSBA standard, and not a safety guarantee.