Slalom, Long Slalom, Hybrid Slalom... Uhh?

**carve4life** · 07-09-2009 02:11 PM

Guys just help me out, what do these all mean?

I want to start slaloming, I love cruising around and pumping. I just dont know the difference between these types of disciplines. Are the longboards different as well in all three categories?

Thanks!

**mangels** · 07-09-2009 02:17 PM

It all has to do with the way the cones are set out. The spacing between them, wether or not they are offset from each other from side-to-side, and so on. Some types of hills are better for some types of slalom.

An excellent, excellent resource is Slalom! You can find everything you need to know about it there.

Btw - you are gonna LOVE it!!! Welcome aboard.

**carve4life** · 07-09-2009 06:45 PM

Originally Posted by mangels

It all has to do with the way the cones are set out. The spacing between them, wether or not they are offset from each other from side-to-side, and so on. Some types of hills are better for some types of slalom.

An excellent, excellent resource is Slalom! You can find everything you need to know about it there.

Btw - you are gonna LOVE it!!! Welcome aboard.

thanks man! there are so many brands of slalom boards that i really just dont know which to focus on, could you give me a few good brand names? thanks so much and I will visit slalom! Ill see you there!

**hyper whittle** · 07-09-2009 08:34 PM

Originally Posted by carve4life

thanks man! there are so many brands of slalom boards that i really just dont know which to focus on, could you give me a few good brand names? thanks so much and I will visit slalom! Ill see you there!

AXE seems to be good gear, a lot of bang for the buck if you want a complete. Work your way up from there. Skatekings has 'em, they'll help you get the right stuff.

I'm still skating cheap odds n ends, homemades and eBay stuff, but it took a long time to dial this oddball stuff in to where it's right.

2 bills for the right stuff is not bad, and fast!

**LDPanda** · 07-09-2009 09:17 PM

AXE Army is the way to go for your first slalom setup. Email Maria or Richy at Sk8kings for any advice, theyre very helpful.

As for tight/hybrid/gs/sgs, the differences have to do with how the cones are spaced and how steep the hill is but there isnt a clear definition of each, even within the ISSA (the governing body for international slalom competition). Generally though, tight is tightly spaced cones on a milder hill, hybrid has large offsets (side to side distance off the center line) gs (giant slalom) is on a steep hill with larger spacing and sgs (super giant slalom) is even steeper with greater spacing. Theres also ditch and boardercross but theyre not really standard.