Snowboarding Styles - FreeCarve
Updated by Admin | December 21, 2012
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Snowboard Information Articles
- Snowboarding Styles - FreeCarve or Alpine Snowboarding
FreeCarving is mainly about speed and achieving the ultimate carving turn and a style that's usually performed on a hard pack or groomed runs, with little to no jumping required and carving awesome and graceful curves.
FreeCarve turns require a lot of strength and concentration due to the high-speed mountain descent involved and definitely not suitable for beginners because of its emphasis on race and not exploration of mountain terrains.
With Olympic snowboarding events that involve FreeCurve such as the parallel giant slalom, racers need to be able to manoeuvre around gates and poles, with riders using plate binding systems and hard snowboard boots that much resemble ski boots when riding FreeCurve. Such boots are designed to have a shortened heel so the ankle can be kept stiff when making ski turns and to keep the board stable when riding at faster speeds and with carved turns. The alpine snowboard that's commonly used in FreeCurve riding is a lot longer and narrower as well as stiffer to help enable greater stability and edge-holding ability when you're making high-speed descents.
The major point of FreeCurve to remember is to manage your speed when carving as it's the main focus of the race while you ride down the mountain slope. Equally important is to always be aware of the track once you start gaining more speed, one of the things that really attracts riders to FreeCurve as it makes for an awesome and exhilarating experience.
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