Carvers’ Non-Carving Stances

I think my short/fat pow board is +18/+3, just to get my little feet more across the board for better drive.  I also have a bit more of a warrior stance for fore/aft balance.

I use to have my all-mountain at 21/6 for a bit of switch, but I don’t really do much switch and they’re now 21/9 to hold a carve better/easier.

For carving I’m only at 24/12, so not much different.

I ride +21, -6 for trees and powder on a Korua Dart 156, which is a setup I absolutely love. A touch narrow for carving when back on piste but I love the shape of the Dart. Freestyle +18, -18 on a Ride Twinpig 156w, usually when I’m riding with my kiddos. Carving at +33, +15 on a Donek Saber 158 w/ 30cm waist.

For steep freeriding I ride Furburgs at 18/-6.  The Furburgs are almost impossible to carve so I gave up trying and ride them slight duck.  The boards and stance inspire a very different, more playful style, I find myself looking for drops and side hits instead of carving on the cat tracks on my way back to the lift.

However, for open bowl powder riding I prefer my wide NeverSummers and keep the stance around 27/12 posi-posi so I can still carve the groom when I pop out of the trees.

I rode a Korua Dart Plus 156 a few weeks ago in deep Utah powder.  Because the terrain at Pow Mow is not so steep I set it up 27/12 and enjoyed carving the open powder fields.  You can "carve" powder with any stance, the edge pressure is way way lower than on corduroy so there are no issues.  I also set it up posi-posi because I wanted to try to carve it but the groomers got buried early and I wasn't able to get a real test ride.  The handful of "test carves" didn't go well, it felt very slow when I put it high on edge.  (Maybe due to the high taper?)  But again, not a full proper test ride.  Very fun in the powder but I would have preferred the larger size for more speed and float.

I ride 30/15 posi posi on a 165 coiler bxfr with a 265 waist for everything. Carving, powder, trees, steeps, bowls, moguls, everything. Never change it. Once your get used to it, it doesn't seem to matter. I've never gotten to the bottom of a run and thought " that would've been better with different angles".  I don't do any park though and I never ride switch. If everyone is changing their angles for different conditions though maybe I should give it a go.

I should have noted that my stance width varies from 52-55 cm as well, depending on the board.

I generally have a set of bindings for each board, and don’t really muck with the stances on a board.  I’d probably be content with 21/9 at 53cm for most… I just have small tweaks depending on board/purpose.

I’ve gone as small as 50 cm recently on a 148 Powder board, and back in the 90’s I was riding over 58cm.  I’m only 172cm and according to Nidecker my “Natural Stance” is 49cm.  I do tend to go bigger than they recommend (I no longer freestyle) and I wonder if that’s for a bit more fore/aft stability with a posi stance?

On my Rossi Sushi Wide (27.8 wide) I ride 24 front, 18 rear with 29.0 boots and Ride A10 bindings.  If it were narrower, I would ride an angle appropriate to keeping my heels and toes over the edges.  For context, I ride both Coiler BXFR's with 27.0 waist at 36F, 33R.  The Rossi still carves well despite it's goofy appearance.  I could never understand the point of duck stance unless you are riding switch/fakie.  

@deuxdiesel 

3DogNight here, Howdy. Having grown up surfing all of my life, now at 76 years old, I ride a try fin surfboard in the 7'6" range. One stands over th fins with the back foot on that style of board when aggressively riding. I've looked down while riding and would guess my back foot is at -5 to -9?? That feels good for pushing the tail around. I ride my old Burtonj Fish pow board in the setback position with similar foot positions. In the 90's I got a Pure Carve [surf style carving] with Catech binds//hard boots rode posi-posi . I have an 11.5 foot so I rode settings at stepper angles. After a # of injuries I gave up on Hard boot carving and got a Donek Flux rode soft boot posi-posi but at a lesser angle, Watched Knapton on his Twin, got one and rode it 15,-15 figured I'd be riding like him, NOT! So-- , I can carve reasonably well duck or posi but seeing what Cherry is capable of and his teachingg, it only make sense to carve in a posi stance but I ride the crud or pow in a bit of a duck. Just ride what feels best!