Kicker tips?

[PeterC0523]

I've been snowboarding for a little under 2 complete seasons. Gotten pretty comfortable with riding down most trails at any PA mountain.

 

Now I think I wanna start trying the jumps. Any tips on doing basic kickers?

 

How should you go off the jump?

 

Any tips on landing?

 

Thanks!

[Glenn]

I've been snowboarding for a little under 2 complete seasons. Gotten pretty comfortable with riding down most trails at any PA mountain.

 

Now I think I wanna start trying the jumps. Any tips on doing basic kickers?

 

How should you go off the jump?

 

Any tips on landing?

 

Thanks!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Ok, first thing is find a jump your size. You don't want anything that you have to clear a huge distance to make the landing. Second it should be on a trail that you are VERY comfortable riding. When you land off the jump you will be carying some speed and you want to be well within your comfort zone, as you may have to recover from being off balance or whatever as you are carrying this speed. Just be comforatable on the trail. When you have selected the right jump approach with medium speed (not sure what this is for you, but just take it at a medium speed). Assuming you don't have to clear a huge distance this should suit you fine, because, medium will be a relatively comfortable speed, and if you have been riding for a little while medium should also be fast enough that you dont stop before the lip (the very top edge) of the jump. When you take your first jump, I would say just ride over it. Maybe work up speed a little bit so it throws you, just get comfortable with how it feels and what the landing is like. When you are comfortable with that you are going to jump off the jump. Basically jumping is real easy. When you are at the bottom of the transition for the jump, bend your knees and get your body weight low, as you feel the jump, push you upward, push with it. As your tail moves over the lip of the jump, boost off with any extra knee bendage you have for the most boost. The later in the jump you spring with your legs the higher/farther you will go. You may want to try jump on the ground, to get the hang of it. Just keep in mind, the flat ground does not have a lip, so you need to concentrate harder on popping off the tail of your board. Its fun/good practice to jump over small pieces of ice, leaves, small branges, gloves, ski poles, and anything else that might be on the trail. Just starts small. As far as landing, if you practice jumping on the flats you will have a better idea of how to land while moving. You want to land SLIGHTLY on your tail, but its very subtle. So, for beginning it might be easier to think of just landing totally flat on your board. Again if you start small and work your way up your muscles/mind will do things automatically and you won't have to worry about them. Hope this was clear, and helps you a little bit.

 

Also, depending on how your gear is setup you may want to loosen things up a little. If you are used to cranking things down, for super reponsiveness you may have some problems with jumps, just because things don't always go as well as planned. They are not as predictable as trails, so. If your bindings are a little looser, they will give you some leniency when your body weight isn't exactly where it is supposed to be.

Edited January 8, 2005 by dthmtluncrn

[PeterC0523]

That was very detailed and helpful.

 

I tried doing some table tops at Bear last week. Managed to land a handful out of a bunch of runs. Other than those, kept falling on my ass or knees.

 

Towards the end of the day, I noticed that I felt more comfortable with approaching the lip riding toe side and hunched over slightly.

 

Thanks a lot for the tips, gonna give them a try when I'm at Blue this Sun.

[Glenn]

That was very detailed and helpful.

 

I tried doing some table tops at Bear last week. Managed to land a handful out of a bunch of runs. Other than those, kept falling on my ass or knees.

 

Towards the end of the day, I noticed that I felt more comfortable with approaching the lip riding toe side and hunched over slightly.

 

Thanks a lot for the tips, gonna give them a try when I'm at Blue this Sun.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Blue has some real nice one to try. You WILL feel more comforatable coming in on your toe edge a little because when you jump, just like without your board, will use your toes a little to push off. If you come in on your heel side edge this will be difficult to jump, however if you jump using the tail of your board rather than just your legs/toes, you can jump coming off your heel side edge.

 

As far as being hunched over, this is the same as crouching as I described, if you are crouched you are like a rubber band ready to snap, you have lots of energy stored. What this means is you have lots of energy to adjust whatever may go wrong in the air. More on this later.

 

Ok some things I forgot to mention, when you get airborne, bring your legs up a little, by bending your knees. Remeber the rubber band, yeah here you are again, lots of energy ready to snap if needed. Also if you practice pulling your legs up it will be easier to throw the grabs in later. When you are about to land let your legs back down to find then ground, but then right away let your legs bend to absorb the shock. DO NOT land with your knees locked. Also land straight, and ride straight until you have gained your balance. You may feel like you are going to fast, but you HAVE to ride striaght until things get settled for 2 reasons. 1 you probobly wont have the stability to make an in control turn/stop and you will fall. 2 you will mess up the landing for everyone else. Ok, if I think of other stuff I will post it later.

[soldier32]

yea it might even help to go off flat based since your not spinning. that way its a little easier to stay balanced in the air. also, whatever you do, dont panic in the air. when your in the air just relax and try to set yourself up for your landing. one thing to remember is, whatever you do off of the lip is most likely going to affect what you do in the air. so just hit it straight, set yourself up for the landing, land, and ride away.

[soldier32]

one more thing: the more you do it, the easier it gets