U-Turn J-Turn
By now, you have probably experienced that feeling of not knowing how to stop! It can be scary! One exercise all levels of snowboarders should do is J-turns. These are little turns that allow the rider to ride uphill, eventually coming to a stop. Simple physics can sometimes be forgotten about when riding: if you want to stop, just go uphill! However, the main aim of J-turns is to feel the edge of the board. As I mentioned last time, the edge of the board is our friend and our enemy. In this case, it is our friend as we use it to gain more traction while changing the direction of the board. To perform a toe-side J-turn, take your front knee and push it towards your big toe, take your front arm and point it straight out into the the direction you want to go- in this case you will be pointing whichever way you are facing. Dig into your toes harder to stop faster. For heel-side J-turns, drive your lead heel into the board and point your lead arm to your desired direction (in this case, pointing behind you). Dig into heels to stop faster. Once you're riding horizontally across the mountain, keep the pressure on your edge to keep turning UP the mountain. Naturally you will come to a stop!
P.S. Make sure for heel-side J-turns you start off with your toes facing up the mountain. For toe-side J-turns, start with your toes facing the bottom of the mountain.
