Whether you’re a complete novice or an eager intermediate, there is a wealth of snowboarding tricks for you to explore.
These tricks include flips, grabs, spins, and stalls, and we’ll look at the most popular ones here:
Stances
The stance is not a trick. It’s literally how you stand on the snowboard.
However, it will govern how easily you can perform snowboard tricks and there are also some complexities that you need to be aware of:
Regular vs Goofy
A regular stance is one where your left foot is forward; a goofy stance is where your right foot is forward.
As with boxing (orthodox vs southpaw) and many other sports, the stance is dictated by your dominant side.
If your right foot is your strongest, then your left foot goes forward, and vice versa.
If you have any experience with board sports or have played soccer, you will have a good idea of what your strongest side is.
If not, try skidding across a wooden floor in your socks.
The leg that you place ahead of you is your dominant leg and the one that should go first on the snowboard.
Fakie
A fakie is when a snowboarder rides opposite to their natural position, which means that a right-dominant rider will put their right foot forward.
Air Snowboard Tricks
An air or “straight air” trick entails jumping to gain air and doesn’t involve any specific grab, flip, or spin tricks, although these can be added.
- Ollie: A simple trick where the boarder pops the snowboard by digging into the tail and then up into the air.
- Nollie: A nose ollie that is similar to the traditional ollie but performed off the nose of the snowboard.
- Switch Ollie: An ollie performed while riding switch.
Other Air Snowboard Tricks
- Air to Fake
- Poptart
- Shifty
- Fakie Ollie/Switch Nollie
Grab Snowboard Tricks
Grab tricks are performed by literally grabbing the snowboard.
These snowboard tricks vary in complexity and style and can look incredible when performed to perfection.
- One-Two: The rider grabs the heel edge of the snowboard using their front hand and reaching behind their back foot.
- Frontside Grab: One of the most essential snowboard tricks in any pro snowboarder’s arsenal, the frontside grab entails grabbing the toe edge with the back hand.
- Japan Air: A grab of the toe edge using the front hand. The hand goes in between the feet to perform the move and the lead knee is also drawn to the snowboard.
- Melon: The rider’s lead hand goes behind the lead leg to grab the heel edge of the snowboard, with the front leg boned.
- Method: The knees bend as the snowboard is lifted behind the back, with the lead hand grabbing the heel edge.
Other Grab Snowboard Tricks
- Blood Dracula
- Chicken Salad
- Crail
- Canadian Bacon
- Beef Carpaccio
- China Air
- Drunk Driver
- Mule Kick
- Mute
- Tail Grab
- Taipan Air
- Swiss Cheese Air
- Stalefish
- Truck Driver
Flip Snowboard Tricks
A flip is an impressive snowboard trick whereby the rider literally flips on the snowboard, performing a front flip, backflip, or some other variation.
- Backflip: The rider performs a backflip after gaining air over a jump.
- Front Flip: The rider flips forward.
- Tamedog: A cartwheel-style flip.
Other Flip Snowboard Tricks
- Frontside Misty
- Chicane
- Underflip
- Lando-Roll
- Cork
- Wildcat
- Superman Flip
- Frontside Rodeo
- Backside Rodeo
- Ninety Roll
- McTwist
- Rippey Flip
- Haakon Flip
- Sato Flip
Spin Snowboard Tricks
Spin snowboard tricks are performed by literally spinning on the snowboard.
They are often performed in increments of 180 degrees, which is to say that you may hear of a 180 or 360 spin, but not a 90.
However, when the move is performed from a jump onto a rail it typically scales in 90-degree increments.
Some of the most popular spin tricks include an alley-oop, half-cab, and hard way.
Other Snowboarding Tricks
The above list is just a glimpse into the many styles and types of tricks that you can perform on a snowboard.
Other popular tricks that you’ll see on the slopes include:
- Slides: Similar to the grinds in skateboarding, slides are performed by sliding the snowboard along obstacles like rails. The most popular varieties include the 50-50 and the boardslide.
- Stalls: A stall is performed by literally “stalling” on an object. The rider may jump onto a rail, for instance, and land with the nose of the snowboard before holding the position and then jumping off.
- Tweaks: A trick variation that is performed with slight body movements. For example, the stiffy trick is performed by straightening the legs. These variations are often used to make other tricks more impressive.
Summary: Snowboard Tricks
As you can see, there are a lot of different snowboard tricks to learn and master.
They usually revolve around some combination of jumping, grabbing, and spinning, but there are many nuances that add a level of variety and complexity to these tricks.
That’s what makes them fun, and it’s why new snowboarding tricks are still being invented and performed by riders all over the world.
