Snowboarding - On Slope Heel and Toe Slide

Tomas Sbertoli: I am Tomas Sbertoli, Director of Snowsports here at Wintergreen Resort in Virginia. I am teaching you the basics of snowboarding and right now we are out on the main slope. We are going to practice some of the things we focussed on in the beginner area. That is the heel side slide, comfortable stance, rolling that board off of its heel side edge to glide, rolling it back on to stop. Once you get comfortable with that, play a little bit with falling leaf, just little direction changes by pushing down a little bit more with the front foot and then the back foot. Now we will get you used to being able to turn that board and get more comfortable with the next step which will be turning. The next step in our progression is the toe side slide. Just like the heel side slide, we are standing balanced over the board of fore feet and just releasing that toe side edge as we slide down the hill backwards. It's really important to make sure that you don't over-rotate that board and catch the heel side edge. So we get up on to our toes and just get comfortable and just slowly release the edge until you feel yourself start to fly. As you get comfortable at this, then move into a little bit of falling leaf.

Pressure the board with the front foot and get the board to move across the hill, and then with the back foot again across the hill in the other direction. Just taking your time, feeling the toes. So that you can link into that straight run and then around your heel side and we will be making linking turns. That is the next piece we will work on.