List of snowboard tricks Snowboard tricks are aerials or maneuvers
performed on snowboards for fun, or in competitions.
Most often, these maneuvers are performed on obstacles such as jumps, halfpipes, quarterpipes,
hips, handrails, funboxes, or ledges, or on the surface of the snow.
Many have their origins in precursory board sports such as skateboarding and surfing.
Snowboard trick nomenclature Snowboard tricks are named in the same manner
that earlier board sports (skateboarding, surfing) named their maneuvers.
Frontside and backside The identifiers frontside and backside describe
how a trick is performed.
These identifiers are very important technical terms and are commonly misunderstood because
of their different uses for jumps and rails.
For aerial maneuvers, frontside and backside identify the direction of rotation of a spin.
For instance a regular rider doing a frontside spin off a jump would rotate his body counterclockwise
opening his shoulders up so that his "front side" is the first side of his body going
forward off the jump in the first 90 degrees of his spin.
A regular rider doing a backside spin off a jump would rotate his body clockwise closing
his shoulders so that his "back side" is the first side of his body going forward off the
jump in the first 90 degrees of his spin.
For tricks performed on obstacles such as rails, frontside and backside refer to the
direction from which the snowboarder approaches the obstacle.
A regular rider approaching a rail from the left side of the rail would be considered
frontside because the "front side" of his body is facing the rail.
A regular rider approaching a rail from the right side of the rail would be considered
backside because the "back side" of his body is facing the rail.
A regular rider doing a frontside spin onto a rail would rotate his body clockwise and
then land on the rail.
A regular rider doing a backside spin onto a rail would rotate his body counterclockwise
and then land on the rail.
Switch-stance and fakie The terms switch-stance (switch) and fakie
are often used interchangeably in snowboarding, though there is a distinct difference.
The switch identifier refers to any trick that a snowboarder performs while traveling
backwards, or the reverse of his/her natural stance.
A snowboarder can also be said to be riding switch while traveling opposite from his/her
natural stance, when no trick is being performed.
At this time, the leading tip of his board is referred to as the nose.
Alternatively, the identifier fakie has its origin in skateboarding, a discipline where
the feet are not attached to the board, but where the skateboarder's natural stance includes
positioning the trailing foot on the kicked tail of the skateboard.
On a skateboard, fakie refers to an instance where the skateboarder is traveling backwards,
but his/her feet remain in the same position on the skateboard as their natural stance.
Snowboarders will distinguish between fakie and switch, even though their feet never change
position on the snowboard.
The term switch is far more common when describing snowboard tricks, and a switch trick is any
trick that is initiated switch-stance.
Landing switch means that the snowboarder has landed while traveling backwards.
The term fakie will sometimes refer to landing a trick or maneuver performed on a skateboard.
An air-to-fakie for instance, would be a straight air on a vertical feature with no rotation,
and re-entering the same transition.
The rider would land fakie and would therefore be riding switch.
Another common way that the term fakie is used is when the identifier switch creates
a redundant description.
For example, much like skateboarding's conventions, a snowboarder would say fakie ollie, rather
than switch nollie.
Spins Spins are typically performed in 180° increments
due to the nature of the obstacles on which they are performed.
Even in cases where spins are performed on unconventional obstacles, the rotation is
regarded as the nearest increment of 180°, and can be identified by the direction of
approach and landing (regular and switch).
A spin attempted from a jump to a rail is the only time a spin can be referred to in
a 90 degree increment, examples: 270 (between a 180 and 360 degree spin) or 450 (between
a 360 and 540 degree spin).
These spins can be frontside, backside, cab, or switch-backside just like any other spins.
Ulrik Badertscher performed the biggest spin ever landed, a 1620.
The term "Cab" in snowboarding generally refers to any switch-frontside spin (no matter what
the amount of rotation) on any feature (halfpipe, jumps, rails, boxes).
For example, a "switch-frontside 1080 double cork" off a jump would be referred to as a
"cab 1080 double cork".
The term was originally only applied to a switch-frontside 360 in a halfpipe in which
a rider would take off a wall switch, spin 360 degrees frontside, and land on his/her
comfortable stance (regular/goofy).
Therefore the term "Cab" only applied to tricks in the halfpipe in which rotations were in
full 360 increments, such as a "Cab 360" or "Cab 720."
For example, since a switch-frontside 540 would land a rider in the same switch position
he/she took off from in the halfpipe, it was not referred to as a "Cab 540" because the
rider did not take off switch, spin frontside, and land in his/her comfortable stance.
A Half-Cab is a switch-frontside 180 spin.
An alley-oop is a spin performed in a halfpipe or quarterpipe in which the spin is rotated
in the opposite direction of the air.
For example, performing a frontside rotation on the backside wall of a halfpipe, or spinning
clockwise while traveling right-to-left through the air on a quarterpipe would mean the spin
was alley-oop.
Hard Way: A term used when spinning onto a feature or off a jump using your opposite
edge to start the direction of your spin.
Example- If a regular rider was to spin Hard Way front side 270 onto rail, they would start
that spin off their toe side edge.
That would make the trick a Hard Way front side 270.
Opposite of the traditional front side rotation starting with your heel edge.
Same applies to goofy riders.
Slides Slides are tricks performed along the surface
of obstacles like handrails and funboxes.
In skateboarding, slides are distinguished from grinds because some tricks are performed
by sliding on the surface of the skateboard, and others are performed by grinding on the
trucks of the skateboard.
However, because snowboards don't have trucks, the term grind doesn't apply to these types
of maneuvers.
They can still be called grinds.
Many rail maneuvers are identified as frontside or backside, and these refer to the way in
which the snowboarder approaches the obstacle.
Frontside refers to a trick performed where a snowboarder approaches an obstacle that
is in front of the toe edge of his snowboard.
Backside refers to a trick performed in which a snowboarder approaches an obstacle that
is behind the heel edge of his board.
The direction that the snowboarder is facing while riding the obstacle has no bearing on
the frontside or backside identifier.
The frontside and backside identifiers are not used when a snowboarder travels straight
toward the obstacle.
Stalls Stalls in snowboarding are derived from similar
tricks in skateboarding, and are typically performed in halfpipes or on similar obstacles.
Variations have been adapted as snowboards do not have trucks and wheels.
(most if not all stalls are referred to as nose or tail presses in current snowboarding
whether or not they are actually tail and nose stalls or blunt stalls.
blunt stalls are considered to be more stylish forms of nose or tail presses however.)
Miscellaneous tricks and identifiers