“Look through the landing”

A simple note in my phone a while ago:

“Glance at where the initial contact will be… then look through the landing.”

It’s one of those ideas that seems almost too simple to matter.

But the more I watch riders — especially when learning new tricks — the more obvious it becomes how important it is.

Because the eyes are often doing something completely different to what the body needs.

Sometimes riders stare straight down at their board.

Sometimes they’re looking at their feet.

Sometimes their eyes are bouncing around everywhere like they’ve just dropped their car keys in the snow.

And that matters more than people realise.

Because where you look has a huge influence on how your body organises itself.

This applies to a lot of things: drops, jumps, rails…

Your eyes gather information about where the movement begins…

Then they move ahead to where the movement finishes.

That simple shift does two important things:

It gives your brain time to organise the movement,
and it allows your body to stay stacked and balanced.

Beginners vs Experienced Riders

One interesting thing sports science has shown is that beginners often gather a lot of visual information — but much of it isn’t useful.

The brain has a limited amount of attention it can process at any moment.

If your attention is scattered across too many things — your board, your feet, the snow right in front of you — the brain ends up trying to organise movement from a pile of mixed signals.

Experienced riders tend to filter that visual noise out.

Their gaze settles earlier on the cues that actually guide the movement.

Their brain simply knows what information matters.

The Quiet Eye

Sports scientists have actually studied this difference quite a bit.

One of the most consistent findings is something called the Quiet Eye, discovered by sports scientist Joan Vickers.

The Quiet Eye describes the final steady gaze an athlete holds on an important visual target before executing a movement.

Elite performers tend to:

• fix their gaze earlier
• hold it steady for longer
• focus on the most important cue

Beginners tend to:

• move their eyes around more
• change focus frequently
• look too late

That steady gaze gives the brain time to organise balance, timing, and body position.

Which is exactly why spotting works so well.

Your Eyes Help Stack Your Body

Your eyes don’t just gather information.

They influence posture.

Your head follows your eyes.
Your spine follows your head.
Your balance follows your spine.

So where you look can directly affect whether your body is stacked over the board… or collapsing somewhere else.

We see this constantly when teaching beginners.

The Classic Toeside Example

Think about someone learning toeside side slipping.

What do they often do?

They look straight down at their board.

As soon as they do that:

• their head drops
• their shoulders round forward
• they hinge at the hips

And suddenly their mass is no longer stacked over the edge.

The fix we usually give is simple:

“Look up.”

And almost instantly their body position improves.

That same idea applies everywhere else in riding.

Drops and Landings

When approaching a drop, riders often stare at the first point of contact or the board.

Instead, try this:

Glance at the takeoff to judge distance and trajectory.

Then move your eyes to the landing.

As you are about to land, look through the landing into the space you’re about to ride through — just like you normally would when riding around the mountain.

This helps your body organise the landing and keeps your posture strong.

Looking down at your board while landing often leads to the same problems we see with beginners:

• collapsing at the hips
• stiffening up
• losing balance

In general, our body follows our gaze.

Good riders move their vision ahead of the movement.

Their brain is always slightly ahead of their body.

Final Thought

Your eyes are one of the most powerful tools you have when riding.

They influence:

• balance
• posture
• timing
• orientation

Beginners often end up looking at everything:

The board.
Their feet.
The snow right in front of them.

The brain ends up processing a bunch of information that doesn’t actually help the movement.

Experienced riders filter that visual noise out and settle their gaze on the cues that actually organise the ride.

— Cam