How to Snowboard in the Trees | 3 Simple Tips to Riding Confidently in the Trees and Gladed Terrain
Struggling with your confidence when riding in the trees? Not sure you can turn your board when you want to? Worried you'll get stuck? Whether it feels like you can't turn quickly enough or you struggle to pick your line, the idea of riding more confidently in the trees and glades is high on the wishlist for any snowboarder.
3 Simple Tips to Riding Confidently in the Trees and Gladed Terrain
These tips are suitable for riders of all levels and should give you a good baseline understanding of how to prepare your riding for taking on tree runs. The main goal with tree riding is to build confidence and trust in your movements on your snowboard so when you do venture into the trees, things are happening more autonomously and reliably.
Our 3 simple tips for riding in the trees are:
- Turn Size & Shape
- Quick Steering
- Line of Sight
We'll keep things nice and simple here and as usual, for more details and to see things in action, check out the video instead.
TURN SIZE & SHAPE
Being able to choose and change your turn size and shape at will, on the fly is a baseline necessity for any rider before heading into the trees. The trees are the obstacles that dictate the available line options so feeling confident that you can turn your board when you want to to match the size and shape required to navigate the tree run you are on is key.
QUICK STEERING
Being able to move your snowboard around quickly underneath you is crucial and requires an ability to turn the snowboard quickly, using the torsional flex in the snowboard. This ensures smooth and quick transitions from edge to edge, over a flatter snowboard to allow you to confidently redirect the board in tight spaces.
LINE OF SIGHT
Planning ahead and allowing your vision to drift ahead of you to identify space to ride into is key. This takes time to develop and can really flourish when you have full confidence in the two skills above.
You may find some of these things easier to do than others so let us know in the comments if you are struggling in the trees and let's connect to see how we can help!
Leo & Kahli
