Snowboarding terms and definitions

1 – Refers to a 180, spinning half a rotation

3 – Refers to a 360, spinning a full rotation

5 – Refers to a 540, spinning 1 and a half times

7 – Refers to a 720, spinning 2 full rotations

9 – Refers to a 900, spinning 2 and a half times around

10 – Refers to a 1080, spinning 3 full rotations

12 – Refers to a 1260, spinning 3 and a half rotations

14 – Refers to a 1400, spinning 4 full rotations

50-50 – Taken from skateboarding, where you ride straight over a box or rail.

Avi – Short for avalanche. Eg “Did you hear ski patrol this morning, setting off avis?”

BS – Short for backside Eg “That guy did a clean BS 5”

Back – Short for backside EG “That guy did a sweet back 1”

Banger – A big stylish trick. Eg “That trick was the banger”

Base – The bottom of your snowboard

Bluebird – Bright blue skies with no clouds

Bomb – To snowboard fast. Eg “That guy was bombing that run”

Bomb hole – A big hole made in the powder landing of a jump. Eg “everyone will be pissed if you put a bomb hole in that landing”

Boned – Combined with a grab where you straighten out one or both legs. Eg “That grab was boned”

Bonk – To tap something hard with your board Eg “Did you see that girl bonk that tree?”

Boost – To get a lot of air in in the pipe, or off a jump. Eg “That guy boosted out of the pipe”

Butter – Flatland tricks, presses and spins

Buttered pretzel – Spinning the opposite way out of a butter. Eg spinning cab out of a frontside 1 butter

Cat – Snow groomer

Catch an edge – when your edge digs into the snow or rail and “catches” flipping you over.

Clean – To land a trick properly, with style. Eg “That girl stomped her back 3 clean”

Comp – Competition

Corduroy – A freshly groomed run where the lines left by the groomers look like corduroy material

Core shot – When a rock or something gouges the base of your board through to the middle of the core.

Death cookie -Hard ball of ice that is left form the snow groomers.

Death trap – Anything unexpected but dangerous.

Delam – When the topsheet of your board starts de-laminating from the core.

Dropping – The order in which people hit a jump or rail. Eg “I’m dropping next”

Dust on crust – When a small amount of fresh snow falls on hard packed snow. Eg “It looks good, but it is just dust on crust”

Eat shit – Have a bad crash. Even better if you smash your face into the snow.

Epic Something big or impressive – People say this too often

FS – Short for frontside

Fakie – riding backwards

Falling leaf – A beginner snowboarder technique where the heel edge is used to ease the rider down the hill. To avoid swapping edges they ride from left to right again, the same way a leaf falls.

Freshies Fresh tracks in new snow

Front – Frontside

Gangsta – Baggy gear, slow steezy style.

Gap The gap between a jump and the knuckle, or the takeoff and a rail

Goggle tan – The patch of tanned skin that riders get on their lower face after spending days in the spring sun.

Goofy – People who ride with their right foot first.

Grommet – Young ripper

Hardway – Hardway spin eg front 3 off the toes. Can also be used on rails. Eg hardway back 1 onto a rail, where the whole board needs to be up and over before it can lock on to the rail.

Hard pack – Snow which has been ridden over, or settled and ‘hardens up’

Hits – Jumps, boxes or rails.

Huck – Just trying a big trick, regardless of if you have the skills for it. Eg “That kid hucked the back flip off that cliff”

Jib / Jibbing – Riding, bonking spinning on things that aren’t snow. Eg rails, boxes, logs, concrete, fences.

Kicker – Jump

Knuckle – The start of the landing of a jump

Line – Your tracks in deep snow or powder. Eg “Check out my line”

Lip – The top of a jump or takeoff

Mailbox – A long thick rail, in the shape of a mailbox

Manual – Taken from skateboarding, to lean back and lift the nose of the board up.

Moguls – Made by skiers always taking the same track creating bumps.

Ollie – When you use the flex of the board to jump.

Piste – The name for a marked trail or run.

Poach – Originally a name for snowboarders who would illegally “poach” runs on skier only mountains. Now used when someone goes out of bounds to “poach a line”

Pop – The amount you can “pop” or ollie your board. A stiffer board will give you more pop because it will push back harder.

Pow – Short for powder or powder snow

Press – Putting pressure on the nose or tail of your board.

Punters gap – The gap between goggles and a hat or helmet, normally found on beginners.

Rad – short for radical

Rail – A metal rail used to slide on.

Rail jam – A competition to see who can do the best trick on a rail.

Regs – Short for regular.

Revert – Switching direction after you land

Rolling the windows –

SW – Switch

Scope – To check out a line or jump. Eg “I’m just scoping my line out”

Scorpion – When you catch an edge, fall forward and your feet come behind your head, like a scorprions tail.

Skating – When you have one foot strapped in, one foot out pushing/skating your way to the lift line.

Sketchy – Landing something but only just avoiding crashing.

Slash – To lean back and slash some powder.

Snake – Cutting in front of the line at the park. Eg “That guy just snaked us all”

Snot – Heavy snow (lots of water content) Hard to ride through.

Spin to win – Some competitions where the biggest spin (hucked 10) will beat a stylish 7.

Spray – Using your edges to dig up snow and spray it at something/someone.

Steez / Steeze -Short for style with ease.

Stomp – To land a trick with authority. Eg “She stomped that trick”

Swagger – Combination of riding style and clothes Eg “That guy has crazy swagger”

Switch – Opposite of your normal riding direction.

Tabletop – A jump with no gap between the landing, the same shape as a table top.

Tech A complicated technical trick, often on rails. Eg “that hardway sw back 1 5050 back 3 was tech”

Tweak – Used to emphasize a grab by pushing out one leg.

Wall – The wall in a halfpipe, either frontside or backside.

Yard sale More often used for skiers when they crash and lose their poles, skis, hat and goggles. Everything ends up layed out on the snow like it is for sale at a yard sale.