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Snowboard Stance
The binding setup, or stance, of a snowboard offers an endless variation in binding angles and positions. Most snowboarders have tried a lot of setups before choosing a particular one. I have written this article with the intention of giving solid advice and explaining more about the why of different setups. I have also tried to give the source of particular items whenever possible -- all the information in this article eventually comes from magazines, the internet and conversations with experienced- and professional snowboarders. Unfortunately, there exist many different opinions about snowboard stances and not one of them seems to prevail. In the end, there is no "best" setup and it still comes down to personal preference. Hopefully, this article will at least help you to find a setup that fits you well! Have fun, Daan Leijen. [mail , www]
Disclaimer: Although I have been very careful with all the provided information, I don't make any claim whatsoever regarding the accuracy or safety of anything in this article. Any item that may appear to be offering either medical or legal advice is doing neither.
Contents
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Stance angles What angles are right for me? To duck or not to duck? Stance centering Stance width Stance offset Stance kind What setups do the professionals use? Links
Stance angles
The stance angles are the angles of the bindings with the width of the board. Normally, you can find these angles on the binding plates. You can change the angles by unscrewing the binding, turning it and fasten it again. Some (rental) setups have an easy clip system where you can simply push a button to change the angles. The angles are normally written like "+21/+6", which means 21 degrees for the front angle and 6 degrees for the back angle. There is no official way of classifying stance angles, but I think that all sensible setups can basically be categorized into alpine-, forward-, and duck stance. The snowboard styles with the alpine- and forward stance are quite similar, with both knees and the upper body pointing forward. The snowboard style with duck stance differs from the previous stances, with the rear knee pointing backwards and the upper body aligned with the board. All styles have in common that your body (and especially your knees) should always be in a natural position. For example, the rear angle should never be larger than the front angle. Needless to say that your knees will have a bad time otherwise. (This may seem obvious to you but I have seen people off piste with a setup of +30/+40 :-) Alpine stance This setup is used for alpine (or race, or carve) boards. These stiff boards are narrow and have a square tail. These boards are used with hard boots and the stance angles for this setup are steep: the front and rear angles are anywhere between +70 and http://www.cs.uu.nl/~daan/snow/stance.html 12/16/2005
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+35 degrees. This style allows for aggressive carving and is thus well suited for racing contests. The stance on an alpine board is nowadays more or less determined by the width of the board with respect to your feet (instead of some fixed angles). In order to maintain good control in short turns, the difference between the front- and rear angle should be at least 5. Forward stance This is the most common stance setup used on regular freerideand freestyle boards. The front angle can be between +40 and +15 degrees and the rear angle anywhere between +30 and 0 degrees. With the resulting snowboard style, both knees point forward and the shoulders are aligned with the feet. Anatomically, it is a good idea to make the difference between the front- and rear angle not too large, say, less than 21 degrees. A common all-mountain setup is +21 on the front and +6 on the rear. A common, more carve oriented, stance is +30/+15 (and some people say that this is also a good stance for learning snowboarding). Duck stance This setup is not so common nowadays but it is seen frequently in the half-pipe. With duck stance, the front angle is anywhere between 30 and 0 degrees while the rear angle is negative, between -1 and -20. With this snowboard style, the front knee points forward while the rear knee points backward. The upper body is aligned with the snowboard. Anatomically, one should keep the difference between both angles large enough, say, more than 10, i.e. a 0/0 degree setup is not very good for the knees since they are forced to point inward. Common setups are "laid back" +18/-6 and "mirror" +15/-15.
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Drawing 2 shows a setup with too much angle. This makes it harder to do fast transitions in short and medium sized turns.
(drawings by: hot snowboards)
Stance centering
Stance centering means that your feet should always be centered and aligned with respect to the width of your board. This is extremely http://www.cs.uu.nl/~daan/snow/stance.html 12/16/2005
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important -- I once had one of my bindings off-center and it took me at least a month before I discovered why my turn completions were unstable. When both bindings are off-center, it is not so bad, but your turns will be inconsistent: short turns on one side, forced turns on the other. A centered stance on the other hand, leads to balanced turns and reduces the likelihood of catching an edge when the board is pointed down the fall line.. The feet should be centered on the board -- this normally corresponds with the disks on the bindings being centered but that doesn't have to be the case. The best way to center the bindings is to put on your boots and bindings on and feel very carefully where your feet are with respect to the binding discs. Than, you can shift both bindings to center your feet on the board. Some bindings have a fixed heel cup (Burton, Flow) and you need to shift the discs. Other bindings have a heel cup which can be shifted forward or backward in order to change the position of the boot.
Stance width
The stance width is the distance between the centers of both bindings. The stance width depends mostly on your height. The width should be roughly equal to the distance from the middle of your kneecap to the ground, or about 1 inch (2.5 cm) more than the width of your shoulders. If you have chosen the right board for your length (a board up to your chin!), this should be about the same as distance between the default holes on the board. The stance width has quite some effect on your board control and you can feel even small differences in the stance width. A wider stance will give more stability but makes the turn transitions harder. The reverse holds for a smaller stance width. A wide stance is sometimes used by freestyle snowboarders while a narrow stance is often seen on alpine boards. My personal advice is to use your natural stance and to stick with the default holes on the board (if you have bought a snowboard that fits you well!). I recommend not to vary too much with the stance width unless you're an expert snowboarder. The following table gives a rough indication of a good stance-width relative to your height for normal boards. Use the lower bounds when your board is shorter than 1.55 m. (source: Snow Board Canada magazine). height (m) < 1.54 1.56 to 1.62 1.65 to 1.72 1.75 to 1.82 > 1.82 height (feet) < 5'1" 5'2" to 5'4" 5'5" to 5'8" 5'9" to 6' > 6' width (inch) 17-18 18-19 19-20 20-21 22-23 12/16/2005
http://www.cs.uu.nl/~daan/snow/stance.html
Everything about snowboard stance Here are some formulas to determine the stance width. (source: hot snowboards). normal board male female 0.29 * height 0.27 * height alpine board 0.275 * height 0.265 * height
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Stance kind
The stance kind determines which leg is in front. If it is your left foot, you are regular and otherwise you are goofy. About 80% of the snowboarders are regular. Using the right stance kind makes it much easier to learn snowboarding. You can only know your stance kind by trying it out on the first day of snowboarding -- you will feel the difference http://www.cs.uu.nl/~daan/snow/stance.html 12/16/2005
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immediately! A quick test will give you a good hint before renting the snowboard for the first time. Try to slide on the kitchen floor with your socks; the foot that is in front normally corresponds with your stance.
http://www.cs.uu.nl/~daan/snow/stance.html
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*) The stance angles of Shaun White are different on the Burton site: +15/-6.
Setups of famous big mountain riders. (I would like to extend this table with more riders -- please send me a mail if you know the stance angles of good freeriders, like Jeremy Jones, Gilles Voirol, Ashley Call, ...). name Victoria Jealouse Axel Pauporte Jim Rippey Johan Olofsson Craig Kelly Stephen Koch stance angles stance width stance offset stance category source +21/ 0 +27/ 0 +21/+6 +27/+6 +27/+9 +40/+30 20.5 forward forward forward forward forward alpine burton heckler burton burton burton burton
The setups of the US40/Santa Cruz boardercross team. Source: US40 (2001). name Cri Maierhofer Ine Ptzl Fabo Bonacina Berti Denervaud Tor Bruserud Philippe Conte stance angles stance width stance offset stance category +30/+5 +33/+5 +27/+6 +24/+9 +33/+9 +27/+15 20.3 19.1 21.1 21.1 20.7 20.7 forward forward forward forward forward forward
Setups of the Burton 2002 team (mostly freestyle). Source: Burton (2002). name Shaun White* Romain de Marchi David Carrier Porcheron Stefan Gimple Trevor Andrew Jussi Oksanen stance angles stance width stance offset stance category +15/-6 +24/-6 +15/-3 +18/-3 +15/ 0 +15/ 0 20 duck duck duck duck forward forward
http://www.cs.uu.nl/~daan/snow/stance.html
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Everything about snowboard stance Keir Dillon Gigi Ruf Natasha Eva Zurek Victoria Jealouse Dave Downing Anne Molin Kongsgaard Nicola Thost Shannon Dunn Jim Rippey Johan Olofsson Terje Haakonsen Ross Powers +18/ 0 +18/ 0 +18/ 0 +21/ 0 +18/+3 +27/+3 +27/+3 +18/+6 +21/+6 +27/+6 +21/+9 +21/+9 21 21 0 20 1 forward forward forward forward forward forward forward forward forward forward forward forward
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*) The stance angles of Shaun White are different in the Onboard buyer's guide: +15/+4.
The setups of the (freestyle (railslide!)) Forum team members. Source: Forum winter collection folder (2000-2001). name Nathan Bozung Chris Dufficy JP Walker Jeremy Jones* Peter Line Devun Walsh Mike Page Joni Malmi Bjorn Leines Mikko Sjoblom +24/-18 +18/-15 +18/-15 +20/-15 +29/-15 +26/-8 +17/-9 +18/-9 +27/-9 21.75 20.5 stance angles stance width stance offset stance category 22 23 21.75 22 20.5 21 22.5 1.5 duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck duck
*) This is not the same Jeremy Jones who descends steep slopes in Alaska. The latest Optigrab movevie (TB10) has a short shot of the board setup of the "Rossignol" Jeremy Jones, which shows a (goofy) forward stance, around +21/+6.
As a dutchman, I couldn't resist to give the setups of the Dutch (freestyle) Doritos team. Source: Ultimate Snowboarding site (2001) & Deep magazine (2001).
http://www.cs.uu.nl/~daan/snow/stance.html
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Everything about snowboard stance name Tijs Goossens Marc van der Meer Jody Koenders Bo Schenk Anne Fleur Eiff Erik van Kammen Marc v/d Meer (half-pipe) Luc Daniel van Ommen Patrick van der Graaff stance angles stance width stance offset stance category +21/-15 +27/-12 +20/-4 +12/ 0 +18/ 0 +24/+3 +27/+3 +15/+6 +21/+6 20.7 2.4 22.5 20.7 19.9 20.7 23 duck duck duck forward forward forward forward forward forward
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The setups of some French snowboard guides that I had lessons from. Allthough the angles seem quite extreme, you have to keep in mind that these people spend a lot of time on their snowboards in extremely versatile terrain and conditions. (2000 - 2001). name Hughes, La Plagne Valerie, Les Deux Alpes stance angles stance width stance offset stance category +20/-20 +15/-15 0 duck duck
The average stances of professional riders from different snowboarding disciplines (might be a bit outdated). Source: Transworld Snowboarding. discipline SlopeStyle Halfpipe Freeride Slalom Super G GS stance angles stance width stance offset stance category +12/ 0 +17/+2 +22/+7 +49.2/+47.2 +49.4/+47.4 +49.6/+47.6 21.3 20.7 21.1 17 17.2 17 1 0.5 1.7 0.4 0.45 0.44 forward forward forward alpine alpine alpine
Recommended stance angles from the Snow Board Canada magazine. style Halfpipe stance angles stance width stance offset stance category +10/+5 forward
http://www.cs.uu.nl/~daan/snow/stance.html
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Everything about snowboard stance Park Beginner Freeride Extreme Freecarving Racing, asymetrical Racing, symetrical +15/+5 +25/+15 +25/+15 +25/+15 +45/+35 +50/+45 +65/+60 forward forward forward forward alpine alpine alpine
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Links
Everything about setting up and buying your gear:
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How to determine your stance, solid advice. Snowboard buyer's guide, a must-read before you buy a snowboard. Choose the perfect board, more good advice before you buy a snowboard. Snowboard faq, lot's of answers on lot's of questions.
Alpine boarders:
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Hot snowboards, good pages with lots of technical advice. Bomber online, a forum for carvers.
Extreme carving, inspiring site with excellent advice on snowboard technique. Cern skiclub, a great page for learning snowboarding and advanced snowboard techniques.
Sanity: why you absolutely need to wear wristguards and why a helmet is a good idea too:
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Snowboarding injuries, a great overview with good advice -- a must read! Snowboarding injuries, statistics.
Good odds And, even better, your chances of dying as a result of one of those [snowboard] accidents, youll be pleased to hear, is about one in 5,000,000. In other words, youre twenty times more likely to be struck by lightning. Tell you what, though, if youre not chasing mortuary air youll be fine. Just stay out of the next twenty electrical storms...! (Source: 280north)
http://www.cs.uu.nl/~daan/snow/stance.html
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