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Carving

There are a lot of ways to ride a snowboard, but carving on groomed trails is what interests me the most. Carving is making a turn by tilting the board on its edge and using the shape of the board to make the turn happen, without skidding the tail of the board around. The boards I like the most are known as "carving" or "alpine" boards and are designed to carve well, being stiffer, narrower and having longer, straighter edges than the more common "freeride/freestyle" snowboards. Most of my boards are made for racing. Hard-shell plastic boots similar to ski boots are used with these boards, as well as special bindings that are designed for a solid, precise connection to the board without a lot of flex. Instead of facing nearly sideways as is done on most snowboards, alpine/carving board setups have the rider facing more forward.