How to ride a rail??

[jaywbigred]

Yesterday I had the day at Stratton. It was pretty cold and plenty windy (the Gondola was on wind hold all day), so in the afternoon the gf said she was done riding the 6-pack [Ursa?] to the summit. So we skied the bottom half of the mountain (mostly boring), and to keep myself somewhat entertained, I spent the beginning of each run in the mini-park trying to learn to do a rail properly. I fell a bunch...eventually, I got a little better, realizing I actually had to lean slightly forwards to ride a flat ski (rather than leaning slightly back & edging, which was my instinct, ala sideslipping).

But does anyone have any illuminating tips as to how properly ride a rail (with skis perpendicular to the rail)? I'd like to learn.

And if you consider yourself a competent rail rider, how did you learn? Lots of bruises?

 

[djspookman]

Keep the edges flat on the rail and it works! Otherwise, you will hipcheck the rail and get bruises galore, practice, practice, practice....good luck!

Dave

 

[ctenidae]

It's easy- you buy a ticket, then you wait on the platform until they tell you what track to be on.

Wait- you're not talking about trains, are you?

 

[ta&idaho]

I gave up pretty quickly, but my friend learned using the following method:

1. pick a warm, slushy day to learn
2. take some pain relievers beforehand
3. drink some beers beforehand
4. don't get intimidated by the six-year-olds that have more park game than you ever will
5. hike back up to do the same rail/box over and over again rather than skiing down to the bottom of the run
6. take some more pain relievers afterwards
7. drink some more beers afterwards

 

[ctenidae]

8. Take solace in teh fact that you can drink beers, while the 6 year old has to stick to Ovaltine.

 

[jaywbigred]

Haha. Well at Stratton the runout below this park is so short that its not worth hiking back up (also I'm lazy). I rode it twice "succesfully"; and probably fell 4 times. Maybe another 4 times I rode it without falling but either came off early, had one ski on and one ski off, or didn't get very perpendicular (so I didn't count it). However, now, I am intrigued...

 

[gladerider]

IMHO, it's tougher on skis than on a board. Here is my 2 cents:
- try to position your skis so that your boots are just over the rail
- slightly bend your knees and legs open shoulder width. when you get better, try putting closer

jibbing....

 

[jaywbigred]

This line of thought, combined with the storm we got here in NJ yesterday, led me to think how one would go about building his/her own practice rail in a backyard. Anyone have ideas? Its probably a moot point bc the snow is going to be washed away today, but I def. thought about it for awhile last night. None of the obvious solutions seemed tenable: Rails already used as handrails are obviously too dangerous for a beginner; items in the basement that are long enough are all lumber, i.e. wood, and probably not good to slide on (maybe covered in ice?)...so what would one do ?

 

[Paul]

Use a 2x4 wrapped with aluminum flashing? I dunno, just thinking out loud...