Airborn Transitions

[tex1230]

I finally got back to the point where I could do some airborne transitions.
I was really getting them nailed on the toeside-to-heelside (about 6-8" off the snow), but having a much tougher time going from heelside to toeside.
FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT DO THESE (please don't make annoying guesses if you don't know what you're talking about), is there much of a difference in technique going T-H and H-T? I just couldn't seem to load up the tail enough on the end of a heelside turn.

[dshack]

I have that same problem. It seems really natural to load up the tail coming out of a toeside, lift your front foot up, and then fall back into a heelside turn. On heelside, though, the movement seems kind of awkward and I never make it into the air.

[Louis]

if you mean popping between your carve you should be able to succeed with the same technique...

if it doesnt work you could try putting more weight backward (while lifting your foward foot) it should be enough to make the board whip the end of the carve and make you go airborne while doing transition...

or you can simply do agressive extensions while arriving on your transition (tougher on the legs!!)

[Jim Callen]

The hardest thing I find when trying to get off the ground is that on toeside, it's far easier biomechanically to pressure the back of the board, really getting into the back seat and just releasing all that energy. The best advice I can offer is to really work on fore/aft movement.

On catwalks or any other flat area, exagerate your fore/aft movement by lifting the tail off the ground, and then switching to a backseat position. I can literally lay on the back of my board and the ground as I'm riding. after doing a little bit of this, put it into your turns, really exaggerating the motion. You'll find that at first your board will be flying out from underneath you, but as you become more accustomed to it you'll be able to harness that energy and launch much higher than before.

[Noah]

If you are still having trouble why don't you try airing off the tops of knolls and switching from edge to edge and get comfortable doing that instead of trying to focus on the popping off your tail and where your body is and what your edges are doing.Keep it ssimple until you are comfortable. I used to ride with parks crews and when they would teach me a new trick like landinding 540 on a race deck we started with a 180 and so on.

[NateW]

I don't think much about loading/popping the tail in either direction, I just push from my legs. There's something about having my center-of-mass cross over my board's path of travel that gives me a little extra lift, I think it's from keeping my legs stiff (but centered) coming out of the last turn, so that as my board gets under me, my body gets higher, and I can suck my legs up for a little air during the edge change.

I haven't analyzed it much... I can do it both ways, but I bet my toe-to-heel transitions are also bigger/smoother than heel-to-toe. You just gave me something to work on. :)

[OffpisteHardboots]

Try doing this (short and fast turns) on the end of the day chop piles (moguls) that always get created on the popular beginner/intermediate runs. its good practice. The piles/ridges typically form in longer ridges running down the hill (fall line), because the beginner skiiers get panicy and just push between them.

The pile of snow will help you power up and then you can transition in the air, down the other side and into an immediate turn back up the other side of the snow ridge/pile/mogul. Yes, you have to sit back just a bit on take off, but you have to be transitioning to forward for the landing. You also have to be ahead of the turn slightly with your upper body (e.g. shoulders always ahead of the hips/board).

[Bordy]

Keep practicing it will come. The different lengths on each edge of the tail just need to be loaded with differnt pressures. You'll get it. Like most said use the terrain intill you dont need it. I get much more spring on the heel side now but not when I started doing them.

[queequeg]

Keep practicing it will come. The different lengths on each edge of the tail just need to be loaded with differnt pressures. You'll get it. Like most said use the terrain intill you dont need it. I get much more spring on the heel side now but not when I started doing them.

I too, find that I spring much more easily (in fact, quite often by accident) on the heelside than on the toeside.