Snowboard tricks are something everyone wants to be good at whether they are just a beginner or are a seasoned veteran. Spins and grabs are usually the first things you want to do when you learn how to snowboard. But after awhile your progression takes you to into the park where there are pipe tricks, rails, boxes, jibbing, buttering and more.
Below is our list of snowboard tricks and links to videos that will help you learn how to do these tricks. Enjoy!
The Basics
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Switch Riding
Switch riding is performed when you ride in the reverse of your natural stance. i.e. Goofy instead of Regular
Frontside vs Backside
Frontside is any spin where you face the direction of travel in the first 180 degrees.
Backside is any spin where your back faces the direction of travel in the first 180 degrees.
CAB is riding switch into a frontside spin. AKA switch frontside.
Switch backside is riding switch into a backside spin.
Buttering
Buttering is done while you are riding on the snow. Basically its done by applying pressure to your nose or tail so that the other side of the board raises above of the snow. Think of a knife “buttering” a piece of bread.
We have a great video that will explain how to butter on a snowboard in no time.
Straight Airs
New To Jumping? Check Out This Video Jumping Tutorial!
Ollie
Popping off the tail of the board.
Nollie
Popping off the nose of the board.
Switch ollie
While riding switch, do an ollie.
Fakie ollie
While riding backwards, pop off of your ‘new nose’
Shifty
Counter rotate your upper and lower body in either a frontside or backside air.
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Spinning
Spinning tricks are all based off of 180° progressions. So they start at 180° and advance through 360°, 540°, 720° and beyond. Add a grab to a spin to amp up the steez factor.
Below are some great tutorials on how to get started spinning.
Just starting out with spins? Check this video on How to 180 on a Snowboard
Looking for something more advanced? Check this video on How To 360 & Beyond
Grabbing
The list of snowboard grabs that you can do is long indeed and with variations in names we decided to show you visually the plethora of grabs you can do. The graphic is for a regular stance rider so simply reverse it if you are goofy. The most common grabs are Indie, Mute, Melon, Stalefish, Tail, Nose and Method. This list is not exhaustive as there are variations on variations out there.
Created by Wikipedia user Nlin86
Jibbing/Sliding
Jibbing is when you ride on any surface that is not snow. When learning how to jib/slide rails and boxes you will hear frontside or backside thrown around. In this case, it is referring to the edge in which you approach the obstacle.
Frontside is when the object you want to slide is in front of your toe edge.
Backside is when the object you want to slide is behind your heel edge. This list is not exhaustive as there are variations on variations out there.
Check out these great videos all about jibbing!
50-50
Slide straight over the rail, box or whatever.
Boardslide
Front foot moves over the object, you slide perpendicular, the object passes between the center of your bindings.
Check out this great video on how to do a boardslide.
Lipslide
Back foot moves over the object, you slide perpendicular, the object passes between the center of your bindings.
Blunt Slide
You slide perpendicular using the tail of your board with the nose raised up over the obstacle.
Nose Blunt
Like the blunt slide except using the nose of your board to slide and the tail raised.
Nose Slide
You slide perpendicular using the nose of the board along the obstacle.
Tail Slide
You slide perpendicular using the tail of the board along the obstacle.
Nose Press
You slide straight over the obstacle with pressure on the nose and the tail raised.
Tail Press
You slide straight over the obstacle with pressure on the tail and the nose raised.
Flipping and Inverting
Flips and inverts are obviously more advanced tricks for seasoned riders. This is where a trampoline in the off season comes in handy! This list is not exhaustive as there are variations on variations out there.
Back flip
Rotating backwards in air.
Front flip
Rotating forwards in air.
McTwist
A forward-rotating backside 540°, in a pipe or quarterpipe.
Haakon flip
A backwards inverted 720°.
Rippey flip
Backward rotating flip with a frontside 360° and a method grab.
Michalchuk
Backward rotating flip on axis (like a cartwheel) with a 540° and a grab (melon, indy or method).
Doublechuk
The Michalchuk done with two backward rotations.
Lando-Roll
A frontside cork 540°/720° method.
Misty flip
Forward rotating flip with a backside spin off of a straight jump. Similar in style to a McTwist.
Rodeo
Forward rotating flip with a frontside spin off your toe edge.
Backside Rodeo AKA: Brodeo
Backward rotating flip with a backside spin.
Underflip
A backward rotating flip with a frontside spin off of your heel edge.
Handplants
Handplants are also known as Inverts. Invert refers to the handstand you perform on the lip of the pipe. This list is not exhaustive as there are variations on variations out there.
Handplant
Your rear hand is placed on the lip of the pipe wall and you rotate 180° frontside.
Elguerial
A fakie approach, invert off your rear hand and rotate 360° backside.
Eggplant
Invert off your front hand and rotate 180° backside.
Eggflip
An Eggplant but you do a frontward flip over instead.
McEgg
Invert off front hand and rotate 540° backside.
Sad plant
Melon grab inverted.
That’s it! This is the end of our list of snowboard tricks. If you really want to amp up your riding and learn from the best, head over to Snowboard Addiction.
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The 180 is your first step in learning how to spin on a snowboard. You will want to give yourself a solid foundation for spinning in all directions. Start by improving your switch riding. Swith riding is key to gaining balance and confidence in your spins and advancing your riding level. Also, how the heck can you ride away from a frontside 180 if you can’t ride switch?
How to 180 On A Snowboard (Regular)
How to 180 On A Snowboard (Goofy)
There are four kinds of 180 spins that you can do:
Frontside – front of your body faces downhill as you rotate. Easiest to perform
Backside – back of your body faces downhill as you rotate.
Switch Frontside (AKA Cab)
Switch Backside
Learn all four to be able to constantly change your direction while riding.
Spinning is a mixture of rotation combined with pop to lift you in the air. You want to focus on popping with weight distributed evenly over both feet to stay balanced. Popping off a flat base while going straight can be much more difficult to perform. Start by popping off of one edge (heel or toe side) by carving.
Begin by mastering the frontside 180 as they are the easiest spin to learn. In a frontside 180 your head never rotates but your body does. Backside spins require you to rotate your head to spot the landing adding a degree of difficulty (AKA landing blind).
How To Do A Frontside 180 On A Snowboard
Step 1
Start on the ground with your board off. Wind up and crouch down to initiate your spin. Pop up and release into the spin in the desired direction.
Step 2
Next grab your board and strap it on in a flat area where you can stand still. Wind up and crouch down to initiate your spin. Pop up and release into the spin in the desired direction.
Step 3
Find a gentle slope to practice on. Start on your heel edge moving down and across the hill. Pop and release into a frontside 180. Your using your heel edge to spin frontside and rotating up the hill.
Remember to windup, pop and release with your head pointed exactly to where you want to go!
Step 4
Add more and more pop to increase the difficulty. Look for little side hits all over the runs at your local mountain and get practicing. Side hits are great at automatically putting you on an edge to rotate from.
Step 5
Bigger park jumps can seem intimidating at first. Be sure to make a small setup turn to get you onto an edge before hitting straight off the jump. Make sure you land on the sweet spot of the landing (transition). It can be very painful to land flat.
Step 6
Add some flair to your spins with various grabs off various jump sizes.
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How To Do A Backside 180 On A Snowboard
Step 1
Start on the ground with your board off. Wind up and crouch down to initiate your spin. Pop up and release into the spin in the desired direction.
Step 2
Next grab your board and strap it on in a flat area where you can stand still. Wind up and crouch down to initiate your spin. Pop up and release into the spin in the desired direction.
Step 3
Find a gentle slope to practice on. Start on your toe edge moving down and across the hill. Pop and release into a backside 180. Your using your toe edge to spin backside and rotating up the hill.
Remember to windup, pop and release with your head pointed exactly to where you want to go!
Step 4
Add more and more pop to increase the difficulty. Look for little side hits all over the runs at your local mountain and get practicing. Side hits that set you up on your toe edge are great at automatically putting you into a spin ready position.
Step 5
Bigger park jumps can seem intimidating at first. Be sure to make a small setup turn to get you onto your toe edge before hitting straight off the jump. Make sure you land on the sweet spot of the landing (transition). It can be very painful to land flat. Spot your landing blind by looking at the knuckle (top of transition).
Step 6
Add some flair to your spins with various grabs off various jump sizes.
Want to really improve your riding by learning 360′s and more?
Head over to Snowboard Addiction and get all the best instruction videos from world class coaching on how to snowboard.
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So you are looking into snowboarding holidays are you? Well look no further because this page is dedicated to helping you figure out which resort to hit up this winter. The rankings of our top 5 resort and snowboarding holidays list is based on everything from snow quality, party spots, food, pipe and park features. Lets get to our list of top destination snowboarding holidays shall we?
Number 1 Resort – Snowmass, Colorado
Lifts: 21
Elevation: 12,510 feet (3,813 meters)
Vertical Drop: 4,406 feet (1,343 meters)
Annual Snowfall: 300 inches (7.62 meters)
Website: Snowmass
Snowmass has it all. The local nightlife is top notch and equally matched by a top notch park and pipe. The 22 foot pipe cutter is a new upgrade over the 18 footer from before. If your not into the pipe or park don’t worry because the freeriding here is bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s! With over +3,100 acres of terrain to hit up crowds are a non-issue. If your lucky to catch a dump on your vist hit up the Hanging Valley Head Wall for some sweet glade riding. If your not lucky and the snow is old then the groomers are not bad at all. The park has stuff for everyone from beginner (Lowdown Park) to the intermediate (Makaha Park) to the expert (Snowmass Park). If your looking for a place to stay think about the Viceroy Hotel for a discount. For food the sushi at Bucci’s is great our jump on the free shuttle and head into Aspen to the grocery store and other local eateries.
Number 2 Resort – Whistler/Blackcomb, British Columbia
Lifts: 37
Elevation: 7,494 feet (2,284 meters)
Vertical Drop: 5,280 feet (1,609 meters)
Annual Snowfall: 410 inches (10.41 meters)
Website: Whistler/Blackcomb
Whistler/Blackcomb is huge with arguably the best nightlife and terrain of all the top 5 resorts. Whistler has plenty of vertical drop and high snowfall levels making it one of the best all around mountains anywhere. Another unexpected plus is the lower elevation making it much easier to adapt to then some the higher Rockie Mountain resorts. The coastal mountain range doesn’t get the same snow quality as the Rockies but it sure does get alot of it. The vibe here is great too with lots of younger people living here year round. Plus, there is always an event of some kind going on. Try out the glades off the Crystal Chair or hop into the Highest Level park to test your skills against some of the best. You can even get a Fresh Tracks pass that lets you head up on powder days extra early! After your day on the slopes hit up Garf’s for some drinks. You never know who you may bump into.
Number 3 Resort – Mammoth Mountain, California
Lifts: 28
Elevation: 11,053 feet (3,369 meters)
Vertical Drop: 3,100 feet (945 meters)
Annual Snowfall: 400 inches (10.16 meters)
Website: Mammoth Mountain
Mammoth has it all and is huge with over +3,500 acres of winter wonderland for you to explore. You get badass bowls, glades and kick ass park setups. They even have acrobags in the Stomping Grounds Terrain Park for those wishing to push their riding limits and learn some crazy stuff. Your evenings can start at local favorites like Yodler bar or The Village or you can hit up the numerous restaurants and pubs scattered about. There are plenty of places to stay in the village or simply take a free shuttle to your hotel.
Number 4 Resort – Buttermilk, Colorado
Lifts: 9
Elevation: 9,900 feet (3,017 meters)
Vertical Drop: 2,030 feet (619 meters)
Annual Snowfall: 300 inches (7.62 meters)
Website: Buttermilk
Yep, back to Colorado. Buttermilk is smaller then the other Aspen mountains with less freeriding available but don’t let that fool you. If you want friendly staff and chilled out and positive people then look no further. It’s all about the vibe here. The Buttermilk pipe and park are amazing with loads of progressive features to test your skills on. They have upgraded the chairlift to a high speed quad to improve lift times. The bowl riding as limited as it maybe isn’t bad either. After your day up on the hill hit up downtown Aspen for some kick ass nightlife.
Number 5 Resort – June Mountain, California
Lifts: 7
Elevation: 10,090 feet (3,075 meters)
Vertical Drop: 2,590 feet (789 meters)
Annual Snowfall: 250 inches (6.35 meters)
Website: June Mountain
June Mountain is located 20 miles north of Mammoth Mountain. June is a great little mountain, that even with only 7 lifts, offers little to no lift lines. Powder days are great and the pipe and park are well looked after. Small mountains like June offer great vibes from friendly staff and make for great snowboarding holidays at a reasonable price.
Great snowboarding holidays are all about what you want. Hopefully, our top 5 list gives you a better idea of what to look for and think about when looking into snowboarding holidays.
Filed under How To Snowboard Articles, How To Snowboard Reviews by on Nov 6th, 2011. /icons/pixel.gif){kind=tracking}
