Counter-Rotation

I remember when my trainer explained counter-rotation to me, adding now that I knew what to look for I would see it everywhere...

Sure enough, chairlift ride after chairlift ride I see about 80% of riders using this technique--and yes it is a technique--the wrong way.

What is counter-rotation? As you probably gathered from the name, it's rotating one thing one way (your shoulders) and another thing the other way (legs and torso).  For general riding and even in the park counter-rotation is just a plain bad habit.

When riding think of your shoulders, hips, knees and ankles as a single unit.  You initiate turns with your knees, hips and ankles, while your shoulders come along for the ride.  Another way to think about it: Your shoulders and hips should keep mostly parallel with the board through your turn.

Riders who most commonly display the symptom of counter-rotation are new, self-taught riders.  You will see them on the hill twisting their upper bodies to create momentum for kicking their back foot, creating a "turn".  Why is this ineffective?  Your weight never stays over the active edge, and you end up with very little control over your snowboard edge to edge.

If you find it difficult to make quick movements, or turn at high speeds, you should look to your shoulders.

In the park, this exaggerates the danger for a number of scenarios.  We've all hit that jump where we flail back onto our ass.  Guess why it happened? Your shoulder was going one way--probably back--while your lower body was getting tossed by the jump. 

The same is true for jibbing; if you counter-rotate during your approach, you lose control over the board as it touches the feature and this time either your face or your tailbone will land on metal...ouch!

I did label counter-rotation a technique, and there is one area of riding where you can slay it if you master counter-rotation: quick, narrow tree rides.  Here, counter-rotation is used to pivot the board in a small space, shaving off speed to maintain control, while the shoulders continue to lead in the direction you wish to go.

This same technique is used in the park to shave speed without throwing your shoulders out of alignment.

I wanted to point out that counter-rotation is very different from pre-winding.  In freestyle riding, you pre-wind by using your core and shoulders to create tension in the opposite direction of a spin.  Pre-winding does slightly change your shoulder position, but ultimately your shoulders, knees, and hips stay parallel with and centered over the board.

And now you know how the pros stay controlled when they huck those 1260s.