Alpine Snowboarding
By Jakob Jelling, Thu Dec 8th

Alpine is for those of you who are a little moreextreme about speed than most. Alpine encompassesmore than just speed. Other areas often included are racing andextreme carving.

Alpine snowboards are uniquely designed for their purpose. Analpine snowboard has a longer, narrower and stiffer constructionthan any other snowboards. This design allows for higher speeds,very sharp turning, and aggressive edge holding power on hardsnow and excellent high-speed stability.

Alpine is generally done on hard packed snow orgroomed runs. Hard packed snow usually isn't good forsnowboarding but is exceptional for high speeds, the heart ofalpine snowboarding. With other styles of snowboardsmaneuverability is impossible on this type of terrain. Thanks tothe aggressiveness of the edge of the alpine snowboard, fast,snappy control is the least of your problems.

Since the riding is so different from other types ofsnowboarding it only stands to reason that the gear would alsobe slightly different from normal. The gear for alpinesnowboarding resembles skiing equipment more than it doessnowboarding equipment.

In order to protect the rider and maximize control at highspeeds an alpine snowboarder will use the following things.First is a helmet and eye protection. Thanks to the laws ofphysics we know that a hard surface becomes even harder athigher speeds. This means that a helmet and eye protection arean absolute must if you wish to stay safe when ripping down ahill at blazingly fast speeds as the impact from any mishap canbe more than normal.

The next thing to consider is your boots. You must use ahard-shelled boot that resembles a skiing boot. Since the speedson an alpine snowboard are so much higher the forces required tomaintain a tight turn are also higher. In order to makeshape-cornering possible you must use a hard-shelled boot toleverage your power with the snowboard.

After thinking of your boots you must also think of the stancethat you wish to use when riding your alpine snowboard. There isbasically only one choice but there are subtle variations foreach rider. Traditionally the front foot should be set at about+70' and the rear

foot at about +35'. With the advance oftechnology and the improvements of the snowboards the degree ofthe feet has become less important. More commonly the stance isdetermined by the width of the board as long as there is adifference of at least 5'.

Any interesting thing to note is that alpine hasseemed to have died off and been reborn again. Alpine boardmanufactures took the design of the alpine board to a point thatit was amazingly perfect at high speeds but no longer usable forthe average person. One main way of improving the snowboardefficiency was to reduce its width to as little as 16 cm in thecenter of the snowboard. This did allow for even greater speedsbut caused the snowboard to become unstable at low speed andforced the rider to remain in a position that was uncomfortableto ride in for any length of time.

These innovations seemed to kill the industry as did skiingmanufactures that started to implement the aggressive edgetechnology into their products. Most people began to shy awayfrom alpine and instead seek out freestylesnowboarding. However this has changed recently with the rebirthof alpine snowboarding. Once again people are becominginterested in the challenge and excitement that comes fromripping down a hill at high speeds and pulling turns that exertmore g-forces on the body than most cars do. Manufacturers havelearned their lessons and seem to be much more reasonable andconsumer oriented in their snowboard designs than before.

If you are a snowboarder who enjoys speed and tight corneringthen alpine is the thing for you. Alpine snowboardsare designed to be ridden hard and fast on machine groomed orpacked runs. Their design allows you to move in ways no othersnowboarder and possibly skier can ever hope to. Also, alpinesnowboarding is easier to learn than alpine skiing. If you arelooking for fast paced action filled fun like nothing else thanyou are destined for alpine snowboarding. Have fun, keep yourspeeds up and enjoy the g-forces of the mind blowing cornering.

About the author:Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.snowboardinghelp.com.Please visit his website to discover the world of snowboarding!