Snowboard: Tricks

You’ve learned the terms, you’ve learned the mountains, the famous boarders, the bindings and the gloves but now you’re ready.  Ready to take on the snowboarding realm to a professional level, you’re ready to learn how to bust out some tricks.  I’ll walk you through four of the most basic tricks you can pull of as a beginner and with a little practice, determination and some luck, you’ll be able to sting these tricks in the air like you’ve been born to do so.

The first trick and probably the easiest would be jumping.  Although it can technically be called a motion rather than a trick, almost all tricks are performed in the air which you can only get to if you, that’s right, jump.  How to execute this one would be to position yourself in the direct center of a jump and at the very top you want to bend your knees and as soon as the nose of your board is off the jump you want to unbend your knees with power and you’ll be launched into the air.  Remember to keep your balance or you’ll either land on your face or end up with a bruised tailbone.

The second trick which is pretty simple to execute is a grab.  The easiest grab would be the “Indy Grab”.  While in the air, you bend you knees and grab the area between your front and rear binding and hold it for as long as you can before hitting the ground.  Variations of this trick include the tail grab where you grab the farmost backside of your board, and the nose grab where you grab the frontmost part of your board. 

 

The third trick is a frontside 180.  It sounds complicated to execute but actually the hardest part is landing it.  While in the air you want to switch your board so your back foot is in front and your front foot is in back and land riding the opposite way you began.  Remember to balance and let go of fear for just a little while.

The last trick is really more of a skill than a trick but is really necessary to execute the advanced tricks that the pros lay down.  Riding fakie is riding with your front foot in back and your back foot in front (just like after you landed a 180).  This is one of the more difficult things to execute because it’s difficult to re-learn how to ride a snowboard.  I’d equate it to trying to learn how to ride a bike backwards…difficult but with a little practice, hey anything’s possible. 

Well there you have it, the four most basic tricks to learn to not be called a poser out on the slopes.  These tricks are usually taught at snowboarding schools or sessions you can sign up for at the mountains but seriously who wants to do that?  Just give it a shot for yourself or go with some friends and you’ll have a blast guaranteed…you might leave the day with some bumps and bruises which is a downer but now you have conversation starters with the snow bunnies so was it worth it?  Totally.