What to practise once you can ride: carving, powder, trees and park

The short answer

A red run is an intermediate run at a Japanese resort.

All four sit in the Specialty level of FUYU's grading. If you are not sure which level you are at, start with how ski levels are graded.

Carving

What carving is

The clearest difference is the track you leave in the snow. An ordinary turn leaves a wide crescent. Carving leaves one thin line.

Carving means riding on the edge of the board. The movement is quite different from ordinary riding and so is the speed, a little like leaning a motorbike through a corner. A few obvious signs:

• One thin line left in the snow
• The body is clearly inclined
• You ride low and close to the ground

What level you need to start

If your S turn is solid and you can ride red runs freely, you can start carving, and you will feel how the edge works fairly quickly.

Where people get stuck

People try so hard to get the board up on edge that they stop using gravity and momentum. We often see riders tipping the board over very high, or reaching for the ground, and ignoring the force their own body puts into the board.

How a coach takes you through it

A coach starts on the flat, working on how your joints bend and on understanding what the board does. Those drills look basic, and they are exactly what makes carving come faster.

Powder

On your first powder day, what matters is speed and the rhythm of the turn. In powder the turn comes from how you control the board, and the change in rhythm is very noticeable.

Compared with a groomed run, powder asks for more attention to what the board is doing, where it sits, and when to act.

People often say their back leg burns on a snowboard, or that their skis keep sinking. Usually the cause is timing that is not dialled in yet, plus the effect of speed.

Niseko snow has low moisture content, which makes it one of the places to learn powder. To see how coaches read the snow each morning, read Niseko snow quality.

Tree runs

Any level can go and play in easy trees. At the start you may brake constantly, feel tense, or fail to link your line together. All of that is normal.

Steeper, tighter trees ask for more: continuity through the turns, where you place your weight, and which way the board needs to point.

Rules for riding trees

• Go with someone
• Know the line
• Never enter closed terrain

If you ride consistently, are 14 or older, and want Niseko's in bounds off piste and gate routes, see FUYU's powder guiding. The coach picks the route from the day's conditions, and a set of avalanche safety gear is included.

Park and jumps

Start by rehearsing the jump on flat ground. Learn the stance first, then the approach. Hitting a jump before you have those is very dangerous and has to be avoided.

• Stance: hold your balance point. Shift your weight in the air and you are gone
• Approach: where the board runs straight in before the takeoff

Park asks for understanding more than it asks for technique.

You can ride, but you have stalled

1. The terrain you picked is too hard for you
2. You are not sure what you are missing
3. You cannot adapt to a new technique

What one specialty lesson covers

Over a full day, a coach starts with the idea and the technique. What this stage needs most is mileage: the coach adjusts the technique you already have, then takes you to use different techniques on different terrain, which is where specialty lessons come into their own.