Why do snowboarders go side to side when going down a mountain or hillside?
In: Physics
Without carving from side to side, you will lose control very quickly, putting yourself and other riders in danger.
The same reason skiers tend to wind back and forth down the hill instead of going straight down. You’ll gain the most speed by heading straight down the side, but unless you are an expert at the sport, it’s hard to maintain control at high speeds. By making a more winding path with more contact with snow, you can regulate your speed to something more controllable.
Carving (for both skiing and snowboarding) is an athletic skill. It requires leg strength, agility, and coordination. This technique is what makes snowboarding a sport instead of a mode of transportation. Yes, you could go straight downhill (which some do), but there is no excitement to that.
Take another sport like sailing, for example. If your only goal was to go fast on water, you would get a speed boat. However, some people enjoy the challenge of sailing. Their goal isn’t to go as fast as absolutely possible, but to engage in a multitasking athletic activity. They do want to go fast, but fast within certain limitations. Running with hurdles is a another example. If you only cared about speed, you wouldn’t put obstacles in front of you. However, the challenge of hurdles is running and jumping. It increases the level of difficulty, and some enjoy that extra challenge.
If you point your skis or snowboard straight downhill, you’ll get to unsafe speeds very quickly. The side-to-side motion (sometimes called “traversing”) just helps you choose how fast you want to go.
Because pointing it straight down the hill means you’ll be going too fast and when something appears in your path, you will not be able to stop safely in time and you’ll probably hurt yourself.
Source: did it, got concussion, injured tailbone.
“Pick a side or the board will pick one for you” is what my boarding school teacher used to say.
So even while going downhill to gather speed for a more even part of the slope, having a little side to side motion gives you more control over the board and prevents unexpected movements
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