It has been noted that not all of my readers are familiar with the latest snowboarding lingo, so I have a few terms here to help those of you struggling to understand what I am on about. If you are still confused let me know and I’ll add the words you don’t understand here later…
Backcountry – Area outside of the ski area. Depending on the country the backcountry may also refer to the non-pisted areas, even if they are still within the ski area.
Backflip – To flip backwards off a jump, and land (!) riding the same direction.
Backside - This is normally used when referring to a turn, e.g. backside 180. The backside of a rider’s board is the edge where their heels (and backside) are. A backside 180 is when the initial part of the turn is to have the backside of the board facing down the hill and the rider lands riding fakie having spun 180 degrees. For a regular rider (like me) this means making a clockwise turn as you look down at the board.
Backside Air - Going out of the pipe on the backside wall.
Backside Wall – When at the top of the halfpipe looking down the backside wall is the one on the same side as your back. For me this is the left wall.
Bail – Change your mind about doing a trick. Often when it is already too late.
Bindings – The bits of plastic / aluminium / whatever that attach your feet to your board.
Blindside – Any rotation where the rider has to look over their shoulder to see their landing.
Bonk – To hit a non-snow object (e.g. tree) on purpose as part of a trick.
Bullet proof - Extremely hard/icy snow. Also can be used to describe how you feel after landing a gnarly trick.
Butters - Tricks performed whilst either the nose or tail of the board is in the air – such as spinning 360 degrees on only the nose of the board. Lots of variations (limited pretty much by only your imagination).
Chatter – The vibration that you get from your snowboard. Typically from riding fast or in difficult conditions. It is also what girls do a lot.
Corduroy – Describes the snow directly after it has been groomed for obvious reasons. They are also trousers that are making a bit of a come-back after only being associated with Geography teachers for a while.
Dialed-in - To have a trick dialed-in means to have it perfected. Apparently. I’ll let you know when I manage it.
Directional Stance – If the distance from you front foot binding to the nose of the board is different from the distance of your back foot binding to the tail of your board then you have a directional stance.
Dope - Good / Cool.
Double Grab - To perform two grabs one after the other.
Drag – Heel drag or toe drag is where either your heels or toes overhang your board. They act as an anchor and make riding quite a lot harder. People with big feet tend to ride mid-wide or wide boards which are (duh) wider to avoid the problem of heel or toe drag. It is also refers to dressing up as a lady, but this isn’t really relevant here.
Duckfoot – If the angles of your feet on the snowboard have your toes pointing away from each other, like a duck. Quack.
Effective Edge – Snowboards have metal edges and the effective edge is the part of that metal edge that has contact with the snow.
Eurocarve - A type/style of snowboarding where the rider uses their edges really hard, making large, hard turns.
Face Plant - To land on one’s face.
Fakie – Riding the opposite way to normal. For me this is riding right foot forward. For a goofie rider it would be riding left foot forward.
Flex – Describes the stiffness of your board.
Forward Lean – The highbacks of your bindings can be altered so that they ‘lean’ more into your legs. This forces your calves further forward and makes for a more crouched riding style.
Freeriding – Riding the mountain, not including the park or pipe.
Freestyle – Riding the pipe or park. Also refers to the type of riding that involves doing tricks.
Fontflip – To flip forwards off a jump, basically performing a no-handed cartwheet in the air. See backflip.
Frontside – This is normally used when referring to a turn, e.g. frontside 720. The frontside of a rider’s board is the edge where their toes are. For a regular rider (like me) a frontside rotation means making an anticlockwise (counter-clockwise) turn as you look down at the board.
Gap - Some jumps have a gap between the jump and the landing. Landing in the gap is a big no-no, potentially season ending depending on the type of gap. A road gap is where there is a road in the gap between the jump take-off and landing. The Mt Baker road gap is one of the most famous of these in the world. Google it.
Gnarly – Something very dangerous. Or something performed really well, typically on something dangerous – such as riding a really difficult slope.
Goofy – Riding with your right foot forward.
Grab – To grab the board whilst performing a trick.
Grind – To ride a non-snow object, such as a rail or box.
Haakon Flip - A halfpipe trick named after Terje Haakonsen. Too difficult to even begin to explain. Awesome when you see it done well.
Half Cab – Rotating 180 degrees fontside from riding fakie to riding normal.
Halfpipe – U-shaped man-made structure. The walls of the halfpipe are used for performing tricks and injuring yourself.
Hard boots – As they sound, they are boots which are hard. Pretty much the only time you will see these in when watching either the olympics where some riders use these for extra speed, or when you have made the mistake of watching a skier.
Heel Edge - Edge of the board closest to your heels.
Heelside Turn - Turning on the Heel Edge (for me this is a anti/counter clockwise turn when looking down at the board).
Highbacks – part of the bindings that go up your leg so that on a heelside turn your legs have more to ‘push’ against.
Indy – This can be used to describe the rear hand grabbing the board between the bindings on the toe edge. However a true Indy (normally an Indy Air) is when this grab is performed whilst performing a backside rotation.
Inverted - To get upside down (ideally deliberately) when performing a trick.
Jib - To ride (on purpose) on something other than snow – such as box, rail, picnic bench. Can also refer to performing tricks in general, e.g. to jib about.
Kicker – A jump. So named because it ‘kicks’ you into the air.
Leash - Device (that Dave has recently purchased) to keep your board attached to your feet in the unlikely event that (a) you ride step-in bindings and (b) they come undone at an inopportune moment, such as when 20′ above the piste on a chair lift
Lip – The top edge of the halfpipe. Or to shout at your Mum (prompting her to say “I’ll have less of that lip thank you”).
McTwist - A trick performed in the halfpipe (or quarter pipe). The rider performs a 540 degree spin whilst also going inverted (upside down). The rider approaches the trick riding forwards and rides away riding forwards, but inbetween they simultaneously spin 540 degrees and do a frontflip. Awesome to see – I guess YouTube can help you out.
Method - A grab where the front hand grabs the board between the bindings on the heel edge whilst your legs are bent.
Mute – A grab where the front hand (left in my case) grabs the board on the toe edge between the bindings.
Nollie - To gain air by lifting your back foot first and then “popping” off your front foot. See Ollie.
Nose - Pointy out thing on your head which you land on first when doing a face-plant. Front end of the board.
Ollie - To gain air by lifting your front foot first and the “popping” off your back foot.
Phat - Cool / Awesome.
Pipe Dragon – Massive non-firebreathing machine used to shape the halfpipe
Pop – When you spring off either the tail or nose, then a board with more pop will result in you being higher in the air.
Quarter Pipe - Unfinished halfpipe. More acurately it is a bit like having only one wall from the halfpipe, but typically you won’t find them as long as a halfpipe wall
Rail – Handrail structure designed for riding a snowboard down. There can be up rails, down rails, flat-down rails and many other combinations. As an example a flat-down rail is one that goes along flat for a bit and then goes down. The transition from flat to down is a kink. So a down-flat-down rail could be described as a double-kinked rail.
Rainbow Rail - A rail that is in the shape of a rainbow, or upside down U.
Regular – I ride regular (no jokes please) and it mean to have your left foot forward. Despite there being regular and goofy riders I would imagine the split is close to 50:50 not like the 90:10 split between right and left handed people
Revert - To switch from riding regular to fakie or fakie to regular whilst the board is still touching the ground.
Session - To drink lots / to ride for a period of time.
Sick - Something that is good. Or something that is bad after the end of a long night with some alcohol.
Sketchy - Doing something not very well. E.g “that landing was sketchy” means the rider nearly crashed when landing.
Speed check – Fancy way of refering to slowing down, typically on the run in to a jump when you realise that your balls aren’t as big as the jump you are approaching.
Stance – How you stand on your snowboard. The angles and position of your bindings are what make up your stance.
Step-in binding – These are bindings that (duh) you step into and they clip on. You need special boots and to be a special person to ride these. The main alternatives are Strap-in binding or Flow bindings.
Stoked – Feeling happy / super-confident when riding. Or after riding.
Stomp Pad – A piece of material placed on your board just in front of your rear binding which you can put your foot on when you only have your front foot attached. (When riding drag lifts a rider often only has one foot attached to their board.) I don’t ride with a stomp pad.
Switch - See fakie. A switch trick (e.g. a switch front-side 720) is one performed where the rider takes off riding switch/fakie.
Tail - The rear-end of the board.
Tame Dog – Front flip by popping off the nose of your board. Looks like a cartwheel.
Toe Edge – The edge of the board closest to your toes.
Toeside turn - A turn made on the toe edge of your board.
Transceiver – Devise used either to locate or to be located-by, typically after getting burried in an avalanche.
Transition – Also called a Tranny. The bit of the halfpipe between the two walls. They are also ‘ladies’ that you find a lot of in Amsterdam – in that bar just off Dam Square.
Traverse - To ride across (as opposed to down) the mountain.
Wipeout - Crash. See Crash, faceplant, yard-sale, catching your edge, losing your edge.
Winding (down) the Windows - A term used to describe the flapping of a rider’s arms whilst in the air. Typically they are doing this when they are off balance and about to crash :0
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