List of snowboard tricks

Snowboard tricks are aerials or maneuvers performed on snowboards for fun, or in competitions. Most often, these maneuvers are performed on obstacles such as jumps, halfpipes, quarterpipes, hips, handrails, funboxes, or ledges, or on the surface of the snow. Many have their origins in precursory board sports such as skateboarding and surfing.

Snowboard tricks are named in the same manner that earlier board sports (skateboarding, surfing) named their maneuvers.

The identifiers frontside and backside describe how a trick is performed. These identifiers are very important technical terms and are commonly misunderstood because of their different uses for jumps and rails.

For aerial maneuvers, frontside and backside identify the direction of rotation of a spin. For instance a regular rider doing a frontside spin off a jump would rotate his body counterclockwise opening his shoulders up so that his "front side" is the first side of his body going forward off the jump in the first 90 degrees of his spin. A regular rider doing a backside spin off a jump would rotate his body clockwise closing his shoulders so that his "back side" is the first side of his body going forward off the jump in the first 90 degrees of his spin.

For tricks performed on obstacles such as rails, frontside and backside refer to the direction from which the snowboarder approaches the obstacle. A regular rider approaching a rail from the left side of the rail would be considered frontside because the "front side" of his body is facing the rail. A regular rider approaching a rail from the right side of the rail would be considered backside because the "back side" of his body is facing the rail. A regular rider doing a frontside spin onto a rail would rotate his body clockwise and then land on the rail. A regular rider doing a backside spin onto a rail would rotate his body counterclockwise and then land on the rail.

The terms switch-stance (switch) and fakie are often used interchangeably in snowboarding, though there is a distinct difference. The switch identifier refers to any trick that a snowboarder performs while traveling backwards, or the reverse of his/her natural stance. A snowboarder can also be said to be riding switch while traveling opposite from his/her natural stance, when no trick is being performed. At this time, the leading tip of his board is referred to as the nose.

Alternatively, the identifier fakie has its origin in skateboarding, a discipline where the feet are not attached to the board, but where the skateboarder's natural stance includes positioning the trailing foot on the kicked tail of the skateboard. On a skateboard, fakie refers to an instance where the skateboarder is traveling backwards, but his/her feet remain in the same position on the skateboard as their natural stance.

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