As most snowboarders are getting a little older and little less flexible different things start to come into fashion. One of those is carving. A few years ago some crazy Russians started carving under ropes and since then there has been an increasing move towards laying down carves.
I got my first taste of eurocarves from the guys at Real Snowboarding in Zermatt in 2016 on a Level 4 BASI training course. The guys were showing us the basics and since then I’ve been trying the master the move and break it down for my clients.
This winter I worked with a few groups and tested out different theories and ways to build up to the movement without getting too nailed. Here are some thoughts on how you could can progress towards some sick carving.
The eurocarve basically involves you falling on your face with style. Its a lot easier and less painful to fall onto the snow when you’re close to the ground. Do a few heel side carves getting low and either touching your board or maybe touching the ground on a toeside carve.
The basic process to follow is:
1 — Heelside carve across the slope.
2 — Get low with arms in position. The main one being your back arm up to protect your face and grip the cuff of your jacket to stop the snow going up your arm and reduce the chance of ice burn.
3 — Start to put your arms down just as you roll onto toe edge. The board should be aiming almost straight down the slope, not generally fully across.
4 — Push legs out as your arms/hands touch the ground. Your aim is to be fully extended in the plank position whilst travelling down or very slightly across the slope. If you’re doing these more across the slope then you’ll have to extend your upper body as the board will be in too much of a locked carve making it difficult to extend your legs.
5 — Absorb and bring your legs back into your torso to get out of the carve.
You can see in the video how Sian is starting to build the elements. You can do this quite slowly to begin with. To have a full euro she will be aiming to slide almost directly down the slope, not across.
If your back forearm is not in line with the board as you touch the ground your arm will be pulled backwards and be quite painful. As you touch down make sure that your back hand and forearm are parallel with the board.
This will be one of the last things to work on. As you start to get more confident aim to bring you ass inwards so you can form a straight line down to the board and hug the snow in a more traditional plank position.
Your aim is to slide almost directly down the hill. If you're across the hill it will be difficult to complete the stretch out. This will come down to timing of the fall. You have to do it just before you're on your toe edge.