Back in the day, if you were looking to interview a ski instructor, the best place to find a suitable specimen would have been in the deepest, darkest, smokiest recesses of an Austrian bar. Nowadays, just like the rest of us, ski instructors have matured. This interview was conducted remotely; I was on my deck, …
It’s the 5th of December and 2 major events are just around the corner. In order of increasing importance they are: Major event number 1: Christmas. You’ve probably heard of this so I won’t bother to explain. My kids are almost as excited about this as they are about major event number 2. Major event …
Aside from skiing fluffy virgin powder… …skiing bigger turns in bumps and chop has got to be one of my favorite pastimes…. especially as I get older and lazier (read: too lazy to do short radius turns in moguls). It is a maneuver required for the CSIA level 4 exams where many seem to …
Hey folks, Tom here again at Section 8 HQ and here it is… the Pièce de résistance as they say. The final installment of building a snowboard on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. So as we stand, pretty much everything is good to go and most of the work is done. The base material has been …
Welcome back guys and girls, hopefully you enjoyed the first instalment of building a snowboard on Vancouver Island and your checking in again to see how were getting on here at Section 8 HQ! The snow is starting to fall on Mt Washington already and I dont know about you but I’m thinking about getting …
Hey guys and girls, Welcome back to the next episode of the tales of Tommy Tucker!! Hopefully everyone is starting to think at least about the upcoming winter. I know I am as its raining and i’m wishing that snow was falling rather than water! I am going to be writing about building snowboards this week …
Tips and tactics for skiing that awesome phenomenon known as powder… leave your frustrations behind. 1) A more two footed approach… Do you ever get frustrated skiing in powder because your outside ski plunges into the snow and runs away on you? The solution is to ski with a little more even pressure on …
1) Shoulders over knees… We ski instructors often tell people to get into an “athletic stance” when skiing. This generally means flexing slightly in all the joints in a position of readiness… kind of like a soccer goalie or a tennis player ready to move anywhere at a moments’ notice. One way to gage …
You may have heard a coach or instructor yelling at you to maintain a quiet upper body… But what does that mean? Well, watch any expert skier and it appears as if they are always in control. The upper body remains relatively inactive while the legs are going crazy underneath. So what’s the secret? The …
‘Ball Riding’; It’s hard to keep a straight face when saying it but it works. Not unlike ‘bull riding’, or life for that matter, our sport is all about balance. If you are well balanced on your snowboard, you will enable yourself to more effectively develop all the other necessary skills. It would be hard …
How do I get my skis to grip on ice? How do I get more performance out of my skis? How do I get my skis to carve? How do I move from one turn to the next? Well my friends… to do all these things you need to understand lateral balance and how it …
Why you can’t get a straight answer! There seems to be all sorts of confusion about how wide your stance should be ever since the shaped ski revolution in the mid-nineties. I’m often accussed of having ‘a narrow stance’ myself, and I’m constantly bombarded with questions about it, so I think it’s time to clear …
Anyone who has ever taken a ski lesson… …has probably heard their instructor mention something about their stance and/or balance… and for good reason. It’s arguably the most important skill in skiing. Of course there are many other important skills. In fact a functional stance and great balance don’t really do anything to make a …