How to Do a Snowboard Turn

Snowboarding without learning how to turn is a recipe for trouble. Everything is fine until you approach a tree or person and need to move out of the way fast. Practice these steps on the bunny slope before tackling an intermediate hill so you don't find yourself with a ripped ticket and a pass back to the bunny hill care of the ski patrol.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

1. Maintain proper posture. This not only helps you execute a turn more easily, but it also protects your body from injury should you fall. Keep your knees bent slightly, arms out and torso turned downhill.
2. Place most of your weight on your front foot.
3. Begin to glide down the incline. When you are ready to change directions, turn your torso in the direction you want to move. Although it appears that your snowboard has psychic powers, it actually responds to your torso's position via the lower body adjustments caused by the torso's twist.
4. Keep your eyes up. Beginners are easily tempted to look down at their snowboard, but it is essential to your safety and everyone else's that you keep your eyes up and pay attention to your surroundings.
5. Use your toes to control the turns even more precisely. Start at the top of an incline on your heelside. Look down the incline. Slightly press down with your forward toes until you have started to glide downward, with the front of the board forward. Now lift your front toes so that your heels dig down, which causes the board to do a heelside turn. Repeat with the opposite toe combination (lift your heels to start your descent and then drop them to turn). This is called a toeside turn.