This article is one of a series of articles meant to engorge your bag of tricks with stuff I have learned working at the Mount Hood Snowboard Camp. The articles are listed as Day 1, Day 2 etc… as a joke, this stuff is really difficult to learn and scary to teach because the risk of injury starts to go up fast when you are riding freestyle.

 

Rail School -- Day 1

by Steve Frink

Spring 2003 

Rider Has:

·        Basic Jumping Skills

·        Strong Desire

Rail riding is at the same time the easiest freestyle for beginners and the most technical for high-end jibbers. Entry-level rail riding is as easy as riding in a straight line and that is what we will discuss here. The obvious danger of rail riding cannot be over emphasized, I tell people flat out that “…it only hurts as bad as getting hit by a metal baseball bat”. With that in mind rail riding can be a very easy way for someone to have “success” as a freestyler without the experience needed to hit the pipe or clear the jumps.

On Snow Preparation

Your first trick is the fifty-fifty; you’re going to run right over the thing. (It’s called 50/50 because a skateboarder in a pool has 2 wheels in the pool and 2 wheels over the deck but don’t get me started). Slide in a straight line on snow, do nose and tail wheelies to get centered. Absorb stuff and ollie up ledges and snow curbs. If people are timid, let them run over a piece of bamboo.

Rail Preparation

The type of rail and the way it is placed in the snow is going to help you decide what to ride first. A box is wide and the easiest to slide across and Heine Tools makes a long mailbox that is softer sheet metal instead of hard pipe. For rails a flat bar is the most stable to slide on, the double barrel is next and then the skinniest hardest single rail. The placement in the snow is a factor also, does the rail come out of the snow, or more likely do you have to ride up onto it. Practice riding snow that will simulate the flexing and extending required to keep your board on the rail.

At the Rail

Last minute direction changes make it harder to slide the whole rail so get lined up straight well back from the rail. Go fast, you won’t have to balance as long and you are more likely to fall past the rail if something goes wrong. Just like you practiced on the snow ledges. Get light absorbing the ramp and put your weight on the rail, wheelie off and absorb the landing. If your falling off just go with it, do not try to recover, it’s too risky.

Movement Analysis

Watch for signs of fear and peer pressure, rail sliding is a very small part of snowboarding and should not be taken lightly.

1.      Don’t let people ride slow those riders hit the rail when they fall.

2.      If a rider is catching air they need a better understanding of absorbing.

3.      Riders who open their shoulders to the hill will pivot on the rail or coming off just like they do when they are jumping.

What Next?

Once riders are sliding rails they can learn new tricks and ride different rails. Some fore/aft leverage will give them the nose and tail press. Some counter rotation will give them the 50/50 to boardslide. Absorbing and speed control will get them over rainbow rails, kinked rails, and let them air and land on the rail.

Happy Jibbing

Steve Frink is on the NW Divisional Staff and is helping develop the NW Freestyle Accreditation Program. Steve can be reached at steve@sno-sk8.com for copies of other articles in the series or anything else including clinics at your resort.