Posted for Nancy Yearout
RE/MAX Properties of the Summit, Breckenridge, Colorado
nyearout@colorado.net
http://www.realestate-breckenridge.net
Did the announcer just say “frontside 1080 double cork?” Huh? What does that
even mean?
If you find yourself asking these questions during the men's
and women's halfpipe finals today, hopefully you've read this, because we're
going to break down these sometimes ridiculous sounding snowboarding terms into
layman's terms. Don't be afraid to ask one of the competitors what all this
stuff means, too — they're usually pretty happy to explain it to those outside
of their professional snowboarding world.
“We pretty much have our own
language here in snowboarding,” said Kelly Clark, an Olympic gold medalist and
the most winningest woman in halfpipe history. “There's slang and different
things just relative to our culture and our sport.”
For example,
frontside spinning depends on whether a rider's stance is regular or goofy.
Goofy means the rider stands on their board with their right foot forward, while
a regular stance means the left foot is forward. The stance determines which
direction the rider faces, which in turn determines which side would be the
so-called frontside or backside.
Clark has a regular stance, so when
riding halfpipe, her frontside is the right wall — the wall that she's facing
when she's pointed straight downhill.
So, spins that Clark makes on that
right wall are going to be frontside spins.
Here's how the USA Snowboard
Association explains the two sides: “There are two directions of rotation:
Frontside and backside. On a frontside rotation you are spinning off of your
toes and on a backside rotation you are spinning off of your heels. Both these
rotations can happen on both walls of the halfpipe. Since the walls of the
halfpipe are called backside and frontside there can be some name confusion, but
where the riders spins (on what wall) is not the main point. It is how the rider
spins that is important.
Example: A rider that does a 720 on their
frontside wall and then a cab 720 on their backside wall is doing frontside
spins on both walls since going in cab (switch) on to the backside wall makes it
a frontside rotation.
The numbers in a trick represent the number of
spins, or rotations, a rider makes. A 180 is a half-rotation, a 360 is a full
rotation, a 540 is a rotation and a half, a 720 is two full rotations, a 900 is
two-and-a-half rotations and a 1080 is three full rotations. Some riders go
beyond that, too, and hit 1260's.
Confused yet? There's more. Here's a
list of some of the more common terms you'll hear during the halfpipe
competitions today and Saturday:
• Alley-oop: A rotation of 180 degrees
or more going uphill.
• Air to fakie: To approach the wall riding
forward, go airborne without rotation and land with the back leg in front.
• Backside: To lead with the heel-side edge.
• Frontside: The toe
side of the board, and the direction the rider faces.
• Indy air: To take
off leading with the heel side, with the rear hand grabbing between the bindings
on the toe edge while the rear leg is straight.
• Japan air: To take off
with the front hand grabbing the toe edge, the front knee tucked and the back
arched while pulling the board level with the head.
• McTwist: Approach
the wall riding forward, go airborne, rotate 540 degrees leading with the heel
edge while doing a front flip and land riding forward.
• Method air: With
knees bent, grab the heel edge with the leading hand while pulling the board
level with the head.
• Mute grab: To grasp the toe edge of the board
between the bindings with the leading hand.
• Rodeos: Rotations with a
backwards flip. Can be done frontside or backside.
• Switch: The reverse
of natural stance. Performing a switch trick has a higher level of difficulty
than a regular stance trick.
• Tail: The rear tip of the
snowboard.
• 360: One full rotation in the air.
• 540: One and
one-half full airborne rotations.
• 720: Two full airborne
rotations.
• 1080: Three full airborne rotations.
Source: The
United States of America Snowboard Association judging criteria.
Courtesy of the Summit Daily News
