Snowboard Terms
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Word	Definition
Alley-oop (2)	A term used to describe any maneuver in the halfpipe where one rotates 180 or more degrees in the uphill direction; that is, rotating backside on the frontside wall or rotating frontside on the backside wall.
Alpine	All competitive events whose basic element is down, for example: downhill, slalom, giant slalom.
Andrecht	A rear handed backside handplant with a front-handed grab.
Backcountry	Out of a resort area.
backflip	Flipping backward off a jump.
Backside air	Any air performed on the backside wall of halfpipe.
Backside rodeo	Coming off a jump and turning your back down the hill, flipping 540 and landing fakie or rotating a total of 720 and landing regular.
Backside rotation	Rotating clockwise for a regular-footer and rotating counter-clockwise for a goofy-footer. When riding switchstance the exact reverse applies and a regular footer will rotate counter-clockwise and a goofy footer will rotate clockwise.
Backside wall	When standing at the top of the halfpipe and looking down towards the bottom, the backside wall is the left wall for regular footers and the right wall for goofy footers. If you ride straight down the center of the halfpipe, your backside wall is behind
Bail Base	Cancel out on the intention of doing a trick or rail slide etc.. (Cancel flight plan of a trick) Or Fall hard A firm layer of hard-packed snow covering the bare ground. (Or the bottom of your Board or Skis)
Betty	Female rider
Blindside	A term given to any rotation where the rider has oriented him/herself "blind" to his/her takeoff or landing and must stretch to look over their shoulder. Such a technique usually increases the difficulty.
Board length	The measurement from the tip to the tail.
Boned out	A term used to explain the emphasis of style in a trick. In other words, if someone "boned out a indy" they would grab hard and create an emphasis of the maneuver such that his/her legs may appear extended or stretched to a maximum degree.
Bonk	The act of hitting an object with the snowboard.
Breakable crust	A condition in which the surface of the snow freezes into a crust where there is loose snow beneath it. This condition is most frequently encountered in spring and following warm temperatures, wind, sleet, or freezing rain.
Bullet proof	Super hard or frozen snow.
Cap construction	A form of integrated structural design that used the outermost material or skin to bear the load of strength of an object. Much like the shell of crab. To reduce weight and enhance torsional rigidity and edge responsiveness and eliminate the need for sepa
Carbon fiber material	A fiber woven material produced from the mineral carbon. To stiffen and strengthen a board with a minimum of added weighted.
Carve	To ride fast through corners (from skiing).
Cement	Heavy snow found in coastal regions. Particularily common in the Sierra and the Northwest.
Chicken salad air	The rear hand reaches behind the front leg, grabs the heel side between the bindings while the front leg is boned. Also, the wrist is rotated inwards to complete the grab.
Closed mold	A mold that holds all the pre-shaped components of a board in a sealed chamber which eliminates additional shaping after pressing. To mass producer snowboards more rapidly by containing the board shape and minimizing finishing and shaping steps.
Coping	A rounded lip at the top of a ramp or obstacle, usually made of metal, cement, or PVC pipe.
Corkscrew 540	Sideways backside 540, also called a barrel roll.
Crail air	The rear hand grabs the toe edge in the front of the front foot while the rear leg is behind.
Crippler	An inverted aerial where the rider performs a 180 degree flip. The athlete approaches the wall riding forward, becomes airborne, rotates 90 degrees, flips over in the air, rotates another 90 degrees, and lands riding forward.
Crud	Varied and inconsistent snow.
Dialed-in	Tuned to perfection.
Disaster	A lip trick where one gets "hung up " on the coping, most often with the board perpendicular to the coping.
Dope	Cool.
Double grab	Basically, doing two separate tricks while in the air. One goes off of a jump, grabs the board one way, then grabs it in another way, then lands.
Duck Foot	A term used to describe stance angles with toes pointing outward.
Edges	The strips of metal usually made hard steel, on the outer edges of the running surface of skis or snowboards.
Effective edge	The length of metal edge on the snowboards which touches the ground; it is the effective part which is used to make a turn. It does not include the edge of the tip and tail.
Eggflip	An eggplant where the rider chooses to flip over in order to re-enter the pipe instead or rotating 180 degrees. This trick is performed forward to fakie or switchstance (fakie to forward).
Eggplant	A one-handed 180 degree invert in which the front hand is planted on the lip of the wall and the rotation is backside.
Elgeurial (bfm)	An invert where the halfpipe wall is approached fakie, the rear hand is planted, a 360 degree backside rotation is made, and the rider lands going forward. Named after Eddie Elguera.
Eurocarve	A term used to describe a certain mode of riding in which the rider makes large and hard cutting turns; usually getting way up on the edge and leaning the body parallel to the ground.
Face plant	Where one's face meets the ground before any other part of one's body.
Fakie	Riding backwards.
Fall line	The path of least resistance down and given slope.
Flat bottom	The area in a halfpipe between the two opposing transitional walls.
Flatland	Term used to describe tricks performed on the flat slope with obstacles ( e.g. nose slide, blunt slide, tail wheelie).
Flute	A column of snow stacked on a terrain feature such as a rock or on a near-vertical slope.
Freeriding	Snowboarding on all types of terrain for fun, no contest, no halfpipe, no gates, no rules.
Freestyle	The kind of snowboarding which is mostly associated with riding the halfpipe, but may also be used to describe any type of snowboarding which includes tricks and maneuvers.
Fresh fish air	The backside version of the Stale Fish.
Front foot	The foot mounted closet to the nose. A regular footers left foot and a goofy footers right foot.
Front hand	The hand closet to the nose of the snowboards. The left hand for regular footers and the right hand for goofy footers.
Frontflip	Flipping forward off a jump.
Frontside air	The trick is best described for its grab. The frontside grab is with the rear hand between the bindings on the toe edge; in this particular maneuver the front leg is boned. It can also be any air performed on the frontside wall of the halfpipe.
Frontside turn	A turn where the toe edge faces to the outside of the turn while the snowboard is riding on the heel edge. A left for a regular footer and right turn for a goofy footer.
frontside wall	When standing at the top of the halfpipe and looking towards the bottom, the frontside wall is the wall you would go up toeside.
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Word	Definition                       Sunglasses> BoulderShades.com <Sunglasses
Gap	It is like a tabletop without the snow in the middle. Or it is a jump that has a take-off ramp that is higher than the table below it. A gap is the distance or space between the two objects.
Gay twist	Halfpipe fakie to regular 360 spin with a grab.
Goofy foot	To ride with the right foot forward.
Grab	Grabbing either or both boards with one or both hands. Frontside or backside.
Grind	To ride on an object like a ledge or handrail with just the trucks making contact.
Haakon flip	A halfpipe trick named after freestyle legend Teje Haakonsen of Norway. Haakon Flip is like a switch rodeo performed in a halfpipe.
Half cab	It is the freeriding version of the Caballerial in which one rotates 180 degrees from fakie to forward off of a straight jump.
Half pipe	A snow structure that consists of opposing radial transition walls of the same height and size. Used to catch air and perform tricks by traveling back and forth from wall to wall while moving do
Hammer	To ride as hard as possible.
Handplant (backside)	A 180 degree handplant in which both hands or the rear hand may be planted on the lip of the wall and the rotation is backside.
Handplant (frontside)	A 180 degree handplant in which the front hand is planted on the lip of the wall and the rotation is frontside.
Handplant (layback)	A 180 degree handplant in which the rear hand is planted on the lip of the wall and the rotation is frontside.
Handrails	What riders slide and grind on, looks like and is a handrail.
Heelside edge	The edge of the board closest to the riders heels.
Helicoil	A metal cylinder threaded on the outside for tightening into and threads on the inside for attaching a screw. To repair either a stripped insert or a drilled hole in a board which was used to attach a binding.
Hit	A jump
Ho ho	A general term given to any two handed handplant.
Horizontal lamination	Layers a component, most commonly wood, that are bonded together on top of each other to form a strong material from otherwise weak elements. Used as either the full deck material or the core in the construction of a board.
Hucker	One who throws himself/herself wildly through the air and does not land on his/her feet.
Iguana air	The rear hand grabs the toe edge near the tail.
Indy air	A true "Indy Air" is performed backside with the rear hand grabbing between the bindings on the toe edge while the rear leg is boned. The term "Indy" may also be used to simple describe the location of the grab.
Insert	A small cylinder, which is threaded on the inside, that is install reinforcement to attach bindings to. Used to reinforce the area of a snowboard where the screws for attaching the bindings go into the board.
Interlock system	The tip and tail sections, usually made of plastic, are mechanically locked to the core using a jigsaw puzzle type arrangement. Spreads out the stress at the junctions of these materials.
Invert	Another name for a hand plant.
Inverted 180	To get upside down while perfroming a 180.
Inverted 540	To get upside down while spinning a 540..
Inverted 720 (720 mctwist)	An inverted aerial where the rider performs a 720 degree rotational flip. The rider approaches the wall riding forward, becomes airborne, rotates 720 degree in a backside direction while performing a front flip, and lands riding fakie.
Inverted aerial	A maneuvers where the rider becomes airborne and upside down at any given moment.
Japan	The front hand grabs the toe edge, the front knee is tucked and the board is pulled up and the back is arched.
Jib	Riding which closely resembles street skating. "Jibbers" commonly slide rails, bonk trees and perform flatland tricks.
Kevlar	A man-made fibrous material that has a high strength to weight ratio. To strengthen a snowboard without adding weight and to enhance the performance of the flex action.
Kicker	A name for a jump ramp. Kickers usually have the property of throwing you up into the air rather than giving you distance.
Landing fakie	Landing backwards.
Late	A term used to describe incorporating something into a trick just before its completion and landing.
Launch	The moment a rider starts to execute a jump, and the time he is actually flying through the air.
Leash	A retention device used to attach the snowboard to the front foot so that it doesn't run away-completely useless.
Lien air	The front hand grabs the heel edge and the body leans out over the nose. Essentially a method on the frontside wall. Named after Neil Blender.
Lien method air	A cross between a Method and a Lien.
Lip	The top edge portion of the halfpipe wall.
Lip trick	Any trick performed on or near the lip of the wall of the halfpipe.
Lipslide	To force the tail over the lip and slide on the surface before re-entry.
Load up	To put weight on one side of the trucks or the other.

Word	Definition                             Sunglasses> BoulderShades.com <Sunglasses
Mailbox	Looks like a mailbox, but it is extended about 10 feet long, riders slide and grind on it.
Mashed potato	An Alley-oop air on the backside wall of the halfpipe where the front hand grabs the toe edge in the front of the front foot and the back hand grabs the heel edge in front of the front foot behind the back.
Mcegg	An invert where the rider plants the front hand on the wall, rotated 540 degrees in a backside direction and lands riding forward.
Mctwist	An inverted aerial where the rider performs a 540 degree rotational flip. The rider approaches the halfpipe wall riding forward, becomes airborne, rotates 540 degrees in a backside directions while performing a front flip and lands riding forward.
Melonchollie	The front hand reaches behind the front leg and grabs the heel edge in-between the bindings while the front leg is boned.
Method	The front hand grabs the heel edge, both knees are bent, and the board is pulled up behind the rider. In the halfpipe, the rider's body can become almost parallel with the ground.
Michalchuk	Mike Michalchuk's signature halfpipe trick, self-described as my backside flip - sort of like an inverted backside 540 or a backflip backside 540". Essentially a backside rodeo.
Miller flip	An invert where the halfpipe wall is approached riding forward, the front hand is planted, a 360 degree frontside rotation is made, and the rider lands riding fakie.
Misty	Can also be used as an adjective to describe a spin that gets a bit sideways ( somewhere between upright and inverted).
Misty flip	Partially inverted bacside spin. Named by Ali Goulet.
Mogul	A snow bump formed by the action of skiers. Usually found on steeper slopes.
Monocoque	A form of integrated structural design that used the outermost material or skin to bear the load of strength of an object. To reduce weight and enhance torsional rigidity and edge responsiveness and eliminate the need for separate sidewall material.
Mosquito air	The front hand reaches behind the front leg and grabs the heel edge between the binding. The front knee is then bent to touch the boards tuck knee style.
Mute	The front hand grabs the toe edge either between the toes, and front leg is boned out.
Nollie	Much like an Ollie only you spring off of your nose instead of your tail.
Nollie frontflip	Springing off of the nose while going off a jump and leaning forward, allows you to do a frontflip.
Nose	The front of the board.
Nose bonk	To hit an object with the nose of the board.
Nose grab	The front hand grabs the nose of the board.
Nose Butter Nose poke	When the you do a nose manual and your feet are facing forwards. Any maneuver where you bone your front leg and "poke" the nose of the board in a direction away from your body. Usually while grabbing.
Nose slide	Sliding on the nose of board on the edge of an obstacle like a handrail, ledge, or ramp lip.
Nuclear air	The rear hand reaches across the front of the body and grabs the heel edge in front of the front foot.
Obstacles	Jumps, hits, handrails, etc., anything a rider uses to throw tricks.
Ollie	A method to obtain air by first lifting the front foot then lifting the rear foot as you spring off of the tail.
Open mold	A form that is used to assemble and hold the parts of a snowboard during the pressing process that allows the expansion and bleeding of the bonding.
Phat	Cool or a lot.
Phillips 66	An invert where the rider approaches the halfpipe wall riding fakie, plants the rear hand on the lip of the wall while doing a "front flip " and lands on the transition riding forward.
Ply	Short for plywood. The most commonly used material for the deck. Usually seven layer ply.
Poach	1) To ski closed or out of bounds terrain. 2) To drop in on a line someone else had lined up.
Poptart	Airing from fakie to forward in the halfpipe without rotation.
Poser	Someone who acts better than they are.
Pre-peg fiberglass	A stiff sheet of fiberglass previously treated with epoxy resin. Used as an alternative to fiberglass. Generally a matter of manufacturer's production progress.
Ptex	One of several names for the plastic base material used on boards.
Quarterpipe	A halfpipe with one wall; a banked hit.
Rail	There are tow rails on a snowboard; each comprised of a sidewall and an edge.
Railslide	Also called boardslide. To slide on an obstacle or lip with the contact point being the underside of the board.
Rear foot	The foot mounted closest to the rail.
Rear hand	The hand closet to the tail of the board.
Regular foot	To ride with the left foot forward.
Revert	To switch from riding fakie to forward, or from forward to fakie, usually while the board is still touching the ground.
Rewind	A term used to describe any maneuver where a rotation is initiated, stopped and its momentum reversed.
Rippey flip	Straight back flipping frontside 360 , with a method grab (Jim Rippey).
Roast beef	The rear hand reaches between the legs and grabs the heel edge between the bindings while the front leg is boned. Also, the wrist is rotated inward to complete the grab.
Rocket air Rock and roll	Pulling the nose of the board upward towards the sky and grabbing the nose with both hands, tucking your rear leg inward towards the center of the board A trick where the underside of the board and wheels are tapped on the lip before a kickturn to reenter.
Rodeo	Turning frontside 180 while completing an inverted 360 rotation for a total of 540. A rodeo 720 is when you would turn frontside 360 while completing an inverted 360 rotation for a total 720.
Rodeo flip	Partially inverted 360 with a back flip.
Rolling down the windows.	A phrase used to describe when someone is caught off balance, and they rotate their arms wildly in the air to try and recover.
Rubber dampening systems	Incorporating rubber into the construction of the board to dampen vibrations and provide certain performance characteristics.

Word	Definition                                  Sunglasses> BoulderShades.com <Sunglasses
Sad plant	A term used to describe any handplant where the front leg is boned for style.
Sandwich construction	Layers of materials, on top of each other, with additional components for sidewall strength and torisional flex patterning. Used to construct a board with different layers of materials on top of each other.
Sato flip	Halfpipe trick done by Rob Kingwill (Sato - Japanese for "sugar" ). Kind of like a frontside McTwist. Rider drops in fast, riders up the transition as if doing frontside 540, pops in the air and grabs frontside, then throws head, shoulders, and hips downs
Scream	A really steep hill.
Seabelt	The frontside reaches across the body and grabs the tail while the front leg is boned.
Session	A period of skating.
Shifty	A grabless trick where the upper torso and lower body are twisted in opposite directions and then returned to normal.
Shovel	The lifted or upward curved sections of a snowboard at the tip and tail.
Sick	Big, crazy, cool, incredibly difficult.
Side cut	The curve built into the sidewalls and edges of a board to enhance turning characteristics. To create a curve on the turning surface that is characteristic of the boards riding style.
Side wall	The area between the topsheet and the base, and above the edges on a snowboard. Holds the core and other materials from shifting during the manufacturing process, and to protect them as a finished product.
Sintered base	A form of polymer plastic that is compress into a long shape, set on a roller and sliced into sheets of base material. A slightly harder more porous from of base material used on performance snowboards.
sketching	The act of riding along precariously and near falling.
Sky	When a rider gets big air.
Slalom	A form of Alpine racing in which the racer must run a course designated by a series of gates set in various combination as to test technique, speed, and agility. Failure to pass through the gate properly results in disqualification.
Slide	What a rider does when he "slides" across a handrail or mailbox, etc.
Slob air	The frontside air where the front hand grabs mute, the back leg is boned and the board is kept parallel with the ground.
Spine ramp	Two half pipes placed back to back creating a double U shape.
Spring planting	A face plant.
Stale egg	An eggplant with a stalefish grab.
Stalemasky air	When a maneuver is performed such that the point of emphasis in the maneuver is held or "stalled" for an extended period of time.
Stalled	When a maneuver is intentionally started late into a jump/trick
Stance	The position of one's feet on the board.
Stick	To land a jump cleanly.
Stiffy air	Any maneuver in which both legs are boned and a grab is incorporated.
Stinky	Riding with the legs spread open.
Stoked	Describes riders when they are pumped up and confident.
Stomp	Interchangeable with charge or stick.
Sublimated top sheet	Topsheets that have had the graphics added through the sublimation process. Provides very durable graphics because they are cooked right into the plastic.
Sweeper	A long, gentle curve.
Swiss cheese air	The rear hand reaches between the legs and grabs the heel edge in front of the front foot while the back left is boned.
Switch	Any trick where the take off or landing is backwards.
Switch take off	Going into a jump backwards.
Symmetrical design	When all the design components of the side cut and shape are parallel in design. The opposite of Asymmetrical. To position a rider on a board when less angulation or opposing angulation is necessary.
Tail	The rear tip of the board or ski.
Tail bonk	To hit an object with the tail of the snowboard.
Tail grab	The rear hand grabs the tail of the snowboard.
Tail poke	Any maneuver where you bone your rear leg and "poke" the tail of the snowboard in a direction away from your body usually while grabbing.
Tail protector/tip protector Tailsaver	Usually a metal plate built into the tail or tip of the board. To protect the tail or tip from damage and to control swing weight. A low cost foam padding device for the protection of the Tailbone ( Coccyx bone.) and butt. Worn inside snowboarding pants, it is an alternative to padded shorts.
Tail slide	To slide along the ground or an object solely on the tail of the snowboard.
Tail tap	See Tail Bonk.
Tail wheelie	To ride solely on the tail of the snowboard 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.
T-bolt	A small metal inside threaded cylinder with a disk attached to the bottom, to prevent it from pulling up and out of the board. To repair or substitute the area of binding attachment to a board.
Technical	An especially tricky, obstacle-laden section of a trail.
Toe edge	A snowboard has two different edges. The toe edge is the one at which the toes rest.
Toeside	The frontside of the board is the side where the toes rest. And the frontside of the board is the side to which his/her chest faces.
Toeside rotation	Rotating counter-clockwise for a regular footer, and rotating clockwise for a goofy footer.
Top sheet	Usually a form of flexible plastic that sits on top of the laminated or foam core. Also the material that is used as the cap in Monocoque Construction. To protect the core materials of the boards, and to act as a material for graphics applications.
Torsion box construction	When the core material is fully wrapped with a strength enhancing material like fiberglass. To manipulate the flex and torsional rigidity of a snowboard from the core construction.
Torsional flex	The actual resistance to twisting a boards from side to side. To define the flex of a board from side to side. Its resistance to twisting and its responsiveness to initiating a turn and hold an edge.
Transition	The curved part of the terrain between 0 and 90 degrees.
Transition (tranny)	The radial curved section of a halfpipe wall between the flat bottom and the vertical. A snowboarder pumps and rides the transition to gain speed, catch air, and land.
Traverse	To ride perpendicular to the fall line. Halfpipe rider traverses from wall to wall in the halfpipe.

Tuck knee	A technique where one knee is bent, and the ankle is bent sideways in order to touch the knee to the snowboard between the bindings.
Tweaked	A term used to describe the emphasis of style in a trick.
Twin tip	A type of snowboard designed for freestyle snowboarding. It has an identical tip and tail so that the board may be ridden similarly in both directions.
Variable flex	When the tip, tail and middle of a board each have varying degrees of flex. To vary the overall flex of a board from the tip to the middle to the tail.
Variable radius	A side cut design that incorporates a changing radius size along the length of the board. To adjust a side cut design of a board by using many intersecting radius sizes, to enhance its turning characteristics.
Vertical	The vertical top portion of a wall in a halfpipe which allows the snowboarder to fly straight up into the air and not' out of the pipe or into the pipe.
Vertically laminated wood core	Pretty much the industry standard. Strips of wood ranging from 1/8" to 3/4" are bonded together side to side with the joints running vertical. This allows for several different woods to be used in each core to optimize performance characteristics.
Vultures	Crowds who gather at particularly dangerous sections of a competition.

Word	Definition                       Sunglasses> BoulderShades.com <Sunglasses
Waist	The width measurement taken at the narrowest part of the board which is near the middle of its length.
Wall	Any bank that is at or above 90 degrees.
Wetcat	Todd Richard's signature pipe move. An inverted aerial where the rider performs a 540 degree rotational flip. Then, an added flat spinning 360 degree rotation is thrown making the completed rotation of 900 degrees.
Wood core	Various type of wood used to provide the shape and thickness of a board.
YETI	(noun) - Large hairy humanoid creature said to live in the snowy mountains, such as the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada's.
Zonk	Hit the wall...

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