February 19th
This was probably like my twentieth time out this season. But this time I brought out my eight year old brother and this was his third year ever snowboarding. We went to JFBB, also known as Jack Frost Big Boulder, in White Haven, Pennsylvania. This time out in the beginning, I was helping him learn how to carve and stop. When I taught him to carve, I taught him the “Snake Route”, this term is used by the snowboarder community, in the picture below that is the S- movement, also known as carving and to practice turning so you don’t have a huge wipe out from catching an edge on ice or a bump in the snow. When carving you either want to be on your toes or heels, depending on what foot you have forward. I have my right foot in the front, which is referred to as “goofy”. So I go on my toes to go left and my heels to go right, I taught him the same way. He picked up pretty quick on that after I told him about the snake movement. After lunch I taught him how to stop. When trying to learn how to stop and carve, it is all about the hip movement. Your hips help direct you in the direction you want to go. when you stop you either want to have your heels down and toes up both in the same direction facing down the mountain, or heels up and toes down in the same direction looking up the mountain. This was easy for him to learn. After that I went off on my own and hit the terrain park and went off the jumps and rails for the rest of the night till it was time to leave. It was a great and successful day for the both of us.
