by: Jack Michaud
December 1996
So you thought you were getting the latest and greatest of snowboarding technology when you bought that asymmetric alpine board right? Asyms are the furthest possible progression in snowboard geometry right? Well, think again!
If you’ve been looking around your favorite mountain in the past couple of seasons and you’ve noticed that the majority of hot shot carvers are retro-fitting themselves with good ol’ symmetrical alpine boards, there is a reason. It’s not because someone came along and told them all that asyms were no longer in vogue, it’s because people have discovered that riding a symmetrical snowboard with a more advanced technique works better for many styles of racing and alpine freecarving. But as with all learning processes, it took time for people to reach this conclusion, and asyms were a vital step along the way. Here is one interpretation of the progression of carving technique that lead to the rise and fall of asymmetry.
When people first started snowboarding they stood with their back foot straight across the board and stood sideways like a surfer. The weight transition from edge to edge went from heel to toe and vice versa. With the body sideways, in line with the board, the transition went in a direction straight across the board, hence the boards were symmetric (duh).
Then, people like Peter Bauer, Jean Nerva and Jose Fernandes started getting smart and angling both their feet like only the front one had been before.This helped the legs work together and carving became more comfortable and stable. The weight transition again went from heel to toe, along the angle of the bindings. With both feet angled, this resulted in a diagonal transfer from edge to edge. That’s when the concept of asymmetry was born. This worked to compensate for what we now know is a not-so-good technique, that is, hanging your butt out a.k.a. “sitting on the toilet”. This was the last tie that snowboard racers had with their aquatic surfing ancestors.
People like Shannon Melhuse, Mike Jacoby and many others began to understand that they could hold a better edge while carving by keeping more of their body mass closer to the board. This meant, on a heel side carve, tucking your butt in over the board. To accomplish this, you must square your hips and shoulders to the direction of board travel. The most efficient way to carve is to keep the hips square and simply take the hips (center of gravity) straight across the board and drop them into the next carve while keeping the shoulders level to the hill. The weight transition happens in a line straight across the board between the bindings. This is when the concept of symmetry was reborn, and it is good!
This is not to say, however, that it is impossible to efficiently and effectively carve an asym. Asyms are still the weapon of choice for many successful slalom racers. Peter Bauer is living proof. Many people maintain that asyms are superior in slalom, where only moderate stance angles are used to maximize foot leverage across the board. In slalom, the board moves quickly back and forth underneath the body, and the hips and shoulders do not remain square to the board throughout each turn.
Peter Bauer and Jean Nerva have developed their own way of carving smoothly, asymmetrically, but anybody who tries to imitate them only ends up sliding on icy conditions. But you’ll notice that Peter Bauer and Jean Nerva are only slalom racers. That’s because their technique doesn’t work in a GS race. Sure, they are the masters of the “Euro-carve”, but that is no way to take yourself down a GS race course. You will also notice that they don’t waste time riding any sub-standard carving snow conditions!
Asym boards depend on you making the edge transfer from heel to toe and viceversa. This is what you do in slalom, because it’s quicker due to more leverage. That is why Bauer only stands at about 45 degrees to the board. Anything more than that, and you lose the asym advantage. When you ride symmetrically, you use the sides of your boots more, and the edge transition happens more as a result of a rolling of the knees. Asyms are not any more turny than symmetricals.
Efficient asymmetric riding can be achieved, but the difference in quickness between it and efficient symmetric riding is the difference in lengths between a diagonal and a perpendicular line across your board. If you were to ride with square shoulders and hips, keeping body mass close to the edge on an asym, you have to make motions to compensate for the offset. Therefore, symmetrical riding will always be more efficient and stable for GS or Super-G types of carving.
Also, the concept of deeper heelside sidecuts is no longer necessary on the new symmetrical boards. With the new symmetrical carving style, one can get the board up on heelside just as high as you would want and crank the same radius turns as on toeside. If you ride asym, and you are still doing the deep knee bends on heelside and facing the fall-line (sitting on the toilet), then it is true that you can’t get the board up as high. Your butt would hit the snow before you got the board up high enough. The symmetric riding style gets your butt out of the way, and you are in full control of your edge angle.
So try out a symmetrical Alpine board, maybe take an advanced lesson, and see if you agree that you’ve been missing something. If you feel like your carving has reached a plateau, or that pesky heelside just keeps letting you down, symmetry could be your remedy. And if for no other reason, symmetrical snowboards can give you one more excuse to go out and treat yourself to yet another snowboard. After all, one can never have too many snowboards hanging around, and you wouldn’t want to get left behind in the times, now would you?