What’s New and Groovy

by John Stevenson, Adaptive DCL

While Trudy, Kathy and I were at Timberline this spring, we had a chance to check out some new toys. Here is what we thought of some great teaching tools.

Rider Bar

This device is designed to help a snow boarder balance while static as well as while sliding. It is basically a bar that is mounted on either side of the bindings and comes up perpendicular to the board and connects with a vertically adjustable cross bar around waist height. The mounting plates are stout and they include a diagonal strut part way up to give fore/aft stability. The Rider Bar would be a helpful tool for a rider who needs a bit of help standing up and balancing on the board. While the bar can be manipulated to “shape” the board for turn entry and finish, it does require a fair amount of upper body strength and balance to use it in this advanced manner.

Dual Ski

The dual ski is a hybrid piece of equipment that is a cross between a bi ski and a mono ski. I imagine this tool will work well for those who have mastered the bi ski and are looking for something that might offer more independence. It would also be a good fit for someone who struggles to balance in a mono ski and could be used as a stepping stone from the bi ski to the mono ski.

Ski Bike

I think for most of us in the group this was the most fun to explore. Imagine a bike with skis instead of wheels. Some ride with their feet on foot pegs and others ride with short skis on (not much longer than your boots). The teaching progression is actually similar to skiing. We practiced skidded turns, hockey stops, long edged turns, and with a bit of practice you can really lay it over and rip some nice arcs. The ski bike could be used as a stand alone tool or as a nice compliment to other activities. A student whose normal routine is to stand up ski or Snow Board in the morning but loses energy shortly after lunch would be able to continue his outdoor activities in a more relaxed manner riding a ski bike.

Board Buddy

The board buddy is basically a wind surfing boom with a harness in the middle attached at four points. The student is fitted in the harness in the center of the boom allowing the instructor to manipulate the student’s position as well as offering something for them to hold onto. This configuration promotes balance, body position and confidence. The board buddy can be used while teaching from a snowboard or skis, or just walking along with beginners. I found skiing backwards while “walking” the boom around from toe side to heal side as the student followed me was fairly easy to pick up after only a few minutes. Being a strong backwards skier will help. I think most snowboard programs, adaptive and non adaptive, would benefit from having one or two of these “buddies” in their toy chest.

Snow Board Tether from tip and tail

Another teaching system we spent some hands on time with was tethering snowboard from the tip and the tail of the student’s snowboard. You can successfully tether from skis or a snowboard. By staying in good position relative to the student you can “pull” the students board to initiate movements from sliding side to side to initiating a heal side to toe side move and vice versa. Tethering can also give the instructor control over the speed of the student thus making a new student feel like the instructor is in contact the whole time. After a bit of self guided discovery we found that even expert riders playing “student” will go thump if you hit the brakes too abruptly.

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These were a couple of most informative clinics I have participated in, in a long time. I hope you get a chance to try some of these systems out this winter. Fell free to email me with any questions you might have about how any of these systems might help your home program. johnstevenson@outdoorsforall.org See you on the hills.  

John Stevenson is the Training Director for Outdoors for All Foundation. www.outdoorsforall.org