The Appeal Of Freestyle Snowboarding
December 4th, 2008

The appeal of freestyle snowboarding has grown over several decades. The ones who enjoy the sport do not simply enjoy winter sports, but many others as well. The draw for freestyle may come because the sport incorporates skateboarding, surfing, and windsurfing. Therefore, the athletes that enjoy freestyle are the same ones who enjoy sailing through the air on any type of board or equipment that they can get their hands on. The thrill of defying gravity and sailing at top speeds make this sport a huge success.

The term freestyle explains many of the reasons this sport has become so popular and there are different freestyle categories.

Halfpipe: The snowboard-halfpipe is longer than the skateboarding halfpipe and needs to be built upon a hill that you can sail down through. You often see competitions on television with the athletes running down the half-pipe trying to make the biggest jumps, turn, and difficult rotations possible.

Jump Contest: The goal of the athlete is to take off the jump and create the most difficult awesome combinations in the air before landing.

Power Snow-Driving: the absolute joy of snowboarders who enjoy freestyle. You simply find a steep hill that is covered in powdered snow and begin craving your way down the hill. This may be the most beautiful part of freestyle snowboarding because as you are sailing over this snow you feel as though you are flying.

Boarder Cross: This type of course is taken from the motor cross scene with a course complete with ramps, jumps, obstacles, and tight turns. This starts like a race with four to five boarders at the starting line with only one taking home the prize.

France is a big draw to snowboarders who love the vertical drops and trails, some of them being on a glacier. The trails extend over three slopes, the longest being 3,233m and vertical drops that are up to 3,300m altitude make this a place that thrill the snowboarders who can perform their freestyle techniques from sunrise till sunset.

Have you ever enjoyed watching the freestyle professionals perform their maneuvers on television and then turned the volume down because you did not have a clue what the announcers were saying? Here is a list of terms you can listen for the next time you want to enjoy watching your favorite professional perform their jumps, turns, and tricks.

Air - when the snowboarder leaves the ground this can be combined with a trick or two as well.

Bonk - is when the snowboarder rides over an object and then will slap the object they just rode over with their snowboard.

Carve - this is when they use the edge of their snowboard to make a turn.

Duck Stance - this is the position the snowboarders feet are in on the board.

Edges - these are the metal strips that are on the sides of the snowboard. They use this to cut into the snow and to control their board to do a turn, carve, or come to a stop.

Fakie - you have heard of someone who can bat both with their left and right hands, the same holds true in the sport of snowboarding. There are some who can lead with their right foot or their left.

Fall Line - is in reference to a direct route down the mountain you may hear this when they point their board straight down the hill at this point they are generating the most speed.

Garland - this is known as the snowboarder going across the slope. They do this by pointing their board straight down the slope and then turning it back across the slope without going back in the other direction.

Halfpipe - this is the manmade trench in the snow that the snowboarder uses to drive down and perform tricks. You will also see them get a lot of air between them and the sides of the halfpipe.

Kicker - this is a small jump that is used so that the snowboarders can get air and perform a trick.

Lip - this is where they will normally begin to perform their trick. It is at the top of the halfpipe or the end of a jump.

Moguls - are bumps that have been created in the snow by the other riders who turn.

Now when you watch the freestyle snowboarders perform their magic listen for a few of these terms and you may start to understand what they are doing just a little bit better

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