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Snowboarding
Understanding Halfpipe Tricks at the U.S. Open
Superpipe is an evolving at an insane rate — here's a lesson on the tricks, try to keep up.
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Burton US Open Halfpipe Action
© Zach Hooper/Red Bull Content Pool
The Burton U.S. Open is coming up fast, so to prepare you for our live coverage of the greatest halfpipe contest of them all, here's a guide to some of the tricks you'll be seeing in Vail, Colorado this week.
First, a little backstory. Halfpipe snowboarding was invented by skateboarders looking to emulate summertime ramp sessions, so skate tricks and style are hardcoded into the DNA of the sport. However, the binding straps on snowboards allows riders to spin and flip in ways that skateboarders never could, and as halfpipe riding has evolved, a more gymnastic approach has gradually taken hold.
Lucky for us, and snowboarding in general, judges are required to reward both the aesthetics of a simple, stylish skate trick and the technical merit of a complicated gymnastic move. Athletes are required to grab their boards in the skate style while executing tricks, even though, unlike with skateboarding, it has no practical function.
As we explained in part one, every trick description is broken down into three main parts: 1) regular or switch and frontside or backside, 2) grab, and 3) total and type of rotations completed. While we don't have time to explain all the mechanics of trick calling here, we're going to give you the lowdown on a few classic moves you're guaranteed to see this weekend.
Taylor Gold – Method Air
Here are three definitions of the Method Air, all of which are true. 1) The Method Air is a straight air performed with a backside grab on the rider's backside wall, in which the board is pulled up high behind the rider's back. 2) Invented by legendary skater Neil Blender in the 1980s, the technique of pulling the board up increases the overall impression of amplitude — this was Blender’s 'method' for getting more air. 3) The Method Air is regarded by snowboarders as the definitive style statement. It takes some practice, but once you've got it, nothing looks as good to watch or feels as good to do.
Queralt Castellet – Backside 540 Mute
Queralt Castellet, Backside 540 Mute
© Burton
The key difference between counting rotations in halfpipe and slopestyle is that in pipe, a straight air counts as 180° of rotation, whereas over a jump, it doesn't. That means that whenever a rider rides out of a trick the same way they rode into it, you can add 180 to however many full rotations you think you saw. So in this case, Queralt Castellet rides up her backside wall forwards (regular), rotates a full turn and rides out forwards, so it's a Backside 540. Simple, right?
Chloe Kim – Cab 720 Stalefish
As we explained in part one of our guide, when a rider hits the lip riding switch and rotates frontside, it's known as 'Cab', after the inventor of the trick, Steve Caballero. In this case, Chloe Kim grabs her board with her trailing hand behind her back heel — a Stalefish grab — and rides out facing forwards after more than a full rotation, so it's a Cab 720 Stalefish. Not quite so simple, huh? Hang in there…
Taku Hiraoka – Frontside Double Cork Lien 1080
Taku Hiraoka, Frontside Double Cork Lien 1080
© Burton
We talked about 'Corks' in Part 1, but if you haven't read that yet, a cork is basically a rotation where the rider spins and flips at the same time, like a corkscrew. If you plan on making the podium at the U.S. Open, you'll need at least one double cork in your run, and this perfectly executed variation helped Taku Hiraoka to score silver in 2014. A note on the grab: while some might refer to this as a Front Dub 10 Melon, grabbing your heel edge with your front hand on a frontside air should always be referred to as a Lien grab – another trick invented by 1980's skate pioneer Neil Blender (Lien is Neil spelled backwards).
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