Terrain Park Beginner-in need of advice

S

suppimo

New member
This is my first time posting, so please tell me if there are any specific posting rules I am not following.

Also, I know this should go in the Trick Tips section, but it has little to no activity.

So, to this post. I've been skiing for 8 years now, and only two years ago did I start on little side jumps. This year I tried park jumps and boxes for the first time, and I can go off of them perfectly without any problem. I can do all the boxes, but only straight forward (not grinding, spins on/off, etc.).

I've started messing around with 180's the past two weeks, and I can land one off of a small two-foot jump! I know, not much, but hey a lot more than the start of this season.

I've tried doing 90's onto a thin box, and man am I terrible at it. I always slip out from under myself about 5 feet in and can't seem to get it.

After that entire story of my park career so far; I come to my question. What are ways I can improve all of this? It seems everybody at my mountain does tricks perfectly and never falls, and I just don't get it haha. Any useful tips for getting a 180 down on a larger jump, attempting to move up to a 360, learning to grind, and essentially any tricks/tips/exercises that can help me advance from where I am right now in the park?

 
1. When you are on a rail/box focus on looking at the end and spread your legs about shoulder width.

2. Learn to grind left foot forward and right foot forward, it'll simplify things in the future. In conjunction with that, learn spins both ways. It'll vastly improve your bag of tricks.

3. Have fun. Don't take skiing too seriously.
 
The biggest problem people have when learning to slide boxes is keeping their weight too far back. Most people instinctively lean back when turning perpendicular to the fall line because thats how they learned to "hockey stop". When you get on the box, keep your weight EVENLY SPREAD BETWEEN YOUR FEET. I would even try to put more weight on your front foot the first few times just to emphasize this.

But yeah thats sliding a box.

Also, dont be afraid to eat shit. Just know that most of the time you'll be 100% fine. Try your first 360 soon because its the best fucking feeling ever when you stomp it
 
^^These guys know whats up. Follow their advice for rails.

For jumps, 99% of the time a n00b jumping (and many 1337 dudes too) fuck up their pop. You absolutely need to pop off a jump (read jump up in the air at the end of the lip like you're doing a basketball jump shot) - end of story.

I've seen people come to summercamp working on their sw cork 9's and the problem is their pop. Problem with shin bang? Pop. Landing backseat on your corks? Pop. Hell basically everything comes down to fucking up your pop.

Don't hesitate to session those 2' jumps and just work on your mega-lame "T-pop". This is an old freestyle technique, where essentially you come into the jump crouched and then when you take off you jump as high as you can, extend as much as you can, and extend your body completely straight with your arms straight out to the side in a "t".

It looks stupid, but its the right technique.
 
this. popping makes a world of a difference, and learning the proper technique is HUGE if you ever want to hit jumps bigger than 35 feet. landing backseat off a 60 foot jump is not fun, i assure you

 
Man you sound literally like me about a month ago. Stick with it, follow the above posts advice & just have fun with it, no pressure! for rails i was having the same issue for falling back and i found what really helped is coming into the rail with almost an exaggerated athletic stance, and speed because it forced me to pop and twist more if i wanted to get on the rail. When i was first trying to hit boxes sideways i was coming into the rail at probably 2mph, and half the time i would start to get caught up because the boxes at my park can be pretty sticky at times. After you get the basics down with the 90 on, start working on speed right away it helps a ton. Ok, after that i started putting my lead hand on my downhill knee to force a constant pressure on my lead foot. As soon as you do this just look to the end of the rail and youll be golden! also dont be scared of falling, on beginner rails it really doesn't hurt that much. i still suck at spins though, and as Bishop said, its all about the pop. Pm me if you want, i might not be able to give the best advice, but i just learned too so id be down to try and help.

 
For the box tip I completely know what your saying. I know it in my head, but I don't think I have committed enough. I guess its all a matter of thinking in your head "I'm gunna nail this and have no problem at all".

 
Thanks, the switching what direction you do things in is a good tip! I can definitely see how it helps in the future.

As for grinding on rails, is it much different than boxes?
 
Wow, never would have thought of this for what could be the problem. Next time I go, I'm definitely trying it, I'm assuming it gives you more air time and makes it easier for doing tricks because you have more momentum?
 
Besides what everyone else has said, which is solid advice, you are going to fall-a lot. Progressing in park means getting bumps and bruises. Don't worry about the guys who stomp everything, if they laugh at you or call you a gaper they're just dicks because everyone started out where you are. It'll probably take a year or two to really start to feel solid in the park so just have fun and learn how to fall.
 
As much as people on here are total assholes, people on the hill are usually super chill. As long as you call your drops, clear the landing quickly when you fall, don't snake anyone, and actually attempt to do/learn new tricks, no one in the park should give you shit.

Asking guys for advice or pointers on the hill usually works pretty well, most people are willing to take a few seconds to give you help. My best advice is that if you're getting stoked on a certain feature or trick and feeling like you're progressing really fast, focus on that.
 
For sliding boxes and rails sideways: So your muscle memory for when you go sideways on skis is to edge. Since you learned to hockey stop, every time you go sideways you are taught to edge to stop. Well what happens is people hop on the box sideways and go directly to their edges. This is why people on their first few tires normally slide out like their legs just fall out from under them. To fix this find a mellow groomer and then exaggerate the whole movement of getting onto a rail on the snow. First get a wide stance, hands forward, slightly crouched, you should feel the tongues of your boots up against your shins at all times. Next go very very slow, like obnoxiously slow and do a big exaggerated pop 90 and focus on landing on the snow with your bases flat on the ground, not edging. Like this you should be able to slide down any blue trail sideways without catching an edge. At that point take that and do it onto a box, then onto a rail. And it's smooth sailing. Of course there are other things you could be doing wrong but this is the most common. Hope this helped
 
Wear your fucking helmet for the love of God espescially if you're just starting out. You're going to fall... a lot. There's no secret about that. One day youll be hitting a rail like you always do thinking you have it down and you might slip one way and smash your head on the rail. Don't be that guy who gets the brain damage for doing the simplest thing but didn't follow basic adive. When you get good enough and decide fuck it I don't need a helmet, go right ahead. But for now, please do yourself and everyone who cares about you a favor and wear it.

When it comes to rails, spread the legs shoulder width apart, flail your front ski edge and keep your balanced center. (When i say flail your edge I mean angle it up about 30 degrees or so). When you're first starting to learn rails, learn it natural and unnatural. Eventually when you get better and want to learn 270+ on, it'll be good to know how to slide both ways.

When it comes to riding switch and hitting features switch, I can't help you because I can barely even ski switch but I'm sure someone else can help you with that.

Jumps are by far the one thing you will most likely hurt yourself on. Before you do any on axis flips or off axis, try it on a tramp till you get it down and then try and make a back country booter. I suck at jumps, but for basics when trying to do spins, lean forward. And like what Bishop said, pop.

Hope I could help.

TL;DR:

1. Wear you're helmet

2. Learn rails both ways, flair your edge, skis shoulder width apart

3. The Switch must be attempted with parental guidance only

4. Practic flips on tramps and back country booters, lean forward when doing spins
 
So would it essentially be just side-slipping? As in popping onto the box and landing as if I'm doing a side-slip?
 
I totally agree with the helkmet and falling. I've already had my fair share of eating shit, and I'm prepared for more, its all part of the process. As for the leg flailing, wouldn't this make you slip off the rail easier? I've seen videos of people who grind like that, and in my head it always looked like something more advanced.
 
I was in the same position as you earlier this year. The main thing is to not hesitate because when you do you WILL fail. I would try doing some 360s on wide boxes and build up confidence then work up to bigger spins. The trick is to wind up your body and thrust pretty hard. Rails-I learned how to do them this year and I am completely self taught so I dont know if I do them right or not but I will tell you my technique, go in feet shoulder width apart wind up like you would for a spin but then only spin a 90 (winding up will insure that you do the 90. After you get that down you can 270 off land switch all that stuff. Jumps you gotta commit to the spin otherwise you will fail. The first time I tried a 540 this year I got scared and didnt commit and did a 450 and I slid down the hill. After I learned this I tried to help a friend who just started skiing this year but he made the same mistakes that I used to make. Learn from my mistakes so you dont have to make them yourself.
 
What everyone has been saying is awesome advice. Follow it! But I have one thing to add: make a backyard setup. Make a PVC rail even if youve never tried to hit a rail before. It might take you a while to do it but you'll get it and you won't have the felling that people are laughing at you from the lift when you fall. I promise this will imensly help your rail game.

A couple years back my friend and I decided to do this and we couldn't ski rails. By the end of the year we could hit any rail in the park. No problem.

Do it!
 
I agree, so far from my experiences I've found that commitment is a good portion of landing tricks, no matter what trick you're doing. If you do have the mindset to accomplish it, then you won't land your trick.
 
Yes. Exactly. The biggest mistake beginners make when trying to hit rails and boxes sideways is landing on their edges. Match the slope of the rail with your skis and you are golden
 
Do your own thing! Dont be presure by other skiers the kill it at the park, remember they were beginers before, having fun is the most progressive atitude
 
PVC is extremely fucking durable. It would probably last you about2-3 years. Only issue I have with PVC is hitting that and then trying to go to the park is a big step.
 
When your sliding a box rail, look down the rail in front of you.
You WILL fall learning to slide a rail/box, don't let that get you down, it happens. And for the 180s, honestly 360s are way less sketchier (that's just me though) just be confident off the jump and commit!
 
There is no wrong way to build your own jib, as long as its is kind of slippery you are golden. If you build one make sure you build it 2 feet or taller off the ground, it makes it so much easier to learn spinning off and trying to learn bigger rotations off.
 
In your opinion what makes 360's more comfortable? I'm just figuring that less spin, easier to do. Then move on from a 180 to a 360.
 
Thanks, so just a slight bend, like a half-squat position (not sure how to describe it) or more of a fuller squat position?
 
No, that would most likely make it more sticky. Use skateboard wax if you have to, but TBH PVC is fine to grind without changing anything.
 
Yeah landing switch has been the biggest challenge for me landing a 180 so far. I figure that if I can get landing switch down and a 180, then its like two birds with one stone.
 
Find yourself a bunch of bros to ski with, you'll end up moving out of your comfort zone little by little and will progress better, also it means they can constantly give you little tips on how to improve if they're better than you and by watching you :)
 
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Yeah, I ski with all my friends and we all are starting on the terrain park this year. It seems that I'm in the lead for most of them, but its still good to be able to have people to ski with, if they nail a trick you can't or something.
 
just smoke a lot of spliffs, fuck as many chicks as you can, and don't forget to eat your fruits and vegetables.
 
In aditio to all above, honestly, just visualise your tricks off slopes and do not overthink before hitting the feature. Fear is probably what is holdin you from progressing, at least it was for me.oh, you should also GET FULLTILTS
 
make sure you focus on what you're doing and make sure you know how to execute it. also most of the time people don't lad every trick perfectly. if you see a video of someone doing something insane, note that chances are they took some bad falls before they landed. make sure to practice a lot also. if you're really committed, ski as much as you can and try something new every time. thats probably the best way to progress.
 
Update: I went skiing today and totally stomped doing a grind on the box! It feels really great, and thank you all for the advice. I can also do a 180 just fine off the 2 foot jump, and aam starting to practice 360's! I get about a third of the way there and then just fall back onto my side. I'll have to work on stability while twisting that much.

Thank you to everybody who's posted, it's all really great advice! Any other beginners like me looking for advice should definitely consider reading everything above.
 
also, for doing tricks like 360s, look where you want to go. i would also recommend trying out some bigger jumps, more air time will allow you more time to rotate and then it wont look rushed. And just a tip for 360s make sure you lean forward in your boots right before you take off to ensure that you don't land backseat.
 
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