Big mountain slopes open riders up to extreme terrain with its natural obstacles, features, and highly variable snow. What worked on the groomers has little chance on these rowdy faces unless you make some adjustments to your game. My goal here (working off the superstar opinions of Jeremy Jones and Neil McNab) is simple. Learn how to control your speed by carving arcs that flow with the mountain. The application however, is more complicated…

Per the judge’s handbook, when they tried to score each individual category,“A problem occurred: one criterion would take too much value because it is easier to use the full scale on jumps than it is for control, fluidity or line. It made it difficult for someone riding steep and fast but with hardly any jumps to score well.”

“The goal of this judging system is to allow any style of riding to win on any given day. Whether a rider’s strength is steep terrain, big airs, technical tricks or speed, each style should be able to win on that day, the rider simply showed the most impressive run utilizing his own strengths….

Liam dropped next showing his “surf-style” of riding alternating between big turns with fresh rooster tails of pow and stop-checking others for instant face shots seemingly at will. We collected down below and then throttled it the remaining way to the lift. The Tavo train had officially left the station….

After exchanging introductions and smiles the moment of truth came. As we walked out of the lodge towards the lift I summoned up my courage and asked, “What’s the plan?” Tavo turned back and smiled only to reply, “Just find some good snow and ride.” And that’s exactly what we did…

With truly accomplished carvers McNab explains, “In the practiced snowboarder, a combination of subtle foot movement to apply pressure along the length of the edge of the board along with a combination of precise edge tilt can accurately define, control and shape the arc….”