Riding steeper terrain will make your heart racing
and will take your big mountain riding to another level,
but with all that fun, all that thrill, comes a lot more risk
and you need to adjust your riding accordingly.
So today we're gonna see how to ride safe in steep terrain.
Alright.
So in steep riding any kind of mistake could have a lot more consequences
than any kind of normal free riding,
so you need to adjust your riding and your margin of safety accordingly.
Any turn, any jump, any little action, your speed, everything must be taken, let's say, 20% down
or adjusted depending on how much the risk is.
Lesson number two is to try to fight against your natural instinct
and to stand on your feet because basically,
when you lean back into the mountain, you lose all the power on your edge
and you risk of losing that edge, which means sliding down
and that's exactly what you don't want.
Coming back to the basic technique in steep riding,
you need to really engage your core, not throwing the arms, not throwing your turns
not taking too much angle, that way you're going to be a lot less likely to lose balance and fall.
Bending the legs is more important than ever in steep mountain riding
it will give a much better angle to your ankles, to your feet, to your board,
it will give you a lot more stability, it will absorb all the bumps,
it will make all the difference to ride safe.
So the whole carving technique needs to be a bit put aside in steep mountain riding
You will want to be sliding a lot more,
and the only part that you might be carving, might be the end of your turns.
So first phase, will be to be initiating your turn with your shoulders,
so launching your shoulders,
second phase, will be to taking the weight off your board,
almost like if you were to jump but leaving the board on the ground
and then third phase, will be to let your board or your skis follow,
that's kind of a jump turn technique and it works really well in steep riding.
So if you're getting into a tricky section, some people like to be on their ass
but you need to be careful if you end up being on really hard snow,
or on a rocky slab on your heels, it could be really tricky to move.
Usually what I like to do when I get into a tricky situation
is get on my toe, come down you have your hands to hang around things
and you will be a lot safer doing the leaf down.
In terms of board choice, some people will want to go for a wider board,
not to have any toe drag.
But you need to watch out, because the wider your board is,
the harder it will be to turn from edge to edge.
So I like to kind of keep a compromise.
In terms of safety, having an ice axe can make any kind of difficult passage a lot easier,
so remember if you have a problem, put your ice axe in the snow and you're safe.
That's a big plus.
And then last but not least, helmet is not just made to protect you from falling,
it also protects you from rocks falling and ice falling and this is a big thing in steep riding.
It's important to still follow all the standard safety procedures,
so always ride one by one, always hideaway, always check the conditions,
check your gear, know where you're going and be able to hike back up
and have the gear for it if needed.
Feeling comfortable in the steeps is just a matter of spending time in them
so remember start slowly, build things up, remember all these points that we talked about today
and have them become part of your routine
and hopefully you're gonna start loving steep riding as much as I do.
Be safe and have fun.
you