Snowboard Club UK FAQs (frequently-asked questions)

As in skate boarding, snowboarders have also taken a liking to riding obstacles such as logs, handrails and boxes. Snowboard Parks are a FreeStyle play ground offering all kinds of cool obstacles for you to try your luck on without upsetting the owners of those objects. In this section we will look at some of the most popular obstacle riding tricks.
Grinds & Slides

Grinds are performed by jumping or riding onto a rail/obstacle and sliding/grinding off it. There are a few basic grinds:

Boardslide - A slide where your board goes sideways down the rail.
Keep your snowboard across the rail with each side of the snowboard sticking out of the rail evenly. This grind is more dangerous as the chances are larger of your board losing/catching an edge. So keep the base of your board flat to the rail and get your body weight centred and low.

Frontside boardslide - Turning onto the rail so that your heel edge faces downhill during the slide.

Backside boardslide - Turning onto the rail so that toe edge faces downhill during the slide.

50:50 - In skateboarding, this is a grind where both trucks are in contact with the rail. It is exactly the same in snowboarding except without the trucks, so the board rides forwards down the rail.

Bonking - Is slapping an object with your snowboard. You could for instance pass a box and hit it with the nose of your snowboard in mid air. If you slap an object with your nose it is called a Nose Bonk when you use your tail it is called a Tail Bonk.

Bonking can be a fun way of drawing attention but just make sure not to bonk other snowboarders... or at least agree to bonk them before you do it.

Love it or hate it, it's official. Jibbing is once again a part of snowboarding. Watch any of the new videos this year, and every pro worth his salt has at least one jib in their section. So if you want to keep up with the Jones's, it looks like you're going to be paddling in the unpredictable learner pool that is jibbing this winter.
Jibbing's roots are firmly grounded in the skateboard crossover fraternity, especially when you consider the fact that skating is renowned for taking every day objects and architecture and using them for pleasure. It's only natural that this aspect of skating should find its way into snowboarding, especially when you consider that there's a multitude of weird and wonderful architectural features to explore in mountain resorts, ranging from 15th century barns to 70's abominations of concrete.
The most important thing to remember with jibbing is that it is not serious. Just because it's fashionable now, it doesn't mean you have to go out and religiously learn to slide 20 step handrails. The whole idea of jibbing is that if you see something that you think 'I could tap that with my tail' or 'I reckon I could ride up that roof', you do it, but not at the expense of a day of riding powder. Catch my drift?
Most jibs are just an extension of your already existing riding skills. As an example, bonking your tail on a snow cannon involves an ollie and a quick drop of the back leg to twat your board on the cannon, a manoeuvre hardly worthy of a whole technique article. On the other hand, sliding or 50-50ing a rail does take a little more skill, concentration and bottle. There are a number of ways to slide a rail and even more ways to hurt yourself on them, so without further ado let's knuckle down to a Monday morning of double rails.

Rails come in all shapes, sizes, gradients and materials, so attempting to slide the first one that you come across is not recommended. This won't really be too much of a problem though, as the prospect of learning to slide rails on a set of stairs that resemble a cheese-grater is one to put the fear of God into any normal human being. Worry not, because resorts are installing snowboard friendly rails in their fun parks as standard, while dry-slopes and indoor slopes are also sporting beginner friendly rails and blocks made out of plastic which eliminates a lot of the fear factor. If you find a rail that you think is suitable, ask yourself these questions:
1 Is it too steep? Ideally, your first rail should be flat or ever so slightly downhill, because if the rail is too steep it is harder to commit to as you have to lean so far forward to keep your weight over your board. You'll also find yourself reaching speeds that you are not comfortable with. This will slow down the rate at which you learn or worse, you'll slam and lose your confidence.
2 Is it too high? If this is the case then you'll have trouble getting onto it and if you fall it's going to hurt more.
3 Is it too long? Most importantly, check the length of the rail. Once you're on a rail, you are committed to it, and the most dangerous thing you can do is try and jump off before the rail has finished. If the rail is long there is obviously more time for you to make a mistake, so start off either on a short rail or at the end of a rail (if this is possible).

Once you're comfortable with your selected rail, do as I say every month and sit down and watch other people session it. This will give you a clear picture of what you're trying to achieve, and in addition watching people get it right will give you confidence and inspiration. You will see people getting it wrong, but try not to let this put you off. Instead, learn from their mistakes and vow not to repeat them.
Go and have a good look at the rail as well, to check that the thing is safe. If the rail is made out of anything soft (ie, wood or plastic), make sure that there is nothing protruding that might catch on your edges or wreck your board.

(Below is a 50 - 50 with a 180 off)

Once you're comfortable with all the basic slides, you can progress onto steeper handrails, nose or tail presses and spinning on to rails. It's good to watch people on videos to start with, just to get an idea of what is possible (pretty much anything with the right rail and a bit of imagination). The main thing to remember is that if you can do a trick independently on the piste or on a jump, there's no reason why you won't be able to do it on a rail. Just remember not to go mental, but to start off slowly and work your way up.

Steeper rails
The main difference when you slide steeper rails is the level of commitment. You simply cannot go at them half-heartedly. You must adjust your weight so that it is centred over the rail, which means the steeper the rail, the further forward you will have to lean. Bear in mind that you can offset this against the surface that you are sliding. Metal slides quickly, concrete slides slowly, whereas wood is soft and grippy and easy to catch an edge on. If the surface is fast then you need to lean further forward to keep up with the slide. If it's slower then you can lean further back to drive the board down the rail.

Nose and tail presses
If you can do these comfortably on the piste, there's no reason why you can't do them on a rail. The easiest way to learn these is on a block or a wide rail because it will give you more stability in comparison to a thin or rounded rail. Rumour has it that JP Walker slashes his topsheet widthways to allow his board to flex properly, but I wouldn't recommend this kind of behaviour unless you have loads of money, a generous board sponsor or no desire to ride anything but rails.

Spinning on to rails
Spinning on to rails is really good fun, and the first spin I learnt was a switch-stance 270 to backside lipslide. Now I know that this sounds impossible, but I'd watched Devun Walsh and JP Walker progressing on videos and I was really comfortable spinning switch on kickers, so I gave it a go and found that it wasn't as hard as it sounds. The best advice for spinning onto rails is to keep your spin really flat, because this will keep your weight over the board and enable you to control your slide when you land instead of eating shit! Good luck.