From: Mattias Sandstrom <mattias@beauty.se>
Organization: Beauty Magazine
Newsgroups: rec.skiing.snowboard
Subject: Re: Pipe.. first time

> I think the time has come to give the halfpipe a try... so ummmm... any
> advice on how to learn to ride on one?  I mean, should I just drop in
> and see what happens when I hit the other side?  :)

stay (very) low, knees (very) bent (hey, touch the snow even). start
with the frontside wall (the right one if you're regular). get a good
carve in the bottom to get properly aligned for the air--you can't turn
after hitting the trannie. even if you think you can; don't. you'll see
from the tracks what angle you should approach the wall at. try to hold
an edge all the way up, but don't turn and don't dig it in too deep.
keep your body weight inside the pipe, extra important if the pipe has a
lot of vert. when you become airborne, you'll want to spin up to 180
degrees to land properly. don't start your spin until airborne, or
you'll lose speed and balance. it helps to turn your shoulders slightly
just before takeoff though. you'll land where you look so look where
you'll land (unless you're ingemar backman, in which case you turn your
head to look at the photographers behind you). don't ollie the first
times. it's much better to land on the coping than in the middle of the
pipe. if you feel you have to ollie, do it right _after_ your rear foot
gets above the coping (just use the flex of your board). when you land
(preferably in the vert section, but the trannie is ok), put some weight
on your rear foot and carve your way to the other side. the sooner
you're finished carving and can ride straight up the wall, the higher
you'll go. watch terje doing this, it's really his trademark in the
pipe. the best piece of advice i can give though, is "just drop in and
see what happens when you hit the other side." :-)

        coping
              \__________
              | <-vert                   )
              |                          }-wall
bottom       / <-transition ("trannie")  )
___|________/                            )