There are a lot of terms for snowboarding that you may not hear anywhere else, and they make it much easier to explain things. So here’s a guide for the basic terminology you might hear in the rest of our guides.
Goofy Rider
A goofy rider is someone who rides naturally with their right foot forward.
Regular Rider
A regular rider is someone who rides with their left foot forward naturally.
Switch
Switch is when you ride the opposite way to your natural direction, or backwards. So if you are goofy, you would be riding switch if you rode regular and vice versa. It can also be known as Fakie.
Ollie
The Ollie is the proper way to jump on a snowboard; it is where you use the spring in the snowboard with your legs to jump higher.
Popping
Popping onto a feature is just another word for Ollie.
Toeside
Toeside is the side of your snowboard that your toes hang over. A toeside turn is turning on your toes.
Heelside
Heelside is the side of your board where your heels hang over. A heelside turn is turning on your heels.
Fall Line
The fall line is the line that runs straight down the slope. Imagine dropping a ball on the slope, and the fall line is where it would go, the most direct path downwards. For example, water always follows the fall line when flowing downhill.
Catch an Edge
This is where you catch an edge in the snow and get catapulted into the ground. Catching an edge is not something you want to do, but it is unavoidable for all. It will happen one day when you least expect it, and it will probably hurt. Enjoy!
Base
The base is the bottom of your snowboard. So, coming up to a kicker with a flat base would be having a flat snowboard on the snow.
Getton
This is a small jump for snowboarding, for getting on rails and other features
Street Riding
This is where you go and ride rails and features in the street by building your own setup. There is a danger of the police turning up, however.
Knuckle
This is the very beginning of a landing before it gets to the down part. Landing short on a jump on the knuckle is never fun.
Piste
A run of maintained snow that is kept in shape by the mountain crew to keep a safe, clear mountain to ride on.
Bluebird
A perfect cloud-free mountain day.
