Snowboarding Glossary

A-C
D-G
H-L
M-R
S-Z

A

Aerial—A flip done off the wall of a half-pipe.

Air—Any kind of jump or leap where the rider lifts off the ground.

Air-to-Fakie—Any trick in the half-pipe where the wall is approached riding forward, no rotation is made, and the boarder lands riding backward.

Alley-Oop—Any maneuver in the half-pipe where a boarder rotates 180 or more degrees in an uphill direction by rotating backside on the frontside wall or rotating frontside on the backside wall.

Alpine Skier—A skier on fixed-heel skis.

Alpine Snowboarding—Usually used to describe riding a directional carving board with hard boots and plate bindings.

Anti-Slip Pad—Rubber layer on the board between the front and rear bindings that provides stability to the back leg when you ride the ski lift.

Asymmetrical Board—Board with nonmatching sides designed for regular or goofy stance.

Asymmetrical Sidecut—A board that has a different-size sidecut on either side. In a shifted asymmetrical sidecut board, the center of the heelside radius is shifted back farther than the toeside radius to compensate for uneven weight distribution between the two edges.

Avalanche—A large snow slide that is often the result of large snowfalls, high winds or warm temperatures. May also be triggered by people.

Avalanche Transceiver—A radio device, also called a beacon, which transmits and receives signals for avalanche rescue.

B

Backfoot—The foot closest to the tail of the board.

Backside—Where the heels are on the snowboard. It is also the area behind your back in a half-pipe or during a trick off a wall.

Backside Air—Any air performed on the backside wall of the half-pipe.

Backside Handplant—A 180-degree handplant where the rear hand or both hands are planted on the lip of the wall and the rotation is backside.

Backside Rotation—A rotation in which your back is the first thing to cross the vector you are traveling. It is clockwise for a regular and counterclockwise for a goofy.

Backside Turn—A turn on heelside edge of the board with the rider's back uphill.

Backside Wall—The wall your back faces if you ride straight down the pipe.

Bail— 1. The clip on a plate binding. 2. To intentionally pull out of a maneuver and fall.

Banked Slalom—A slalom race course in which gate turns are set up on snow banks.

Base—The part of the board that is in contact with the snow.

Baseless Bindings—Snowboard bindings without a base plate, leaving the boots in direct contact with the top of the snowboard and as close to the snow as possible.

Beat—Something that is not good.

Bevel—The angle of a snowboard's edges. Racing and carving boards should have a greater bevel than a board for a half-pipe.

Blindside—Any rotation in which the snowboarder is blind during takeoff or landing. A clockwise rotation for regular riders and a counterclockwise rotation for goofy riders.

Board—Snowboard.

Boards—Skis.

Boardhead—Snowboarder.

Boardercross Competition—A race course in which gates have been set up in an obstacle course. Snowboarders race in heats of four to six through various jumps and turns. The top three advance to the next round.

Boned—A straightened leg during a jump.

Bonk—Hitting a nonsnow object with the snowboard.

Boost—Catching air off a jump.

Bumps—Moguls or snow mounds.

Burger Flip—A half-pipe trick in which the rider goes into the backside wall riding fakie, rotates 180 degrees in the air, and then reenters the pipe doing a McTwist.

BX— Boardercross.

C

Caballerial (Cab)—A trick where the rider starts fakie, spins 360 degrees, and lands in the original stance.

Camber—The curved shape built into a snowboard. When a snowboard is placed on a flat surface, it rests on the tip and tail, and the center is raised.

Canadian Bacon Air—A trick in which the rear hand reaches behind the rear leg grabbing the toe edge between the bindings and the rear leg is boned.

Cant—Refers to the angle of the feet, side-to-side, which causes your knees to move inward or outward

Cap Construction—Board construction in which the top sheet wraps around to the edges, providing increased torsional rigidity.

Carve—A turn using the edge of the snowboard.

Cat Tracks—Trails used or made by snowcats.

Centered Stance—Mounting the bindings on a snowboard so the distance between the tail and the nose is the same, giving equal backwards and forwards control.

Chatter—Vibration of the snowboard at higher speeds and during turns.

Chicken Salad Air—The rear hand reaches between the legs and grabs the heel edge between the bindings while the front leg is boned. The wrist is rotated inward to complete the grab.

Coin-Operated Slalom Course—A course where anybody can take a timed run through gates for a small fee.

Control Gate—A plastic pole that racers maneuver around.

Coping—The top rim of a half-pipe wall.

Corduroy—The ribbed snow surface left by a snowcat after grooming a slope.

Corkscrew—A fast and tight rotation, while either freeriding or in the half-pipe.

Cornice—An overhanging lip of snow on a windblown ridge.

Couloir—A steep, narrow gully on a mountain.

Crail Air—The rear hand grabs the toe edge in front of the front foot while the rear leg is boned.

Crater—A crash or fall.

Crippler Air—A half-pipe inverted aerial where the snowboarder performs a 180-degree flip and then goes forward to the half-pipe, grabs air, rotates 90 degrees, flips over in the air, rotates another 90 degrees and lands riding forward.

Crossbone Method Air—The front hand grabs the heel edge, the legs are boned, and the board is pulled to head level.

Crooked Cop Air—Freeriding version of the mosquito air.

Crud—Heavy, thick snow that is uneven in consistency and depth, making turns difficult.

Cruiser Run—A relaxed and mellow run or a fast run on a smooth trail or slope.

Crust—A hard layer of snow on top of softer snow.

D

Dampening—Reducing vibration of the snowboard to increase handling at high speeds.

Delaminate—Separation or peeling of the layers of a snowboard.

De-tuning—Dulling the edges of the snowboard so they do not catch in the snow.

Ding—A scratch or hole in the base of a board.

Directional Stance—Stance on a snowboard that causes you to ride differently in one direction from the other.

Disaster—A half-pipe lip trick where the boarder lands with the coping perpendicular to the snowboard.

Double Grab—Going off of a jump, grabbing the board one way, then grabbing it in another way, then landing.

Double-Handed Grab—Simultaneously grabbing the snowboard with both hands while in the air.

Duckfoot—An angled stance with toes pointing outward like a duck.

E

Edge—The metal strip on the bottom sides of a board.

Effective Edge—The amount of snowboard edge in contact with the snow and the edge used to make a turn.

Eggflip—An eggplant in which the boarder flips over instead of rotating 180 degrees to reenter the pipe.

Eggplant—A 180-degree backside rotated invert where the front hand is planted on the lip of the half-pipe wall.

F

Face Plant—To fall on your face.

Fakie—Backwards, as in "riding fakie."

Fall Line—The path of least resistance, or the line of gravity down a slope.

Fifty-Fifth—Sliding with the board parallel to the coping.

Five-Forty (540) Air—The boarder rotates 540 degrees in the air and lands riding fakie.

Flail—To ride out of control.

Flat—The flat part of the half-pipe.

Flat Bottom—The area in a half-pipe between the two opposing transitional walls.

Flatland—Tricks performed on a flat slope without obstacles.

Flex—The pliability of a snowboard.

Flying Squirrel Air—Bending the knees, grabbing the heel edge with both hands—the front hand near the front foot, and the rear hand near the rear foot.

Food Trick—Any aerial maneuver where the rider grabs an edge of the board.

Forward Lean—The angle of high-back soft bindings that keeps your ankles bent in a forward, leaning position.

Frontside—Any maneuver using the toe edge of the board.

Freeriding—Snowboarding all types of terrain.

Freestyle—Snowboarding that includes tricks and maneuvers.

Fresh Fish Air—Backside version of the stale fish.

Front Hand—The hand closest to the nose of the snowboard.

Front Foot—The foot mounted closest to the nose of the board

Frontside Air—Air performed on the toeside wall of the half-pipe.

Frontside Handplant—A 180-degree handplant where the front hand is planted on the lip.

Frontside Rotation—Rotating the direction of your front heel.

Frontside Wall—The wall you face when riding straight down a half-pipe.

G

Gap Jump—A jump with empty space between the takeoff and the landing.

Garland—Turns to one side only, with downhill skidding, across the fall line. The path looks like a garland.

Glide—Sliding straight without using the board's edges.

Goofy—Riding with the right foot forward (as opposed to regular, or riding with the left foot forward).

Grab—Using one or both hands to hold either edge of the snowboard.

Gnarly—Difficult or awesome.

Grind—To slide with the board parallel to the coping.

Grommet (Grom)—A small, young snowboarder.

H

Haakon Flip—Half-pipe trick where the rider approaches the backside wall fakie and rotates in the backside direction while going upside down.

Half-Cab—The freeriding version of the caballerial. A 180-degrees rotation from fakie to forward off of a straight jump.

Half-Pipe—A U-shaped trench with walls of the same height and size on both sides. Used for performing freestyle tricks.

HP—Half-pipe.

Handplant—A half-pipe trick where the rider does a handstand on one or both hands.

Hard Boots—Stiff boots similar to alpine ski boots designed for carving and racing.

Hardpack—Firm, almost icy, fast snow.

Head Wall—A flat area on a hill where a road cuts across a ski run.

Heel Drag (Overhang)—Drag caused when the heel hangs off the edge of a board.

Heel Edge—The edge where the heels rest.

Heelside—The edge of the board closest to the rider's heels.

Heelside Turn—A turn made on your heelside edge.

High-Back Bindings—Bindings with a high back component extending upward from the board and lying flat against the calves for support.

Highway—A large groove in the flat bottom or up a half-pipe wall.

Hit—The takeoff point on a half-pipe or jump.

Ho Ho—Any two-handed handplant.

Hole Pattern—The way holes are patterned on the snowboard for attaching bindings.

Hucker—Anyone throwing himself wildly through the air and not landing on his feet.

I

Iguana Air—Using the rear hand to grab the toe edge near the tail.

Indy Air—The rear hand grabs between the bindings on the toe edge while the rear leg is boned. The board position is higher than the rider's head.

Indy Nose-Bone—The front leg is extended, the rear leg is bent, and the rear hand grasps the frontside edge.

Insert—A piece of metal with a threaded hole laminated to a snowboard and used to screw bindings to the board.

Invert—When the snowboarder balances on one or two hands with the head beneath the level of the board.

Inverted Aerial—The snowboarder becomes airborne and upside down at any given moment.

Inverted 720 (720 McTwist)—The snowboarder approaches the wall riding forward, goes airborne, rotates 720 degrees in a backside direction with a front flip, and hits the ground riding fakie.

J

Jam Session Half-Pipe Competition—A competition in which all riders perform in the half-pipe at the same time.

J-Tear—An invert that is rotated about 540 degrees in the frontside direction while planting one or both hands on the lip of the wall.

Jib—Riding on a surface other than snow.

K

Kink—Coming into contact with abnormal or rough surfaces in a half-pipe or while performing a jump.

Knuckle-Grabber—What pinheads sometimes call snowboarders

L

Late—Putting an extra move into a trick before landing.

Layback Handplant—A 180-degree handplant using the frontside for rotation while the rear hand holds the wall lip behind the takeoff point.

Lead Hand—Hand closest to the front of the board.

Lead Foot—Foot closest to the front of the board.

Leash—A safety strap that connects the side of the front binding and the boot.

Lien Air—The body leans out over the nose, and the front hand grabs the heel edge. The backside edge is grabbed with the rear hand and the body is bent backwards toward the backside edge.

Lien Method Air—A cross between a method and a lien.

Line—A rider's chosen path.

Lip—The top edge of the half-pipe wall.

Lip Trick—Trick performed near top of the wall of the half-pipe.

M

McEgg—An invert where the rider plants the front hand on the wall, rotates 540 degrees in a backside direction, and lands riding forward.

McTwist—The snowboarder rides forward to the half-pipe wall, goes airborne, rotates 540 degrees in a backside direction with a front flip, and then lands riding forward.

Mellow—The front hand grabs the backside edge, usually between the bindings.

Melonch Ollie Air—While the front leg is boned, the front hand reaches behind the front leg and grabs the backside edge in between the bindings.

Method Air—Both knees are bent, the front hand grabs the heel edge, and the board is pulled level with the head.

Miller Flip—The half-pipe wall is approached riding forward, the front hand is planted, a 360-degree frontside rotation is made, and the boarder lands riding fakie.

Misty Flip—An inverted backside 540 performed off a straight jump.

Moguls—Large bumps in the slope.

Monoski—Single ski with side-by-side bindings.

Mosquito Air—The front hand reaches behind the front leg and grabs the heel edge between the bindings while the front knee is bent to touch the board tuck-knee style.

Mute Air—The front hand grabs the toe edge either between the toes or in front of the front foot.

N

Nine Hundred Air—The snowboarder rotates 900 degrees in the air and lands riding fakie. In the half-pipe, the rider approaches the wall riding forward, rotates 900 degrees, and lands riding forward.

Nollie—An ollie springing off of the nose instead of the tail.

Nollie Frontflip—Springing off the nose while going off a jump and leaning forward into a front flip.

Nose—The front tip of the snowboard.

Nose-Bone—Jumping with the front leg straight and the rear leg flexed.

Nose Bonk—Hitting an object with the nose of the snowboard.

Nose Grab Air—Grabbing the nose with the front hand.

Nose Poke Air—Boning your front leg and poking the nose away from your body, usually while grabbing it.

Nose Slide—Sliding along the ground on the nose of the board.

Nuclear Air—Reaching the rear hand across the body and grabbing the heel edge in front of the front foot.

O

Off Piste—Off the beaten (or groomed) path.

Off the Lip—A turn rendered on the crest.

Ollie—A way to get air on flat ground with or without a jump by lifting the front foot then lifting the rear foot while springing off the tail.

One-Eighty Air—Rotating 180 degrees in the air and landing riding fakie. In the half-pipe, the boarder approaches the wall forward, rotates 180 degrees, and lands riding forward.

Overhang (Heel Drag)—Drag caused when the heel hangs off the edge of a board.

P

Pack—A crash or fall.

Palmer Air—Grabbing near the nose, pulling the board across the front of the body, and pointing the nose downward.

Phillips 66—The boarder approaches the half-pipe wall riding fakie, plants the rear hand on the lip of the wall while doing a "front flip" and lands in the transition riding forward.

Pinhead—A telemark skier.

Piste—A packed and groomed trail.

Pipe Dragon—A grooming machine that shapes the walls of a half-pipe.

Plate Binding—Also called "hard", a binding system used with hard-shell boots.

Poach—To ride the park when it's closed or roped off.

Pop Tart—Getting air from fakie to forward in the half-pipe without rotation.

Poser—A person pretending to be something he's not.

Pro Jump—A 2- to 4-foot-high drop on a racecourse.

P-Tex—Plastic material used to repair the base of skis and snowboards.

Q

Quarter-Pipe—A half-pipe with only one wall.

R

Rail— 1. A piece of wood embedded along the lip of a half-pipe. 2. The sidewall and edge of a snowboard.

Railing—Making fast, hard turns.

Rail Slide—To slide the rails of the snowboard onto anything other than a flat slope.

Ramp—A natural or artificial structure for jumps.

Rear Hand—The trailing hand (the one closest to the tail).

Rear Foot—The foot mounted closest to the tail.

Regular—Riding with the left foot forward (as opposed to goofy, with the right foot forward).

Revert—Switching from fakie to forward or from forward to fakie while the board is on the ground.

Rewind—Where a rotation is initiated, stopped, or reversed.

Roast Beef Air—While the rear leg is boned, the rear hand reaches between the legs and grabs the heel edge between the bindings.

Rocker—Opposite of camber (or the upward curved shape of the snowboard).

Rocket Air—The back leg is boned, the front hand grabs the toe edge in front of the front foot, and the board points perpendicular to the ground.

Rodeo Flip—An inverted frontside 540 off of a straight jump.

Rolling Down the Windows—When an off-balance rider rotates his arms wildly, trying to recover.

Rollout Deck— 1. A walkway used to get to the top of the half-pipe or to exit it. 2. The upper, level part of the wall that looks down into the half-pipe.

Run—A slope or trail.

Runout—Flat area at the bottom of a slope.

Running Length—The length of the snowboard base that touches the snow.

S

Sad Plant—Handplant where the front leg is boned for style.

Scoop—Raising the nose.

Seatbelt Air—While the front leg is boned, the front hand reaches across the body and grabs the tail.

Segmented Edges—Steel edges pieced around the edge of the snowboard. They are less durable, but easier to replace than solid steel edges.

Seven-Twenty (720) Air—The boarder goes forward to the wall, rotates 720 degrees, and lands riding fakie. Or rides fakie, rotates 720 degrees in the air and lands riding forward.

Shifty Air—Usually the front leg is boned, with the upper torso and lower body twisting in opposite directions before returning to normal.

Shovel—The lifted or upward curved sections of a snowboard at the tip and tail.

Shred—To ride fast and stylishly.

Shred Betty—A female snowboarder.

Sidecut—The inward curve in the sides of a board.

Sidecut Radius—The measure of the circle radius that corresponds to the sidecut of a snowboard.

Sideslip—Sliding sideways down a slope.

Sketching—Riding precariously, barely in control.

Slam—To crash.

Slob Air—The back leg is boned, the front hand grabs the toe edge either between the toes or in front of the front foot, and the board is parallel to the ground.

Slopestyle Competition—A freestyle event with a series of different jumps. The boarder is judged on the performance of tricks and maneuvers.

Smith Grind—A lip trick where the rider slides with the coping perpendicular to the snowboard, the front leg is boned, the nose is below the coping, and the tail is above.

Snurfer—The original snowboard that had no bindings or edges and had a rope attached to the nose. Made in the 1960s by Sherman Poppen.

Soft Boots—Soft, pliable boots with a wide range of motion with good support for freestyle and freeride snowboarding.

Snake—Someone who cuts in front of you in the lift line or drops in front of you in the half-pipe.

Spaghetti Air—While the back leg is boned, the rear hand reaches between the legs and behind the front leg to grab the toe edge in front of the front foot.

Speed Check—Sliding sideways to slow down.

Spin—Turn.

Spine—A snow-sculpted jump with two transitional walls coming together to form a spine.

Spoon Nose—Nose of a snowboard shaped so edges curve up like a spoon.

Stale Egg—An eggplant with a stale fish grab.

Stale Fish Air—While the rear leg is boned, the rear hand grabs the heel edge behind the rear leg and in between the bindings.

Stalemasky Air—While the rear leg is boned, the front hand reaches between the legs and grabs the heel edge between the bindings.

Stalled—When a trick's point of emphasis is held or "stalled" for an extended period of time.

Staircase—A series of ledges where a snowboarder jumps down from one to the next.

Stance—Position of the bindings on the board.

Stance Width—The distance between the bindings and the center.

Stance Position—The distance between the stance center and the board center.

Step-In Binding—A binding system for soft boots that you simply step into. The step-in binding must match the manufacturer's step-in boot.

Stick—Another name for a snowboard or a term used to describe making a good landing.

Stiffy—Jumping with both legs straight while grabbing the frontside.

Stinky—Riding with the legs spread open and knees apart.

Stoked—To be excited.

Stomp—A good landing.

Stomp Pad—The nonslip pad between the bindings to assist getting on and off the lift with the rear foot out of the binding.

Suitcase Air—Like the method air, but the front hand does not reach under the snowboard base to grab the toe edge until the knees are bent.

Switchstance (Switch)—Riding while facing backwards. Another term for riding fakie.

T

Table Top—A jump where the takeoff and landing is connected by a long, flat surface.

Tail—The rear tip of the snowboard.

Tail-Bone—Jumping with the rear leg straight and the front leg flexed.

Tail Bonk—Hitting something with the tail of the snowboard.

Tail Grab Air—The rear hand grabs the tail.

Tail Slide—Sliding on the tail of the board.

Tail Tap—Tapping something with the tail of the snowboard.

Tail Wheelie—Riding only on the tail with the nose in the air.

Taipan Air—The front hand reaches behind the front foot and grabs the toe edge between the bindings. The front knee is then bent to touch the board tuck-knee style.

Terrain Park—An area of a ski resort set aside for freestyle.

Three-Sixty (360) Air—Rotating 360 degrees in the air and landing riding forward.

Toe Edge—The edge of the board where the toes rest.

Toe Overhang/Drag—Drag caused when the toes hang over the edge of the board and catch the snow.

Toeside Turn—Making a turn on your toeside edge.

Transition (Tranny)—The radial curved section of a half-pipe wall between the flat bottom and the vertical.

Traverse—To ride perpendicular to the fall line.

Tree Well—A hole in the snow surrounding a tree.

Tuck—A crouched position used to reach higher speed and lower wind resistance.

Tuck Knee—One knee is bent and the ankle is bent sideways to touch the knee to the snowboard between the bindings.

Tweak—Pulling a board forward or backward while in the air.

Tweaked—A word used to explain the emphasis of style in a trick, an injury, or someone who is not quite right.

Twin Tip—Nose and tail are shaped identically.

Twist—Rotation of the lower half of the body during a jump.

V

Vertical (Vert)—The vertical top portion of a wall in a half-pipe.

W

Wacked—Something that is not good.

Wall—A vertical section of a half-pipe.

Waist—The narrowest point in the middle of a board.

Wipeout—A good fall.