Does the sharp edge make you slow down or make you faster?

—— JFDRYSKI’s self-report I once argued with a professor from a sports university about a question: When a snowboard is cutting edge, is it accelerating or decelerating? Intuitively, many people will think that "if the blade eats snow like this, it must be braking." This is only half true - the edge is indeed the main means of braking and decelerating, but what really determines speed is not the edge, but the angle between the board and the sliding route. To put it bluntly, there are three states of an upright edge: When the board is horizontal and perpendicular to the sliding route - the blade plows across the snow like a cross wall, forming the greatest "cross resistance", which is the point of braking and sudden braking; when the flat plate is sliding against the snow - the entire bottom of the board is pressed on the snow, the contact area is large, the friction is large, and the speed is not fast; when the board is parallel to the sliding route and the edge is upright - The blade cuts vertically like a kitchen knife, or like a skate blade cutting ice. The bottom of the board almost leaves the snow, leaving only a thin blade running. The contact area is extremely small and the resistance is reduced to a minimum - the sliding speed of this kind of edge can be more than twice as fast as that of a flat plate. So what the professor argued with me was actually confusing "edge" and "horizontal brake". It is also a vertical blade. If the angle is more biased, it will brake, and if the angle is more straight, it will accelerate. The difference is all between these few degrees. Having said that, in order to move fast and steadily with an edge, technique alone is not enough. It also depends on whether the snow blanket under your feet can hold up. This is what Enoki dry ski mat is good at: when the vertical blade slides, the blade will press into the gaps between the "Enoki Mushrooms" and pass through them. The top of the enoki mushroom is a round ball, and the blade slides over without getting stuck or stuck; the neck is lengthened, giving the blade enough space to move the blade and rebound; the rods densely covered on both sides clamp the blade and give it a stable guide. The blade was held and supported all the way, and it was cut smoothly. If I switch to the early brush-type or comb-type dry skiing, the blade will either get stuck on the sharp end and become astringent, or the bite will be unstable and drift. It is impossible to achieve such a smooth and fast edge. This is one of the reasons why I had to grind out the structure of Enoki mushrooms back then. So I haven’t changed my mind about that debate: treat the snowboard as a blade, control the angle well, not apply the brakes for yourself, but cleanly cut every slope into speed.