Snowboarding on edge is fundamental to controlling your board, allowing you to manage speed, stop, and turn. It involves using the metal edges that run along the sides of your snowboard to grip the snow.
## Understanding Snowboard Edges
Your snowboard has two main edges you'll use:
* **Heelside Edge:** This is the edge under your heels. When you lean back and put pressure on your heels, this edge engages the snow.
* **Toeside Edge:** This is the edge under your toes. When you lean forward and put pressure on your toes, this edge engages the snow.
Engaging an edge means tilting the board so that the edge digs into the snow. This friction is what allows you to slow down, stop, or change direction.
## Using Your Edges for Control
Learning to use your edges effectively is often practiced by controlling your descent down a gentle slope. A key technique, as illustrated in instructional materials like the provided video excerpt, involves repeatedly changing your board's direction relative to the slope to manage speed.
Here's the core idea based on the reference:
1. **Control Speed or Stop:** To slow down or stop, you need to engage an edge by turning your board across or up the hill. As the reference states, you need to "*Turn that board up the hill*". By rotating your board so it is perpendicular to the fall line (the steepest way down) or even pointing uphill slightly, you use either your heelside or toeside edge to create resistance against the snow, thus controlling your speed or coming to a complete stop.
2. **Resume Movement:** When you are ready to move again, you need to flatten the board out or angle it back downhill in the direction you want to go. The reference instructs, "*Now face it back to where you want to go*". By pointing the nose of the board downhill again, you release the pressure on the primary edge and allow gravity to pull you forward.
3. **Repeat for Control:** As highlighted in the reference snippet ("*Turn the board back uphill. Good face it back to where you want to go. Turn the board back uphill.*"), you repeat this motion of turning the board uphill to control speed and facing it back downhill to move. This oscillating movement, often called a "falling leaf" exercise initially, is a fundamental way to practice engaging and disengaging your edges to regulate your speed down the slope before you start linking turns.
## Practicing Edge Control
* **Find a Gentle Slope:** Start on a beginner-friendly slope with minimal incline.
* **Heelside First:** Most beginners find heelside easier initially. Stand with your heelside edge engaged, sliding down the hill sideways. Practice pressing into your heels to slow down and flatten the board slightly to slide faster.
* **Toeside Next:** Once comfortable heelside, try toeside. This feels less natural at first as you're facing downhill. Practice pressing into your toes to control your slide.
* **Falling Leaf:** Combine heelside and toeside edge control by sliding diagonally across the slope, turning uphill to stop/slow, and then sliding back diagonally the other way. This is where you practice the "*Turn that board up the hill*" and "*face it back to where you want to go*" motion repeatedly.
Mastering the use of your edges is the bedrock of snowboarding. It's the skill that transitions you from just sliding to actively controlling your ride, leading to linked turns and more advanced maneuvers.
