Tricks

There are many tricks you can do on a snowboard including a 180, 360, 540, 720, and many more spins. You can also do flips like a front flip and back flip. You can also do combinations like a 180 front flip or 180 back flip. Flips are usually done more in half pipes because you can get more air. To do a 180 spin your front foot heel ward, with your back foot moving toe ward. During the first 90 degrees of rotation, it will be feel kind of like doing a heel-edged stop at first. Make sure that you do not get in front of your board. Instead stay directly above it or behind it a little but not too far. Finish off spinning, and remember that your board is the thing that needs to be facing downhill when you land, your torso position isn't as crucial. Put your feet down firmly, but don't slam them. Keep your knees bent as you land, locking them will hurt. Put a little bit of weight on your heels to make your board turn a little to counter your momentum from spinning when you touch down. To do a 360 you look over your leading shoulder to look where you are going! If you keep looking down the hill instead of in the direction of your spin, your body will not rotate, and you are going to land sideways on the snow - a prelude to a lot of pain. As you pass the first 90 degrees of the rotation (facing completely forward) grab your snowboard. Hold the grab and keep following through with the rotation about another 180 degrees (facing the take off of the jump.) At this point let go of the grab and start to look for the landing. Then to land just brace your knees for impact. To do a front flip you throw yourself fowards when you get to the top of the jump but you can't move your shoulders or else you'll start spinning. You don't have to worry about the landing because you'll probably land on your board or butt. It doesn't hurt to much landing on your butt if you practice on a smaller jump. Drop in or slowly proceed down a large snowboarding ramp. To do a back flip you need a larger ramp because you need enough speed to get high enough off the launch ramp to successfully perform a back flip. Approach the launch ramp at a slight angle so that when you begin to back flip, your head is already clear of the ramp instead of it possibly falling back directly toward the launch ramp. Launch yourself off the ramp and begin to throw your shoulders back as you push your momentum around back toward the ramp. This will make your rotate feet overhead backward. Make one full rotation so that you are back facing the same way that you started, and begin lining up a clear spot for your board so that you land safely back down. Once you land your board should be the first thing to hit the ground. You shouldn't start doing combinations of flips and spins till you master both of the tricks because you could really injure yourself.