Sidehill question

[Pinchecharlie]

I can do it pretty easy in flat ground but kinda get stuck doing a giant doughnut and I can so jt pretty easy going down hill too and both in neutral or you know just normal feet but it's gonna be awhile for directly across steepish slope . Sucks cause I just fling off the damn thing and I know iam doing it wrong cause my arms and shoulders are very tired and sore lol! Man it's fun though !! Till your stuck and post holeing. Here's a basic question- when the rear end sinks to far and your stuck, what's the best way to did to get out? Bwahaha! Freaking noob here! Anyone in bozo/west/island park wanna mentor me lol!!!

 

[brantd]

throttle and brake control is crucial,along with foot/body placement.practice all along the boards to find where its happy,your placement on the board will always change depending on the terrain.keep your feet,shoulders parallel with handlebars.look where you want to go and forgot about where you dont wana go.practice throttle and brake used together.dont watch youtube stars doing bowties,re-entrys ect.learn how to ride before thinking about any of that.become one with your machine than go nuts!

 

[Coldfinger]

Imagine this, you are on level ground and you want to turn left, so you countersteer to the right (throttle side of bars toward you and ski tips pointing right). The sled will begin to tip on its left side and the right ski tip will begin to lift off the snow. Once you can do this and keep the ski just above the snow, you want to initiate the same left turn, except this time you do it going parallel to a slight incline/hill on your left.

Instead of turning, you continue to balance the sled with your right ski off the snow as you start to go uphill at a very slight angle. The hillside is on your left. Practice practice.

 

[KTMDirtFace]

I'm guessing I'm just throwing too much weight and effort to the uphill side(while counter-steering) so I don't loose the edge down the hill and is why I always seem to end up turning more and more uphill creeping uphill instead of going straight across the sidehill or back down. I'll figure it out. It mostly happens when going very slow.

 

[simnil]

Sounds like you are to far back on the sled.

How deep is the snow? If the soft nice stuff is to shallow so the uphill side meets resistance from digging in the sled will be more nervous and will take more "body English" to keep on edge in my experience.

throttle and brake control is crucial,along with foot/body placement.practice all along the boards to find where its happy,your placement on the board will always change depending on the terrain.keep your feet,shoulders parallel with handlebars. look where you want to go and forgot about where you dont wana go.practice throttle and brake used together.dont watch youtube stars doing bowties,re-entrys ect.learn how to ride before thinking about any of that.become one with your machine than go nuts!

VERY IMPORTANT, you will end up where you look so don't look where you don't want to go!!
So try when doing donuts turn your head all you can and try looking "half a donut" in front of where you are. Staring in the snow just in front of the sled takes away some of the visual aid to the balancing process.
An related example. When I rode dirtbikes I for balance training wanted to learn to keep the balance while doing a 180 degree turn at creep speed with the bars fully towards the steering stop all the way through the turn. It was more or less impossible if i kept my eyes just in front of the bike. If I immediately, just when I initiated the turn, twisted my head so I looked at the exit point instead it was more or less a piece of cake. So Look where you want to go!

 

[volcano buster]

From my experience there are 3 inputs for a sidehill maneuver, or getting up on "edge".
1) Weight shift. This can be done by simply shifting your weight laterally onto one foot without lifting the other foot off the board. Try this by having your feet tunnel width apart and shifting to balance on either foot.
2) Initiate a counter-steer. Nothing drastic but enough to force the sled to want to roll onto the ski being turned in. Not to be too technical, but picture a rod that runs completely through the sled from front to rear where the sled would be balanced to the point of spinning, this ideally would be at the mid-point of the bumpers for a good visual. The counter-steering effort should feel like the skis are helping to spin the sled on this rod in the direction of the counter steer and as aggressively as you are turning. This maneuver brings the controls to the rider for ergonomics and lack of exertion.
1 and 2 should create a slow speed roll to get the sled up on edge. Practice this on flat ground, road, etc. Work on slow speed control of these two moves to keep the sled on edge and then learning how to add more weight or counter-steer to actually navigate the sled where you want it to go.
3) Throttle input. I reserve this for last since it can counteract the first two if not in harmony with 1 and 2. If you are traveling at the preferred speed and then get the sled on edge, then the throttle can be used to accelerate a turn to the inside/turn up the hill, or by backing off the throttle you can flatten out your curve or let the front end drop down the hill. Be careful that you don't mute the efforts of 1 and 2 with too much throttle which would tend to flatten the sled out.
I pulled some stock photos off the old web for visualization. I realize that the photos only show wrong foot forward so don't let that confuse you. Also, #1 will struggle all day looking at the skis.

 

[Spadodi]

Best you can do is watch the first and second Schooled DVD's. Simple Things to do. Since your new you wont have any bad habbits!

SCHOOLED FILMS DVD's & Online Sreaming

Schooled Films is the leader in Backcountry Snowmobile Movies and Instructional DVD's. Ride Like the Pros. Learn the techniques of Mountain riding like Chris Burandt and Bret Rasmussen. Featuring Chris Burandt Brett Rasmussen Tony Jenkins.

www.schooledfilms.com

 

[Spadodi]

Best you can do is watch the first and second Schooled DVD's. Simple Things to do. Since your new you wont have any bad habbits!

SCHOOLED FILMS DVD's & Online Sreaming

Schooled Films is the leader in Backcountry Snowmobile Movies and Instructional DVD's. Ride Like the Pros. Learn the techniques of Mountain riding like Chris Burandt and Bret Rasmussen. Featuring Chris Burandt Brett Rasmussen Tony Jenkins.

www.schooledfilms.com

1-6 Instructional DVD's. Some are downloadable.

 

[Spadodi]

schooled videos 1 through what ever
chris byrant

 

[KTMDirtFace]

I have watched those, I probably have bad habbits now lol. 7 years? but only 2500 miles or so.

For who was asking me how deep was the snow. I normally have the worst problem in **** snow where it shouldn't be possible to get stuck in but thats when I get stuck lol.

Getting it on edge is not a problem its always on edge , I'm doing something else wrong.. Havn't been able to go up in the last couple weeks though. Winter seems over again like last season lol. And its not getting warm enough to make the snow soft.

 

[Coldfinger]

If you can lift one ski up and hold that ski up while going forward, do that next to a slight hill and gradually go up the hill at an angle, keeping the downhill ski in the air.