rusty
02-19-2008, 12:20 PM
Rusty has been asked both about the location of his pics of him riding the rails and how to avoid crashing on them because of flat edges.
Hmm - Maybe it's time to introduce the forum to who Rusty really is. The short version is that I'm 50 years old and I should know better. Rusty is a computer guy 5 days a week and teaches skiing and riding in the Mid Atlantic (Whitetail, PA) on the weekends. I got recruited to help NASTC get this forum running because of my ski teaching connections. So I'm not one of these hot shot NASTC trainers. These are the guys I take lessons from. And I teach a lot more snowboarding than skiing because resorts around here are always short of board instructors. This means I don't get a lot of free runs to do crazy things. I do teach a few intro to park and pipe lessons every year, but this is because the younger instructors who ride the park can't be bothered with the crap involved in teaching park lessons. I don't "do" rails because I'd rather not mess up my good skis and I'm currently pursuing level 3 certification (i.e. injuries are not in the current plan). I have "done" rails on a board only to the extent of going through the beginner progression for a 1/2 day and little playing around. I've done rails on skis I think twice. I have done homework on the subject but the bottom line is that I coach this stuff only because I get asked. So - no pics and caveat emptor on any advice. If anyone has better advice, I'm all eyeballs.
When you see skiers on rails, you'll either see both skis pretty flat or the front ski tilted onto the back edge. Riders want to get the front edge of the board engaged on the rail because riding on the back edge provides no support and that's the only edge we've got. This is counter intuitive to riding on snow, but makes sense when you think about it (snow will hold an edged ski, metal won't). Skiers can get away with the front ski tilted onto the back edge because they have more weight on the back leg to brace against. The key is being to get onto the rail softly so you're not tempted to put both skis onto the back edge.
The way I teach beginners to do rails (and part of the reason the kids can't be bothered) involves "spotting" beginners (i.e. I'm off my gear, straddling the rail and holding the student's hands). This only works with low narrow width rails. It does allow the student to get a feel for the balance and edge angles required to grind/slide on the rail without getting the severe negative feedback accompanied with not getting it quite right at first. After we've covered the basics of slope style, ATML and rail inspection and done a few "spotted" slides, newbies don't need much more coaching to have fun.
Hmm - Maybe it's time to introduce the forum to who Rusty really is. The short version is that I'm 50 years old and I should know better. Rusty is a computer guy 5 days a week and teaches skiing and riding in the Mid Atlantic (Whitetail, PA) on the weekends. I got recruited to help NASTC get this forum running because of my ski teaching connections. So I'm not one of these hot shot NASTC trainers. These are the guys I take lessons from. And I teach a lot more snowboarding than skiing because resorts around here are always short of board instructors. This means I don't get a lot of free runs to do crazy things. I do teach a few intro to park and pipe lessons every year, but this is because the younger instructors who ride the park can't be bothered with the crap involved in teaching park lessons. I don't "do" rails because I'd rather not mess up my good skis and I'm currently pursuing level 3 certification (i.e. injuries are not in the current plan). I have "done" rails on a board only to the extent of going through the beginner progression for a 1/2 day and little playing around. I've done rails on skis I think twice. I have done homework on the subject but the bottom line is that I coach this stuff only because I get asked. So - no pics and caveat emptor on any advice. If anyone has better advice, I'm all eyeballs.
When you see skiers on rails, you'll either see both skis pretty flat or the front ski tilted onto the back edge. Riders want to get the front edge of the board engaged on the rail because riding on the back edge provides no support and that's the only edge we've got. This is counter intuitive to riding on snow, but makes sense when you think about it (snow will hold an edged ski, metal won't). Skiers can get away with the front ski tilted onto the back edge because they have more weight on the back leg to brace against. The key is being to get onto the rail softly so you're not tempted to put both skis onto the back edge.
The way I teach beginners to do rails (and part of the reason the kids can't be bothered) involves "spotting" beginners (i.e. I'm off my gear, straddling the rail and holding the student's hands). This only works with low narrow width rails. It does allow the student to get a feel for the balance and edge angles required to grind/slide on the rail without getting the severe negative feedback accompanied with not getting it quite right at first. After we've covered the basics of slope style, ATML and rail inspection and done a few "spotted" slides, newbies don't need much more coaching to have fun.