u/Greamee

Just watched The Odyssey and I found myself being a little torn about the Trojan Horse scenes.

On the one hand, exploring the brutal reality and logistics of the horse and the horrors that Odysseus and crew had to endure worked really well in the story. And it was a unique perspective that no other movie/show provided I think.

On the other hand, this hyper realism didn't mesh well with the mythological nature of the story.

Like, do you honestly think Homer wrote about the horse intending to imply this literally happened? Like actual guys inside a giant wooden horse? And thought about the logistics of how that would go in practice?

Hi all, I'm seeing a lot of people talk about snowboard turns as being on a spectrum from skidding to carving.

While it made some intuitive sense to me at first, I don't think this terminology is ideal and it can confuse people. For one, this terminology breaks down in certain snow conditions such as pow. But also, the range of what skidding is is super wide whereas carving is super narrow.

What I think people are actually trying to describe is steering vs braking. That's the real spectrum in my eyes. Anyway I thought maybe this way of looking at it can help some ppl here so that's why I'm sharing.

So basically:

Braking = slowing yourself down using friction

Steering = altering the direction of your momentum

And this applies to many things, not just snowboarding. Think cars, bikes, skateboards etc. When riding something with wheels, however, the distinction between braking and steering is often super clear. However, when riding snow (or water for that matter when surfing for example), the line blurs a bit.

Most snowboard turns consist of both steering and braking. Steering is done by tilting the board, whereas braking is done by pivoting the board.

Braking without steering results in a speed check.

Steering without braking is carving.

The spectrum in between these two extremes is basically what 95% of all turns are going to be. However, because the line between braking and steering is blurry, many people may not know that they're braking way too much and steering way too little.

Beginner snowboarders rely almost solely on braking as a means to get around the mountain and it works somewhat well but it has a low skill ceiling. Improving as an intermediate means you'll have to develop better steering abilities.

That's why some people are recommending you to learn to carve: it's a good antidote to your braking addiction. Not because carving is the be-all end-all of snowboarding.

People who over-rely on braking will find that learning to carve helps them get to the next level. It helps you unlock steering nice round s turns and then you'll start doing it everywhere even on terrain where you can't carve or don't want to. It even helps in pow because braking in pow usually gets you stuck. Carving teaches you to lead the way with your nose, as you should also do in powder.