Snowboarding at night

Written by Jakob Jelling


Nighttime snowboarding is another aspect of snowboarding that is unlike any other that you may have tried so far. Many people find snowboarding at night to be very relaxing, exciting and offer a new perspective on hills that they are constantly riding.

On ofrepparttar most important aspects of nighttime snowboarding is being very familiar withrepparttar 132906 run you are about to ride. Ideally you should know your path so well that you can visualize each corner,repparttar 132907 time it takes to get from one turn torepparttar 132908 next and what obstacles are where onrepparttar 132909 trail when you close your eyes. This familiarity will help to offset your lack of vision.

Regardless of how well you knowrepparttar 132910 run you are about to attempt, you will be in for a surpriserepparttar 132911 first time you try it at night. Inrepparttar 132912 dark everything looks different and feels different. You may not have realized how much you're relied on visual cues for when and where to turn slow down or speed up. You will not longer be able to seerepparttar 132913 stump that marksrepparttar 132914 start ofrepparttar 132915 moguls or other trail details and shadows will make things seem to appear or disappear.

When it comes to night riding you have three options to improve your sight. You can use your eyes and no light, ride a mildly lighted trail or use a headlamp to light your way. You will have to try each option to determine which method is best suited for you.

Regardless of which method you wish to use, you must work to improve your night vision. The first step is to allow your eyes to adjust torepparttar 132916 dark. Your eyes will under go a chemical change to allow you to see better inrepparttar 132917 dark and this process takes time, usually about 30 minutes. During this time it is best to sit and wait for it to happen. While waiting, and afterwards, be very careful not to look at any man made light source. Doing so will kill your night vision and you will have to wait another 30 minutes to get it back. If you find you must look at a light, close and cover one eye so that it doesn't loose its night vision ability.

Skidded turns and beyond

Written by Jakob Jelling


For many beginners, learning to turn on a snowboard can be rather challenging and unnerving. The reason for this is that turning on a snowboard requires you to twist and turn is such a way that you feel like you are going to fall. Of course turning is absolutely essential to riding a snowboard andrepparttar feeling of loosing control goes away with time and practice.

A skidded turn and a linked skidded turn are one ofrepparttar 132905 first turns that you should learn. There are several ways to make these turns onrepparttar 132906 slopes butrepparttar 132907 basics ofrepparttar 132908 turns arerepparttar 132909 same. A skidded turn is a turn preformed while your snowboard is skidding acrossrepparttar 132910 slope. This is very useful for slopes that may have hard packed snow or ice.

First lets look at performing a basic skidded turn. Begin practicing your skidded turns on a slope that you are comfortable with. Ride downrepparttar 132911 slope with your knees bent slightly and face your shoulders inrepparttar 132912 direction that you wish to travel. As you ride downrepparttar 132913 slope pick a point where you will execute your turn. When you approach this point simply push your back leg out thus forcing your snowboard to skid along its side downrepparttar 132914 hill. Now shift your weight onto your front foot and you will begin to move inrepparttar 132915 direction that your snowboard is pointing.

While this isrepparttar 132916 basic procedure for a skidded turn, there are some finer points to keep in mind that will almost seem like another technique. When you are skidding down a hill raising one end of your snowboard to a higher angle thanrepparttar 132917 other will also make it turn. The reason that this works is becauserepparttar 132918 end of your snow board that has a higher angle will bite in torepparttar 132919 snow a little harder thanrepparttar 132920 other end thus causing that end to slow down and forcerepparttar 132921 snowboard to rotate.

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