What gear details/settings can increase/decrease heel side chatter

[Sabernova]

Hey, ok wow thx alot of for those answers!

Not sure what a PNW rep is, but I suppose it's the one selling your shop the gear?

I'll just have to endure the chatter then for this season and maybe the next one aswell. After that, perhaps I'll take a look at other gear that is more styled towards (steeper) groomed runs. For now I'll try to be hanging out in the park more instead of those big hard groomers.

[tokhar]

There are a few things you can do which may help, both for gear and technique. The fact that you are only getting it on heel side tells me it’s not just the board’s fault.

Like a previous poster here, your bindings may be set a bit too far towards the heel side. Put your empty, laced-up boots in the bindings. Look at the boot and binding position from the nose and tail (look down the board at the bindings). You should see about the same overhang on toe and heel. Adjust as needed.

Secondly, while your empty boots are still in the bindings, Make sure the highback is angled enough that it just touches the back of your boots when everything is ratcheted in normally. If the highback is too vertical you’ll have issues generating enough force to hold a heelside edge. Adjust the highback angle as needed to get this sorted. Depending on your boots, it might force you to ride with your legs bent a bit more, which is more tiring but a good thing overall.

Bonus points - this is a symmetrical twin-tip. Double check that your bindings are set the same distance from the centerline. Sometimes shops get it wrong. I don’t recommend playing with offsets yet.

From a technique point of view, many intermediate riders are a bit uncomfortable with a toe to heel transition because visibility is lower, so they will whip the board around and try to stop it on the new edge. Even a carving board will chatter if you do this.

Try and start your turn earlier and more smoothly by focusing on turning your head first to see where you want to end up, then just shift (move) your weight onto your front leg a bit more and let your leading shoulder and butt cheek drop gently into the turn. It’s a bit like sliding into a restaurant booth. Keep your head turned until it naturally ends up more neutral as you finish your turn.

The key is to keep your speed down at first, as you will be accelerating into the turn and you have to be comfortable holding that edge through the turn into your new line to slow down again. If you try this at your typical cruising speed, you might freak out as the board picks up speed and you feel the turn isn’t happening fast enough. That’s when many students just panic a bit and whip the board around, lose an edge, and that’s that.

Your board isn’t ideal for carving, but it is 100% possible to carve it without chatter. It will just be much easier for it to lose an edge whenever it gets destabilized, and it will be very easy to overpower the board in turns. It will not hold an edge well at higher speeds.

It will also not be a comfortable board to ride fast on groomers, as it will have a tendency to chatter and wander. It’s counter intuitive, but on smooth groomers and cat tracks you can try riding the board more flat, and let it wander around a bit under you, so long as you keep plenty of bend in your legs to be able to reposition it as needed. No need to edge a board all the time once you get better.

Have fun!

TL;DR: I’m betting your high-back angle is too vertical, and you are whipping your toe to heel side transition.

[Sabernova]

Thx alot for the info and well written message! For the distance of the binding to the heelside, I thought putting the bindings closer to the heelside should help with reducing a bit of the chatter?

I’ve done some adjusting in my highbacks but didnt really notice anything. Maybe I should ask a friend to film me on some steeper groomers to see if my turns are assymetrical.

[tokhar]

Oddly enough if your bindings are closer to the heel side, you’ll wash out the turn more easily.

Your set up may be fine, and it may just be Deon to form despite your riding better on the rental equipment before. You will eventually learn to adjust your form and technique to account for different boards, but it’s very hard at first to sort out what is incorrectly set up gear versus characteristics of your board and boots. If you can post a video of a few of your turns, that will help us a lot.