List of Snowboard Tricks - Flips and Inverted Rotations

Flips and Inverted Rotations

Back flip

Flipping backwards (like a standing backflip) off of a jump.

Front flip

Flipping forward (like a standing frontflip) off of a jump.

Wildcat

A backflip performed on a straight jump, with an axis of rotation in which the snowboarder flips in a backward, cartwheel-like fashion. A double wildcat is called a supercat.

Tamedog

A frontflip performed on a straight jump, with an axis of rotation in which the snowboarder flips in a forward, cartwheel-like fashion.

McTwist

A forward-flipping backside 540, performed in a halfpipe, quarterpipe, or similar obstacle. The rotation may continue beyond 540° (e.g., McTwist 720). The origin of this trick comes from vert ramp skateboarding, and was first performed on a skateboard by Mike McGill.

Double McTwist

Previously believed to have been Shaun White as the creator of the Double McTwist 1260, Ben Stewart is the first person known to have performed it in 2009 and coined the name "Soggy Wolf". Shaun White was the first athlete to perform the trick in competition at the 2010 Winter Olympics giving it worldwide recognition and giving it the name "Tomahawk". Since then, numerous athletes have performed the Double McTwist 1260 including Iouri Podladtchikov.

Haakon flip

An aerial maneuver performed in a halfpipe by taking off backwards, and performing an inverted 720° rotation. The rotation mimics a half-cab leading to McTwist, and is named after freestyle legend Terje Haakonsen of Norway.

Lando-Roll

A Frontside cork 540/720 method done by Alaskan snowboarder Mark Landvik.

Backside Misty

After a rider learns the basic backside 540 off the toes, the Misty Flip can be an easy next progression step. Misty Flip is quite different than the backside rodeo, because instead of corking over the heel edge with a back flip motion, the Misty corks off the toe edge specifically and has more of a Front Flip in the beginning of the trick, followed by a side flip coming out to the landing.

Frontside Misty

The Frontside misty ends up looking quite a bit like a frontside rodeo in the middle of the trick, but at take off the rider uses a more frontflip type of motion to start the trick. The frontside Misty can only be done off the toes and the rider will wind up to spin frontside, then snap their trailing shoulder towards their front foot and the lead shoulder will release towards the sky. as they unwind at takeoff release. Usually grabbing Indy the rider follows the lead shoudler through the rotation to 540, 720 and even 900.

Chicane

A chicane is a rarely done trick that involves doing a frontside 180 with a front flip on the X Axis. Opposite of the 90 roll, the chicane is frontside 90, tuck front flip, 90 degrees more to land switch, or vice versa.

Frontside Rodeo

The basic frontside rodeo is all together a 540. It essentially falls into a grey area between an off axis frontside 540 and a frontside 180 with a back flip blended into it. The grab choice and different line and pop factors can make it more flipy or more of an off-axis spin. Frontside rodeo can be done off the heels or toes and with a little more spin on the Z Axis can go to 720 or 900. It is possible to do it to a 1080 but, if there is too much flip in the spin, it can be hard not to over flip when going past 720 and 900. The bigger the Z Axis spin, the later the inverted part of the rotation should be. Gaining control on big spin rodeos, may lead to a double cork or a second flip rotation in the spin, if the rider has developed a comfort level with double flips on the tramp or other gymnastic environment.;Rodeo flip; frontside rodeo: A frontward-flipping frontside spin done off the toe-edge. Most commonly performed with a 540° rotation, but also performed as a 720°, 900°, etc..

Backside Rodeo flip

A backward-flipping backside spin. Most commonly performed with a 540° rotation, but also performed as a 720°, 900°, etc..

Ninety Roll

A trick performed by back-flipping toward the landing of a jump, with a total rotation of 180° backside (i.e. spin 90° backside-backflip-spin 90°), therefore landing fakie. Essentially, this is a backside 180 backflip. This trick is sometimes confused with a backside Rodeo, though the Ninety Roll has a much more linear axis of rotation.

Michalchuk

A trademark flip first performed in the halfpipe by Michael Michalchuk. A flat-spinning, on-axis backflip often grabbing melon, indy or method and rotating 540 degrees.

Doublechuk

A variation of the Michalchuk, but with two backflip rotations.

Rippey flip

A back-flipping frontside 360°, typically performed with a method grab. Named after its originator, Jim Rippey, although already performed 5 years earlier by former pro skateboarder and snowboarder John Cardiel.

Sato flip

Halfpipe trick done by Rob Kingwill (Sato is the Japanese word for sugar). It's something like a frontside McTwist. The rider rides up the transition of the pipe as if doing a frontside 540°, pops in the air and grabs frontside, then throws head, shoulders, and hips down.

Cork

Very few snowboarders have done a triple cork, Torstein Horgmo was the first in 2010. Corks are usually done with 540°, 720°, 1080°, 1260°, and 1440° spins as 180 corks are not possible due to the fact that you are using the torque of your spin to initiate the actual flip and would land on your side or do a maneuver similar to a ninety roll or rodeo. Cork 360s are possible but often look uncontrolled or "flailed" and not used in competition.