How To Ride Catwalks

I have lived in Vail for the past 13 winters, if you have ever been here you know this is catwalk central, there is a freakin’ catwalk wherever you want to go.  I love it here, I have gone to other mountains only to come back here.   May be it’s the 5,000  acres and hidden treasures.   The one thing though is the catwalks.  I know the mountain pretty good now so I know where to keep my speed, what to avoid and what time of the day to be at a certain run....I’ve gotten pretty good at avoiding tourists and their crazy ways.

When I have friends come visit, I like to show them my mountain........ by the end of the day they are telling me... “please no more catwalks”   To get to certain spots, killer spots you do have to ride the catwalks.   

My first year here, I remember the sharp shooting pain in my calves, the major painful wipe outs, only to find out you lost all of your speed and now you have to walk or just simply having to unstrap ‘cause the speed is all gone.

Lets just say that last year I separated my shoulder doing butters on a catwalk, I guess I was going a little too fast.  

First of all, make sure you have the right wax and if you have a hook up for a tune shop get the right structure for  the snow you will be riding, this will make you go faster anywhere.
 
2nd- Look where you are going, your goal, may be the end of the catwalk, look ahead, not down.

3rd- Stay flat on your board, don’t use your edges, only when necessary, only if you loose your balance. 

4th - Bend your knees, still stay flat on the ground, kind of like if you where sitting.
 
5th- Pump any little downhill you may encounter, use your back leg, bend it and use the same shoulder to push down, tilt back a little bit while you do that.

Hope this helps, don’t let the haters tell you that the mountain you ride is not hard core or that it sucks, the rider makes any terrain hard core and an amazing experience.  Use the catwalks to practice your butters, 180˚ and 360˚.

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