How to Really Really Carve #7! Deeper and Earlier Toeside Carves

This is essential practice for those of you that want to be able to eventually do full on laid-out carves. And even if that isn't your goal, practicing these techniques will help clean up your toeside carved turns.
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[@P.Trick93]

2 vids today. Youre just awesome man!

[@RyanKnapton]

I think you'll really like tomorrows vid. :D

[@MrJkca]

and on his birthday! Happy birthday Ryan

[@tonyboros712]

Happy Birthday Ryan!

[@T25de]

I can’t wait for this seasons vids

[@Pinefenario]

Finally a video where doing a carved turn is properly explained. As in really good tip to put pressure early in the turn!

[@vixlenz]

Great explanation on starting the turn early. How you used the whiteboard to show the physics of it is really good too.

[@Triple_J.1]

1:39 this deserves its own video. Even if you're not carving like this, any skidding in either direction will often lead to catching an edge when you try and transition to the other edge. Even if skidding turns is the norm, or your on a steep and have to skid to check speed. "Trim it out" into a nice carve before initiating transition to the other edge. I didn't catch another edge for another 7+ days of riding after this discovery while learning to ride this season. (Until working on butters, now I'm catching edges often). This concept took two days while learning carves for me to figure out and really grasp. And upon doing so, I also discovered that the "downhill" edge doesn't matter at all, like I had been instructed. The "downhill edge" is actually whatever edge is forward of your momentum, even of your momentum is uphill.

[@jamiedh3036]

Ryan Knapton is waaaaaaay my most favourite SnowTuber!!!!

[@trevorstrope4549]

This is probably one of the best tutorial series I've ever watched in any teaching scenario thank you for helping me finally progress my snowboard skill in what seems has been a stagnant few years

[@drenrogova1723]

I have been learning snowboard by myself and I need to say you are great..I found a lot of help in your videos.

[@rockymountainotter8232]

Absolute expert level content! No matter how much you think you know about snowboarding, there is always more to learn. Now you've got me planning all kinds of experiments for how pressure adjustments, and also twist adjustments might improve my carving.

[@mehmetalipolat1930]

thanks to you ı m a member of national boardercross team of turkey you are my coach

[@RyanKnapton]

That is incredible to hear!! Congratulations and best wishes with your racing! Happy Shreddin!

[@WillWin-zf4sz]

Hi Ryan, as always amazing advice. Been snowboarding for about 10 years and discovered your channel 2 months back. Just came back home to England from a week in Austria and man I have to tell you my turns never felt so good. Thanks for inspiring me to be a better rider, only problem is I live in a flat county with no snow which sucks a big one. Until my next trip I'll keep watching and learning from the master. Thank you so much.

[@RyanKnapton]

+PugyCorns# DrMashmallow Thanks for sharing and happy shreddin!

[@kookstopher]

Really appreciate these videos man! So simple, yet so helpful. I just started snowboarding about 2 years ago, but I come from a surfing background so I picked it up quick. I'm at that point where I'm very comfortable with my riding and I wanna take it to the next level to where I'm basically surfing on the slopes. These videos are awesome. Keep up the great work!

[@j3rs3yjak3FIU]

Dawg, I've only been boarding two sessions. Bought my own set up and can"t fuckin' wait to hit the mountain this Thursday and Friday! Shred Lodge, MT! I love doing research and studying on anything I do and I'm totally hooked on snowboarding. Watching this shit is both informative and getting me pumped to learn these techniques early so I can progress more quickly. Thanks for taking the time to put these together! Looking forward to cutting it up like you some day!

[@schulznfels]

Early edge change is a game changer. It will help out your carved turns immensely. As always, great video!

[@theesanpanther5786]

These are one of my fav video series, Less fluff more footage and tips. Love it. Ill be trying some of this down under as our snow season finally starts this week ^_^

[@benmagistris6428]

First tutorial I've seen with drawings - WHY HAVEN'T I SEE THESE DIAGRAMS BEFORE??? Great video :)

[@simonwoo5450]

saw this for the second time and really understood putting pressure at the top of the turn, not just start early. Cool!

[@StevenErcolani]

After seeing Joe Breeze's suggestions about initiating the turn earlier, I remembered my instructor telling me that you need to do this, but I just could visualize it at the time. I tried it yesterday, and for the first time, I feel like I'm starting to get the toe side carves. I'm still having trouble getting my knees bent on the your side. I hope that but working on it, I'll start to get lower and lower. I also took your advice and am looking up the hill to make sure there aren't any maniac skiers barreling down. I actually stopped a couple of times to wait for people I saw about me to pass before starting again. Thanks so much for all the tips!

[@steverogers7473]

One word: Brilliant! Loved the $2 white board lesson. Keep up your great work Ryan.

[@linxiaolin9863]

Thanks for the tips. It was so great. I am learning from your advice and travel to Colorado snowboarding in keystone and Breckenridge and Vail. Haha.

[@JamesDavis-kp4ll]

Without going into boards & the differences between them, I did notice that Jeff's ankle straps are mounted in the middle hole on the heel loops vs. the most upper one, which would give him even more toeside response & probably make it even easier for him to get more control & response over these, than he already does, just figured I'd point that out & say, "Jeff, whassup'? Gotta' try that bro!" :-)

[@DKR-1881]

Wow, nicely explained Ryan. I recorded myself for the first time recently and I thought I was able to carve a little until I watched the footage. And it was awful to watch. Hunched way over, skidding. Good tips here to work on. Thanks.

[@pbillings808]

That razor track is a thing of beauty!

[@4nd3rzzon]

I just came home from Åre in Sweden and your tutorials have really helped I actually managed to do some carving for the first time ever, so Thank You

[@theohioan2169]

As a snowboard instructor I teach that squatting down technique when I teach carving and advanced carving. Wet try to tech this "flex and extend" rhythm. Extending as you turn or at the peak of your turn then getting low to flatten the board and change edges really is the key to getting really good turns. I'm not getting as low as you but I hope to. Maybe I need to try a super wide board, get rid of that nasty bootout. Keep up the good work.

[@RyanKnapton]

Are you already on a wide board? For me when I got my first 'wide', I also had to move up in length (cuz the smallest burton custom x 'wide' was longer than the 156 I was use to) Getting use to the extra length actually took more time than the width for me, but obviously I'll never look back on the decision to start going wider and wider. Happy shreddin!

[@stefanofiorani1408]

Ryan Knapton interesting, if that is the case why didn't you go back to 156 when you have had your donek custom made? Thanks

[@theohioan2169]

Ryan Knapton I ride a 162 wide jones flagship. I think I can definitely get rid of aloof boot out if I get a lower profile boot and size down bindings.

[@dbinacorner5634]

I've always noticed you start with your downhill edge. Thanks loads for the explanation of why.

[@JamesDavis-kp4ll]

Thanks for the Physics lesson Professor Knapton, ; - ) 'cause that's what it is, for real! (insert thumbs up emoji here) And one other thought, I've decided I'm going to refer to the jacket you're wearing in this vid as the "Cordurflage" jacket, because it's camouflage, & blends in perfectly with all the corduroy. :-) All hail carving physics & the mighty cordurflage jacket! :-D

[@nishanthkanala]

I got to see how this cool dude, actually looks in real life without the goggles :D Love from India bruh!

[@blackbeltsnowboarding4485]

Great insight and display of American snowboarding and European carving! Stay tuned to the Olympics for the Canadian triple cork backside 1440 and the Norwegian Haakon flip fwiends...

[@TaylorPhase]

Black Belt Snowboarding but Americans won the Olympics

[@OceanBBQ]

that's awesome. I recently realized my carve was not early enough and my C were not round enough. I like your way to lower your body almost max and change edge by your ankles

[@lakeskysea]

ep. 7! I've waited long. Awesome video! I literally can't wait to see the heelside tutorial (which I'm still struggling with). Keep it up!

[@Jason_Hermann]

Awesome new tutorial and I partially liked the white board edge physics breakdown ;) The early edge pressure and how to apply more at the top/ beginning makes so much sense. I'm still definitely J carving way to much! Working on the C- Carve later today and really really looking forward to it, thanks again Ryan!

[@trainstalker]

Ryan I don't want to get off on the wrong foot because I love your videos and you have really helped my snowboarding excel. But..... I don't mean to be pedantic but I grew up skateboarding and the McTwist was actually named after a person, Mike McGill back in 1984. Thank you for all the tutorials. I'm a big fan. Peace out!!!!

[@RyanKnapton]

Yeah. I know. List like that goes a long way too... ✌️

[@T25de]

Breck with no crowds Beautiful!!

[@eugenearchibald7375]

Good video, keep it up it's getting so much better, appreciate why'll I'm still out injured. Thanks for the tutorial too.

[@adamtadros1472]

Hey Ryan, one friendly critique I would offer is that in your videos it seems like the snow is always perfectly groomed, and in my experience, this makes it super easy to carve, however, the snow I usually ride is icy in the morning and slushy later in the day, what are some tips you have for that kind of snow?

[@makecodgreatagain6049]

He did say he was very early in the morning and that later in the day you will get hit practicing this.

[@eddiekim007]

you look unrecognizable without helmet and goggles on, keep up the great work

[@BoredProgression]

Great tips! I never really thought of it as engaging my edge before the fall line. Nice.

[@danielpack3999]

Great video! I'll definitely be working on this this Saturday.

[@wwt17]

AWESOME! Like the white board!

[@douglaslegnola2266]

Wow!! A burton Free 5. That was my first board.

[@kusti37]

Thank you and happy birthday. Your videos are really really good 😂. Learning to snowboard with your tutorials.

[@rewolfer]

The bending of the knees etc. is pretty much just to lower center of gravity towards the board as much as possible as far as I can tell. Which then allows you to lean in at steeper angles, as well as putting more force into the board to bend that edge for the carve.

[@HalfCab180_]

Thanks, Ryan! Next up, heelside turns please. That's always been my biggest bugaboo - can't hold it like a toeside and washout occurs more frequently.

[@justzanin]

Great video as always. Thank you for the tutorial! Happy shredding!

[@chrisaguila710]

Hey Ryan, great video. Nice carving. Did you ever try to carve with an raceboard / carving board (directional no twintip board,, curved edge,camber and hard)that we have quite a lot in the Alps? this requieres a different stance (no duck stance) with a much steeper angle. this stance forces you to do this squat as you called it in your video. this way you can do your turns with more speed. When I started 25 years ago we had almost no other boards to ride. this way we devolped a differret technique. nowaday those boards are disappering little bya little as there more and more all mountain boards out there. But on runs like shown on your video they are even more fun to ride. take care and keep on riding chris from germany

[@stanchung]

Love it. Really motivated to learn the extreme carve. Go Ryan go!

[@FireRowz]

Your filming, editing and instruction has really improved since the first how to really carve videos! I just started learning to carve but where I ride they do a bad job grooming a lot of the time. Any tips for learning in less than ideal conditions?

[@guangchenglu5334]

Gonna try the lay down extreme carve Saturday at Northstar. Succeeded last time for single toe side turn, not able to link next turn due the lack of early turn pressure issue mentioned in this video.

[@tubiak1]

You solved my problem. My board usually cuts very fast when i press it hard. I actually started to think its a wrong board and there's radius issue, but now i know i need to start earlier.

[@asl2g4u]

damn, i'm super impressed by how well you describe this. well done, thanks!

[@JamesDavis-kp4ll]

"He who feels it, knows it...," - Bob Gnarly ; - )

[@Mochingeniero]

Dude! awesome content!, I'm having so much fun just carving!!! I could have never imagined that!!, :D thanks and peace from new zealand!

[@TheMarcintosh]

Hey Ryan, you should make a video for GoPro's "line of the winter" challenge! I'd love to see that!

[@matthew-oe2ur]

Haaa he was my landlord!

[@igormacopi7857]

Such carisma. Really nice content bro

[@colinbarbeau8678]

Thank you so much Ryan, so informative, awesome!

[@titantim27]

Great vid Ryan. Keep it up.

[@rodolfobarreiro8535]

Why do you open your back leg towards the inside of the turn? I'm curious, it's very different from what we do with hard boot.

[@freemanfanmao]

Jeff seems like a nice and funny guy, a bit on the goofy side😁

[@kovalenkoihor4325]

@Ryan Knapton 5:56 What is the legs pressure? 50/50? I noticed that at the moments like this my "second leg" always wants to have way more pressure and my nose always wans to fly. And I'm conserned because not "the whole edge" working. I think it's because of the "centrifuge effect"

[@Lyclah]

Can we learn this with duck stance? Or should I force myself to train this with positive backfoot angle? Thanks for awesome videos man!!!

[@Fiskgjusen]

What about rockered boards? Are they easier or harder to carve with?

[@GenelatourX]

Amazing content! Keep doing this!!!

[@dimitritsoumpashealthstren1479]

Great video! Very helpful

[@Poochyke]

Man, the track is completely empty! :-) go early in the morning in the french alps with these weather conditions and its massively crowded! Where is this?

[@RyanKnapton]

Breckenridge Colorado

[@cloudsculptor1]

Hey Ryan . Have you tried a camera on the back of the board looking forward ? It would show edging really well .

[@zdenohudak1474]

Hey Ryan, great job you are doing man! Big fan of yours I am. I have a question. I own a rocker board and wanted to ask if you have got any experiences riding and carving those and if you have any tips for me and peeps who own rocker board on how to carve it? Really appreciate what you are doing and just wanted to say that after seeing your videos I got really motivated to improve my riding... so big thanks and qapla! =)

[@vboytan]

You should make part of the video in a loop where you’re just doing it over and over so we can analyze it better.

[@minisurfbanana]

Great lesson... What mountain is this? Soooo wide!!!

[@longthedrag0nn]

Can you make a video on how to initiate these turns at high speed like how you do ? I feel like at high speed your first turn would have to first be a Skidded J turn then you can transition C turns to C turns after . Am I right ? Not sure how the first turn can be C at high speed with out skidding . Practiced C to C turns yesterday after watching this video but it wasn’t sure how initiate. Thanks

[@guidospadotto6943]

Hi Ryan, I have noticed on this video that your rear leg is much more bent than the front leg on toe-side turns. I think this is due to the fact that your upper body faces down the hill rather than being parallel to the board. Have you ever considered this fact while shredding or - by now - is it just "muscle memory"? I'm wondering how this might impact the "apply even pressure along the edge" rule. Thank you!

[@RyanKnapton]

Back knee is definitely something I think about in some turns, and yeah, bending that one massively for certain toeside turns really helps, where when I've tried the same with the front knee it ends up being quite funky and doesn't feel 'right'. Happy shreddin!

[@axecapital1]

I will check differences this weekend, his style of turns came from race snowboarding (it’s completely different kind of turns counter rotation of upper body and different angle for bindings). That’s why he bends his back knee inside and counter rotate upper body. I must say those turns are more powerful but should be unstable on ice and bumpy terrain(at least that’s The physics behind it)

[@nicolasburri8038]

Still amazing, what kinda board(s) you ride? Which shape, which model by which brand can you recommend if I am allowed to ask?(:

[@Felix-kd8tn]

He rides a Knapton Twin by Donek. Yeap, it is named for him!

[@zenagain6634]

Excuse if you've addressed this before, but in terms of board set-up- how do you have your edges tuned? For example, I'm a pretty big unit riding a Never Summer Premier F1 163. I keep my edges really sharp but have shaved a bit off the tip and tail which tends to loosen up the back end especially on groomed runs. As a caveat (and it probably goes against the new way of thinking) but I like the feel of a bit of tail slide. I ride quite set back as I'm not a trickster but like to go fast and carve deep. In saying all that, I love those tracks you carve and would like to lay down some of those arcs. Should I sharpen up that tip and tail again at the expense of catching an edge? PS, love the vids and would love to buy you a beer. Come to Japan one day, cheap and deep.

[@jamessykes2760]

Notes taken!

[@kingchrisepoo]

Ok, certainly the board and stance have something to do with it. Carving board is best for this, btw are you 15F/0B or is this more posi-posi?

[@SnowboardWithAndrew]

Love the new videos Ryan, you have been one of my inspiration to carve really well since your first few videos, especially the one "How to really carve". I'm looking to getting a new board and was even thinking of your Donek board. Could you recommend what specs I should be getting? My height is 1.71m, Weight 75kg, Feet at US 7.5 (S bindings). Currently I ride a 160 Burton Custom X (I bought it longer cuz I was 88kg 4 yrs ago). Do you think I would need the extra width considering my smaller feet? Thanks in advance for your tips. Keep the videos coming! Andrew from Singapore =)

[@lucywucyyy]

its called the eurocarve cos we got style baby

[@sambritton630]

What do you call Japan grab?

[@chrisvanthof2309]

Hi Ryan, do you use a camber board to carve like this? And what is your stand position?

[@McDudes]

But what about rocker boards? How does their turn radius looks like?

[@JozeConZeta]

Hey Ryan, love the channel my man I wanted to ask you: I just got a Ride Agenda 153 and I have mastered it but as you may know it is a very entry level board, I went for rocker to avoid eating edges all the time (and it worked) Do you think moving to a Ride Warping would be a good step up to improve carving? Thanks,

[@LeftLane.045]

EU CARVING BABYY 😍 dutch viewer😁

[@WideOpenChange]

Ryan what stiffness boot do you recommend for your style of carving? I’m considering the Burton photon.

[@williamthemtbbeginner]

i can get up the hill on heel side carves but have difficult time on the toe side ---- any suggestions? i'm trying my best to throw me knee to 2 o'clock and pointing hip but...nothing >>>> edited again....seems like you both carve longer and harder to heel side (same thing i do as someone who's been snowboarding 6 times, including 2 private lessons ) is it absolutely necessary to be able to go uphill on toe side? for speed control?? >>>edited for third time --- even in your diagram there's more carving on heel side...is it just natural due to your natural lead foot???

[@serkansalah1883]

Hello Ryan, Very nice tutorials you have here, i am watching them all together at once... I need some assistance if you please to reply: I am going to try these techniques and later hoping to advance to #8 video but i am on a alpine style hardboot board, a F2 speedster, 173cm, so my boot angles are so much turned to front side as you can imagine...Do these tips/tutorials are valid also for that kind of snowboard? As boots are too much angled, i am thinking i will have difficulties in hitting the edges of board to terrain etc... I started this alpine raceboard thing 2 years ago after i watched the two guys of swoard, i think you know who i am talking about, but they dont have any tutorials like yours. Before that i was riding softboot boards, mostly long ones like 172-173cm of rad-air boards and my boots was also forward angled on those boards. Thanks for these good tutorials...

[@RyanKnapton]

I'd assume some of the info could be applied the same. That said, I kinda suck on alpine equipment, but I think it's mostly just cuz I don't do it much. Happy shreddin!

[@serkansalah1883]

Thanks for quick reply... well i kinda suck on all equipment so... :)

[@KyrylPetruk]

It would be nice to film your carves from the drone with camera pointing straight down. Add some visual trails effects and you've got yourself some real-life "real-life" curves. :)

[@johnnicholson8345]

what these guys fail to mention is this can only be done when it's early morning groomers or powder. If you're on chud and commit to a deep no-slide, edge cut your ass is going down guaranteed. the soft perfectly even groomed zipper snow allows a very consistent and reliable surface where your edge won't blow out.

[@lakeskysea]

If you're still curious about the physics, here is a more detailed version of the explanation kzbin.info/www/bejne/q3aUipd6n8R_ZtE from Sean Martin, the founder of Donek Snowboards (aka the great guy who sponsors Ryan!)

[@jokerfangurl]

nice carvessss

[@mawe9986]

How are you alone on the pist?

[@GDIBass]

So my heel is crazy unflexible which makes it hard to get deep squats without lifting up my heel. Any ways to improve this?

[@ntoxicatedtigah]

Ryan what angles are you using?

[@N1injaRhino]

Hey dude, I'm a complete novice and was wondering if I could get your opinion on a board that I bought, I got it because it was on sale and I liked the design honestly. Not great criteria for for a purchase but anyway. Arbor Element 2017, do you think I would be able to learn to carve properly on this board?

[@hmepasG]

what's your stance? Asking since you are pretty good at carving, and it's usually means directional stance, but you also good switch side which usually means duck stance. Looks like 15, -5 but i am not sure. (And yeah, you have awesome style riding).

[@jeffmeyer2395]

Whoa, I feel famous. 119K views

[@colordeaf]

Sup Ryan, so, if you'd compare your own custom Donek with the "The Knapton" Donek, how much would it differ?

[@RyanKnapton]

+Jesse Luikinga it's the exact same model. I just recommend going with custom specs to fit the exact length, width and radius you want. For most people wanting to carve deeper, we've been recommending the length you prefer with around a 28 or 28.5 width and 8.7 m radius (for say boot size around 9-11). The extra width and slightly larger radius won't be overwhelming to get use to and will allow deeper carving without booting out.

[@colordeaf]

Yeah, I'm struggling with how wide should I be and till what width is healthy and still doable. My carving is improving rapidly but I'm doubting if I'll ever need a width that allows me to go flat like you, but then again, if I do want to, I don't want to shoot myself in the foot for not considering during purchase. That in combination with the fact I have mega feet (12).

[@checker1o125]

want to try it out , but where i ride it is way to icy at the moment to carv :(

[@paznit]

What go pro stick do you use pls? Mine keep breaking,

[@alpeg_]

Doesn't euro stand for the line that you draw? Looks like euro € (cash)

[@youtubepingis2157]

Oh my god a new one

[@kerimisam4517]

I love Ryan just coz he's too lazy yo edit his content.

[@RyanKnapton]

😂🤘. I try. It's just the shreddin' that I really care about. 😀

[@kerimisam4517]

Don't waste your time on it. For me i love your vidoes. Which helped me Really Really carve.🏂🤟