Air: A move where the athlete launches above the lip of the halfpipe.
Air to Fakie: Any trick in the halfpipe where a rider approaches the wall riding forward, no rotation is made, and the rider lands riding backwards.
Alley Oop: Any maneuver in the halfpipe where the rider rotates 180 degree or more in the uphill direction.
Alpine Snowboarding: The type of snowboarding that involves racing through gates; parallel giant slalom is a type of alpine snowboarding.
Andrecht: A handplant using the rear hand while grabbing the board with the other (front) hand.
Backside: The side of the snowboard where the athlete's heels rest; the side of the snowboard to which the athlete's back faces.
Backside Air: Any air performed on backside wall of halfpipe.
Backside handplant: A maneuver where the rider places both hands or the rear hand on the rim of the halfpipe and rotates 180-degrees in the backside direction.
Backside rotation: Rotating clockwise for a regular-footed snowboarder or rotating counter-clockwise for a goofy footed snowboarder.
Backside wall: If a snowboarder rides straight down the halfpipe, the side of the halfpipe that is behind the rider.
Bevel: The angle to which the edges of the snowboard are tuned. Snowboards used for giant slalom will have a greater bevel than snowboards used in a halfpipe.
Blindside: Any rotation where the snowboarder has oriented themselves "blind" to their takeoff or landing and must stretch to look over their shoulder.
Bone: To straighten out one or both legs.
Bonk: Hitting an object while riding a snowboard.
Cab: Shortened word for Caballerial.
Caballerial: A halfpipe trick where the athlete begins fakie (or backwards), rotates 360 degrees, and lands riding forward. It is named after skateboarding guru, Steve Caballero.
Corkscrew: Sideways rotation.
Crail Air: An aerial maneuver where the rear hand grabs the toe edge in front of the front foot while the rear leg is boned (straightened).
Crippler: An inverted aerial where the rider performs a 180 degree flip. The athlete becomes airborne, rotates 90 degrees, flips over in the air, rotates another 90 degrees and lands riding forward.
Detune: Dulling - slightly -- the edges of the snowboard.
Double cork: An aerial maneuver consisting of two off-axis rotations
Double grab: Performing two separate grab tricks on one aerial.
Double-handed grab: Grabbing the snowboard with both hands on an aerial maneuver.
Duckfoot: A snowboard stance where the toes point outward.
Effective edge: The part of the edge of the snowboard that is in contact with the snow; thus it does not include the edges of the tip and tail.
Elgeurial: An invert where the halfpipe wall is approached fakie, the rear hand is planted, a 360 degree backside rotation is made and the rider lands going forward.
Fakie: Riding backwards.
Fall line: The path of least resistance down any given slope.
Flat bottom: The area in the halfpipe between the two walls.
Flatground: Tricks performed on a flat slope.
Flex: The stiffness of the snowboard.
Freeriding: Snowboarding for fun, not in a competition.
Freestyle snowboarding: The type of snowboarding which includes tricks; halfpipe is a type of freestyle snowboarding.
Front hand: The hand closest to the front of the snowboard.
Front foot: The foot closest to the front of the snowboard.
Frontside: The side of the snowboard where the toes rest; the side of snowboard the athlete's chest faces.
Frontside Air: Technically, a front side air is an aerial performed on the frontside wall with an Indy grab. The term is also used to describe any aerial on the frontside wall.
Frontside rotation: Rotating counter-clockwise for regular-footed snowboarder or rotating clockwise for a goofy-footed snowboarder.
Frontside invert: A maneuver where the rider places the front hand on the lip of the halfpipe and rotates 180 degrees in the frontside direction.
Frontside wall: If a snowboarder rides straight down the halfpipe, the side of the halfpipe that is in front of the rider.
Goofy footed: Riding a snowboard with the right foot forward.
Haaken Flip: An inverted aerial done where the rider approaches the wall of the halfpipe riding backwards. At the lip of the halfpipe the rider flips backwards into the pipe and rotate 720 degrees, landing forward down in the pipe.
Halfpipe: The snow structure where the halfpipe competition is contested. It his made up of two walls of the same height and size and a transition area in between.
Hand plant: A maneuver where the athlete places one or both hands on the lip of the wall and rotates.
Hard boots: The boots designed for parallel giant slalom and the other alpine events. The boots are stiff and provide good support.
Heel edge: The edge of the snowboard closest to the heels.
Indy Air: An aerial maneuver performed in the backside direction with the rear hand grabbing the board between the bindings. "Indy" can also used to describe the location of the grab.
Invert: A trick where the head is beneath the level of the board and the snowboarder balances on one or two hands.
Inverted Aerial: A trick where the rider is airborne and upside down.
Japan Air: An aerial maneuver in which the rider grabs the toe edge in between the feet with his front hand and the front knee is pulled to the board.
Late: Incorporating a move into a trick just before the trick's completion.
Layback handplant: A maneuver where the rider places the rear hand on the lip of the halfpipe and rotates 180 degrees in the frontside direction.
Lien Air: An aerial maneuver where the rider grabs the heel edge with his front hand and leans over the nose of the board.
Lip: The top edge of the halfpipe wall.
Lip trick: Any trick performed on or near the lip of the wall.
McTwist: An inverted aerial where the snowboarder performs a 540-degree flip. The athlete approaches the halfpipe wall riding forward, goes airborne, rotates 540 degrees in a backside direction while performing a front flip and lands riding forward. Named after skateboarder Mike McGill.
Melonchollie Air: An aerial maneuver where the rider reaches behind the front leg with the front hand and grabs the heel edge between the bindings while the front leg is boned (straightened).
Method Air: An aerial maneuver where rider grabs the heel edge with the front hand, bends both knees and pulls the board to the level of the head.
Michalchuk: An invert done on the backside wall of the halfpipe where the rider does a back flip with 180-degree backside rotation. Named after Canadian Mike Michalchuk.
Miller flip: An invert done where the halfpipe wall is approached riding forward, the front hand is planted, a 360-degree frontside rotation is made and the rider lands riding fakie (backwards).
Mute air: An aerial maneuver where the rider grabs the toe edge with his front hand either between the bindings or at the front of the board.
Nollie: A method to obtain air without jumping. It is performed by first lifting the rear foot then lifting the front foot as the rider springs off the nose.
Nose: The front tip of the snowboard.
Nose grab air: An aerial maneuver where the rider grabs the nose of the snowboard.
Nose poke air: Any maneuver where you bone (straighten) your front leg and "poke" the nose of the snowboard in a direction away from your body.
Nose Slide: The slide along the ground solely on the nose of the snowboard.
Ollie: A method to obtain air without jumping. It is performed by first lifting the front foot then lifting the rear foot as the rider springs off the tail.
Phillips 66: An invert where the athlete approaches the halfpipe wall riding fakie (backwards), plants the rear hand on the lip of the halfpipe while doing a front flip and lands in the transition area riding forward. Named after skateboarder Jeff Phillips.
Pipe Dragon: Mechanical apparatus attached to the front of a snow grooming machine that is used to sculpt a halfpipe.
Plate binding: A binding system in which hard boots are attached to the snowboard by a flat plate, similar to ski bindings.
Pop Tart: A aerial move where the rider goes up fakie (backwards) and lands going forward, thus not rotating.
Rear hand: The hand closest to the tail of the snowboard.
Rearfoot: The foot mounted closest to the tail of the snowboard.
Regular Footed: Riding on snowboard with the left foot forward.
Revert: To switch from riding fakie (backwards) to forward, or from forward to fakie.
Rodeo Flip: An invert done in which the rider rotates while flipping.
"Rolling down the windows": A phrase used to describe when someone is caught off balance and they rotate their arms wildly in the air to try to recover.
Sato Flip: An invert done on the frontside wall of a halfpipe where the rider does a front flip with a 180-degree frontside rotation. Originated by Rob Kingwill.
Sidecut radius: The measure of the circle's radius to which the sidecut of the snowboard corresponds. A small radius will make for tighter turning then a large radius.
Slob Air: The athlete performs a mute grab with the front hand, while the back leg is boned (straightened) and the board is kept parallel to the ground.
Soft boots: Boots designed for use in freestyle and freeride snowboarding. They are made soft and pliable to allow a large range of motion.
Stalefish Air: An aerial maneuver where the athlete grabs the heel edge behind the rear leg in between with the rear hand, while the rear leg is boned (straightened).
Stance: The position of the feet on the snowboard.
Stiffy Air: Any aerial in which both legs are boned (straightened) and a grab is done.
Super Pipe: A type of halfpipe with a much larger and smoother transition than a standard halfpipe, allowing riders to get higher above the lip. The super pipe is also longer and the walls are less steep and thus more forgiving that a normal halfpipe.
Switchstance: Performing a trick while riding fakie (backwards) when the maneuver is performed exactly like it would be if the snowboarder were riding forward.
Tail: The rear tip of the snowboard.
Tail Grab Air: The athlete grabs the tail of the snowboard with the rear hand.
Tail Poke: Any maneuver where you bone (straighten) you rear leg and "poke" the tail of the snowboard in a direction away from the body.
Tail Slide: To slide along the ground solely on the tail of the snowboard.
Tail Wheelie: To ride solely on the tail of the snowboard with the nose in the air.
Toe edge: The edge of the snowboard where the toes rest.
Transition: The curved surface of the halfpipe walls between the flat section and the vertical portion of the wall.
Tranny: A slang term for transition.
Traverse: To ride perpendicular to the fall line; to ride across the halfpipe.
Tuck knee: A technique where one knee is bent and the ankle is bent sideways in order to touch the knee to the snowboard between the bindings.
Twin tip: A type of snowboard used in freestyle. It has an identical tip and tail so the board can be ridden in either direction.
Vertical: The top portion of the wall in a halfpipe that allows the snowboard to fly straight up in the air.
Wet Cat: An inverted aerial where the athlete plants the front hand on the wall, rotates 900 degrees in a backside direction and lands riding forward. It is a 900-degree McTwist.
180 Air: An aerial maneuver in which the snowboard rotates 180 degrees - a half of spin.
360 Air: An aerial maneuver in which the snowboard rotates 360 degrees - one full spin.
540 Air: An aerial maneuver in which the snowboarder rotates 540 degrees - one and a half spins.
720 Air: An aerial maneuver in which the snowboarder rotates 720 degrees - two full spins.
900 Air: An aerial maneuver in which the snowboarder rotates 900 degrees - two and a half spins.
1080 Air: An aerial maneuver in which the snowboard rotates 1080 degree - three full spins. This move is considered essential to contend for gold in the men's competition in Vancouver.
