Rail rats

J

joski5

Member
skied park for about 3 years now and when i watch edits on here or at my local hill i notice that people are so comfortable on rails. swaps, 270,450s, whatever you can think of etc, then theres me still with the occasional spill on a 6" wide flat rail. When or how does one become comfy with stepping up their rail game?
 
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Just make sure your balance is good and you will get better. Do balance exercises if you want. Once you do a switch up once, its pretty easy to repeat. 270s 450s etc off are easier than on in my opinion.
 
Do you tihnk as soon as Tom Wallisch put on skis when he was young he could slide rails and afterbang like a boss? nar it just takes practice dude and you will progress... Push yourself as much as possible as that's the best way to progress
 
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Hiking a feature again and again is a great way to improve your rail game for sure. Just spend a day doing rails and you will improve a lot.
 
it will come eventually, if you do it a lot...

first year freeski I was mediocre at hitting boxes and stuff, probably scared of downboxes and anything I'd have to jump on or longer than 4m...

second year I learned flatrails on first weekend (all it takes to rail is balls, I realized there), soon followed by downrails of all sorts..

that year I once went to a park with a massive railline and a shitton of rails, scary rails, high rails, kinked rails, rails you could nut yourself, uprails... I just hit everything and became really comfortable (it still is a mindgame!), by the end of the season I could do casual fs2outs, and I even stomped some switchups, did lipslides (the highlights to carry to next season)

third year I started to basically learn tricks on rails, like fs2out, bs2out, switchups, surface blind swups, four outs, some switch ons and 2 ons on tubes, unnatural sliding... everything rather sketchy, but by the end of the season I felt comfortable as fuck and had some descent shots of all my "banger" tricks, that's what they kinda were for me...

fourth year I moved out to a huge ski resort, where everything was huge, park length and the obstacles... it fucking pushes, I don't know if there's still park rails I would be afraid off, also I'm basically able to bring every trick I feel comfortable on small obstacles to bigger obstacles...

It's kind of a long way to such a point, but you see... just hold on to it, never let go, don't be scared... matter of will&time!
 
backyard jib setups. I learned all my original switchups and spins out there. I got comfy right away and didnt even try to progress for a few years before I decided it was time to go out there and learn some new shit
 
Start with the smaller tricks and get them dialed, front 450 becomes that much easier when you can front 270 every time. The same goes for 4s on, just gotta practice those smaller tricks

Once I could front 4 back 270 consistently, I really started to take off
 
move to the east!!!!! then hike a rail all day everyday and just focus on one trick a day and master that specific trick until you have an arsenal
 
Just hit a lot of rails, this is my second year skiing park and I can hit just abou tany rail feature you throw at me, and Im one of the least coordinated people on the planet. Just takes a lot of repetition. The way I did it was just hiking the early season rail park over and over until I could slide everything perfectly.
 
Hike rails. I dont know if I have ever learned a rail trick when I wasn't hiking. Some people can do it lapping, but I certainly can't
 
Last year I seriously was just god awful at rails. My best trick was like a super fed at the very end of the season, before that it was a kfed. I got way better this summer on my summer setup. Seriously consider making one its well worth the money and effort. I have gotten decent at rails because of my setup.
 
skiing skill is like an exponential value on a x and y graph (science). In the beginning it's really slow learning and difficult. but the more you just try and try stuff you aren't 100% comfortable with the faster you'll progress. Once you get the basic skills then you just start killing it. If you're not falling, you're not learning.
 
Move to the midwest. Everything is rails here. Also urban will help with it quite a bit. Do after season, before season, during season, summer, just do everything you can.
 
Idk. I think you just gotta do it. I'm going to start on down rails this weekend. Just going to wing it and hope for the best.

I just cranked up the tunes and thugged it out.
 
For me, one day i just said fuck it, and hit a bunch of new rails that i'd never hit before. That kinda gave me a lot more confidence in trying new stuff. Once you figure it out, it just clicks.
 
I'm still at that point where skis are big goofy planks attached to my feet. No idea what they'll do. I'll be sure to bust out the go pro for steez or failure.

 
I would say learn good scissoring technique whether it be through videos, lessons, buddies or whatever. Once you have it down it makes swaps/spins off much easier.
 
Build a summer set up with some good rails. None of that 10 foot long pvc bullshit. Find some tubes at least 15 ft and you will be amazed at how fast you progress your rail game
 
Yes and no... don't hesitate to build multiple 10' segments so you can be creative with your setups. I made a 3 part DFD that has been invaluable to my progression. At the same point I picked up 2 of those 12" diameter, x 12 foot long green sewer tubes off craigslist for $50.... great for another type of feature.

Familiarize yourself with the mechanics of hitting all types of features, flat, down, up etc... bars, tubes, snowmaking pipe/lift towers etc and soon you will be charging all types of features.
 
Yep linking em together is great. I've seen way too set ups with just a single 10 foot rail tho. A variety of rails will help a ton
 
Why the fuck would you call him out on that? He's trying to give the guy advice and letting him know the advantages of a summer setup, and I can honestly say his rail game has gone crazy this year. Dick
 
depends on your competence with power tools and your budget. I am a contractor by trade so the tools are second nature for me... working with wood and plastic is pretty easy (I haven't gotten into metal work...want to do that tho) as well as affordable...I build that 3 section dfd over a couple beers and a few hours one afternoon (enough time left to hit it that night!)

You can easily go the broke route and try to get some free scrap wood say off craigslist or at construction sites (ask first.) PVC is cheap, and slick. the drop in on the other hand may end up running you a little more... check out build a jib cult lots of ideas in there for drop ins... Some can be as simple as a stack of pallets, some ply and a little soap/water on cheap home depot turf (or your local big box store).

If you want to get better at rails as far as i am concerned it comes down to summer setups and hiking park rails... or hot laps (haven't skied on a weekend in a while so not quite sure if this applies to you and your home area). Good luck.
 
I originally built it about 4 summers ago and I've been making improvements over the years as my rail game improves. Original rail was a double barrel 14 foot pvc rail but I've since upgraded to a 12" diameter 20 ft long tube. I paid $150 for it on Craigslist. If you search "culvert" on you local craigslist you should be able to find something similar.

Build the drop in wide so that you'll have room to drop in switch when you get good enough. You'll want that extra room for more technical tricks like switch 2s on. 3 feet wide is a good, non sketchy width and usually that's how wide turf comes in. A good length for rails is 15-20 feet, which is enough room for dub swaps.

I've probably dropped about $400-500 total into it including the big tube rail. If you have a good idea of what you want to build, you can do it in a day with the right tools. You'll probably have to make improvements since it won't be perfect the first time.

Scavenging for materials keeps the cost down, but its risky if you get caught since the owner can charge for possession of stolen property. My buddies and I have probably taken tons of plywood, pvc, metal pipe, and rowdy jibs from a local farm/dump over the years without any problems. Just be careful

My drop in for reference, I'll be sad to take it down this summer when I leave for college.

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Summer Jib set are crazy good for progression but some people get rails a little more naturally than others, just keep practicing and you will them eventually
 
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