As instructors, we need to see how students move and help them understand how to adapt their turns to the different conditions. Sadly, many instructors teach only what they feel to be the preferred movement patterns. Or, students come to lessons looking for an instructor to tell them what they are doing wrong, instead of looking for an instructor who can expand their abilities.

Instructors need a detailed knowledge of snowboarding skills-and the movement options that good riders use to apply those skills-for effective movement analysis and lesson planning. The fundamental movements of snowboarding are flexion and extension in multiple planes and task-specific twisting. These movements, in different combinations and applications, create the multitude of options used by expert riders. This article provides an overview of the different options that versatile snowboarders can choose from in pursuit of the perfect run.

Clues To Movement

Riders can control their board by moving in four basic ways over the board vertically laterally, fore/aft, and around the vertical axis (an imaginary line from the center of pressure up through the center of mass). Vertical movements move the head closer to or farther from the feet. Riders usually perform movement on the lateral plane by moving the weight of the body over the toes or the heels. This is done by tilting the body to either side of the board or flexing the joints to produce pressure on an edge. Movement on the fore/aft plane describes foot-to-foot movement of the center of mass, but it can also entail tilting the upper body from side to side, pushing or pulling the feet, and shifting the hips. Movement around the vertical axis is achieved through rotary movements in which the body is twisted to control the amount of torque on the board.

The movements on the lateral and fore/aft planes change depending on the angles of the rider's feet. When the feet are at relatively low angles sideways to the line of travel, as in freestyle riding, toe-to-heel movements (or vice versa) control edging, and foot-to-foot movements control the leverage to the front and back of the board. As the stance angles get higher with the rider's toes pointing more to the front of the board, as in a racing stance, the roles are somewhat reversed. As the body twists about the vertical axis, movements on these two planes are blended to control both the edge angle and leverage.

Freestyle and racing are general terms to help you to visualize the way different stances change how a rider moves. Freestyle riders tend to have wider stances as well as low stance angles. This gives them the ability to twist the board with power and to finely control low edge angles but does not offer an effective way to provide the leverage needed for high edge angles. The narrow, high-angle stance on a racing board allows riders to be more symmetrical with their angulation (i.e., more similar on toe and heel sides) and exert better control through leverage to create high edge angles. However, they don't have the leverage to rotate the board with power in slow-speed skidded turns.

Rotary Control

By twisting about the vertical axis a rider can enhance balance as well as edging and pressure control skills, but the main skill associated with movement about the vertical axis is rotary control. Four main concepts-counter motion, anticipation, counter-rotation, and rotation (of the upper and lower body) - describe ways a rider can use axial motion to control rotary forces on the board.

Counter motion isn't turning power, but it can be used in preparation for a turn. It is the movement a rider would make to get into a countered position in which the upper and lower body are twisted or "disconnected." For instance, if the upper body is still, the lower body might be moving to the left or right. Or, if the upper body is moving to the left, then the lower body is either still or moving to the right. The upper-body movement doesn't effect the way the board moves on the snow.

One form of counter motion is lower-body rotation, which occurs when the upper body is fairly stable in the fall line and the legs and board are turning. Counter motion is also present at the beginning of the turn-initiation skill known as anticipation. As the rider completes a turn with the lower body, he or she twists the upper body in the direction of the next turn, which stretches the muscles of the stomach and back. The turning power is produced when the body is forcefully realigned upon entry into the new turn. This realignment is called "anticipation release" because the muscles in the middle of the body are wound up and then released. This movement option is useful in small-radius turns, steeps, flush slalom series, and chutes.

With counter-rotation, the upper body's movement in one direction causes an opposing movement in the lower body. One of Newton's Laws of Physics states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The large mass of the upper body moving one way produces a reaction of the lower body in the opposite direction. This is a quick, weak movement that allows the rider to immediately turn the board. Thus, it works well when the rider wants to perform a series of short turns, to avoid an obstacle, or to complete a freestyle spin (as in a "late" 180, etc.).

Upper-body rotation is almost the opposite of counter-rotation. Strong, and long-lasting, it is best for big turns, heavy snow, slow speeds, or freestyle spins of 360 degrees or more. The momentum of the upper body being twisted in one direction pulls the lower body the same way, as the muscles in the stomach and lower back are tightened. The upper body tends to stay in the direction of the turn for quite some time, which makes it hard to move into the next turn. Upper-body rotation is slow and requires the rider to stop or slow the upper body before delivering its energy to the board. It is, thus, not useful for small-radius turns, bumps, ice, narrow trails, chutes, or slalom flush series.

As riders improve their rotary-control skill, they learn to use all the different rotary movements to control the board. The higher the level of skill, the harder it may be for the instructor to see what the students are doing. This is because more advanced riders make better use of the board's design-and less rotary force from their body-to make the board turn. Also, a very advanced rider could use microscopic amounts of all these concepts in each turn to make up for mistakes and or terrain irregularities. (Nobody is perfect, and neither is the slope!)

Drawing the line where counter-rotation ends and counter-motion begins is difficult, if not impossible. All these movements are easy to identify when you know what you're looking for, but it takes a finely trained eye to see the blend of movements in a skilled rider. If you practice each movement option to feel what it does to the turn, you will easily detect the movements in your students. Remember there is no right or wrong turning power - a good rider uses them all.

Pressure Control

The primary elements of skillful pressure control are unweighting, weighting, absorption, and leverage. Unweighting and weighting work with vertical motion and go together because to get one, a rider needs the other. There are four types of unweighting - up, down, terrain, and rebound. Up-unweighting happens at the top of an up-movement, when the body has gained upward momentum, and thus, lightens the board. A sudden down-movement will temporarily take the body's weight off the feet. This is downweighting.

Terrain-unweighting calls for using the undulations of the slope to change the pressure on the board, as when going off a jump. Terrain-unweighting lightens the board without the rider expending much muscular energy. A rider can weight the board using up, down, or terrain weighting as well. Rebound is a release of the energy stored in the muscles and board during turn completion.

Absorption, which can either be passive or active, is the opposite of unweighting and weighting. Riders use it to keep the overall pressure approximately the same or manage the forces on or against the board. Riders achieve passive absorption by leaving their legs just loose enough to hold the body up off of the ground, but allowing the terrain to push them up or let them drop. With active absorption, riders use their muscles to anticipate the changes in terrain by either "sucking up" or pushing down the feet.

Leverage, fore and aft, is a pressure-control option in which the rider moves pressure forward and backward on the board. To create leverage, a rider can push or pull the board, move his or her hips or knees, or tilt the upper body. Leverage "works" the board through a turn by applying more pressure to the front or back of the board, causing it to make a sharper-radius turn. Leverage keeps the board under control in deep or sticky snow and is used in "butter" or "manual" freestyle tricks.

A good rider constantly adjusts the amount and location of the pressure on the board to adapt to variations in terrain. An advanced rider may use several different pressure-control movements during each turn. The line between down unweighting and active absorption is very fine, especially when done by a skilled rider. And just like with the rotary skill, pressure control becomes very subtle as a rider gets better.

Edge Control

Snowboarders create and adjust edge angle through inclination and angulation. Edge angle refers to the angle of the edge of the board in the snow. The edge angle controls the turn radius by applying the sidecut of the board to the snow. The higher the edge angle the tighter the turn radius becomes.

Inclination, which is always used in a turn, refers to the angle between the point where the board touches the snow, the center mass of the rider, and the snow surface. For a turn of given speed, radius, and rider weight, the amount of inclination does not change to any great degree. "Banking" describes a turn done by merely tipping the body into the turn without bending at the hips, knees or ankles. This is inclination without angulation.

Usually, however, riders blend inclination with various angulation movement as they make turns. Angulation refers to bending the joints of the body to adjust the angle of the board in the snow. If a rider merely inclines, there can only be one angle of the board to the snow. If the rider flexes and inclines, he or she angulates. Angulation allows the rider to use many different edge angles with a given amount of inclination.

Angulation happens in the ankles, knees, hips, and spine. The hips and spine generally make the gross angles that accompany longer and higher-speed turns because these joints move a lot of the body's weight and are able to withstand the pressures of high speed. Because they move less weight, the knees and ankles produce quick changes in edge angle when they move. Angulation in these joints works best for short turns and fine adjustments. The more a rider angulates, the more control he or she has over the edge angle, and with it, turn shape and the amount of pressure exerted against the board in a turn.

Balance

The fourth basic skill is balance, which is both learned and inherited. Some people are born with better balance than others. Snowboard professionals who aren't so blessed at birth have better-than-average balance because they spend every day learning better balance. At first, beginner students make sudden, jerky movements that keep them upright. As riders improve, their balancing movements become more subtle and encompass all the skills above.

Balance is one of the first things that snowboard instructors notice about another rider-how smooth he or she is and how quiet the upper body is. The advanced rider lets the board do as much of the work as possible just by putting it in the right position on the snow to let it do what it was built to do. The same movement patterns that make the board do all those different turns can also help the rider stay on the board.

Adjustments

The basic movement patterns can be adjusted by changes in amplitude, intensity, and timing to create an infinite number of turns customized for any spot on the hill. These adjustments fine-tune the effects of the basic movement options to the individual turns and snow conditions of the moment.

Amplitude refers to the amount of movement away from the middle or the center (which is somewhere near a balanced, athletic stance. For example, as it relates to flexing and extending, a rider using low amplitude moves his or her head only a small amount closer to or farther away from the feet. High amplitude calls for using the whole range of flexion and extension.

Intensity is the strength of the movement. With an upward move, the intensity could be high enough to spring the rider into the air or low enough to just unweight the board for a fraction of a second.

Timing has to do with how movements are timed with the turns. Flexing and extending can be very even where the rider extends for half the turn and flexes the other half, or he or she could extend only the first tenth of the turn and flex the rest.

Conclusion

With all these variables, it's easy to see how an advanced rider can have an infinite number of possible turns-or how an instructor can have a lifetime of lessons for one student. To be a great teacher, you must be able to identify what each student is doing and suggest other movements that will expand his or her repertoire of useful movement options.

Know and explore all the different movements your guests can use to create different skills. When you can perform a movement, it is easier to see it done by someone else. Teach your students different movement options and explain when and where each is appropriate. By having command of a wide range of movement options-and knowing when and where to apply each one-your students can become more capable riders who are able to cope with all types of terrain. And perhaps most important, they'll have more fun.

Jim Morocco is the ski school supervisor and snowboard coordinator for California's Heavenly Ski Resort. A PSIA-W alpine and snowboard examiner, he is also a member of the Snowboard Education Team.