Effect of Heel Pitch on Skating Backwards

[tstop4me]

I'm spinning off this topic from FigureSpins thread on Vendor Questions:

Jackson will allow you to order three different types of heels/soles on their higher-end boots, but not on the lower-end that can be ordered with blades, like the Freestyle.  Rats - I don't like their Fusion sole - the heel pitch makes skaters with weaker core strength lean forward while skating backwards, which is really bad for Pre-Juv Moves and above - those backward three turns are hard if you can't sit back on the heel.

<<Emphasis added>>

About 5 yrs ago, I switched from an old pair of Riedell Royal to Jackson Elite Suede.  One difference was that the Jacksons had a substantially higher heel pitch than the Riedells.  It didn't affect my forward maneuvers much, but there was a startling effect on my backward maneuvers:  I would pitch forward toward the toes.  Two skate techs at the pro shop I bought the boots from were also coaches, ex competitive skaters, and ex pro skaters.  They both told me that was normal when transitioning to boots with higher heel pitches.  But neither one could explain why the stronger effect when going backwards than forwards.  I did learn to compensate by shifting my weight further back.

Your comment also focussed on the effect of higher heel pitch on going backwards.  Why doesn't it also have an effect on going forwards?

[masterblaster]

I've experienced this too when switching to boots with a higher heel pitch.

My explanation is that, when skating backward, something (I suspect this is what your question is about, but I don't know exactly what the 'something' is) about your position and centre of gravity causes your weight to naturally plant farther forward on your blades.

The higher heel pitch has this same effect, puts your weight farther forward on your blade whether you're going forward or backward, but you probably notice it more backward since the effect is basically doubled.

Add some insoles that boost your heel slightly to all of this, and you'll notice sudden and dramatic toepick scraping going backward!