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Table of Contents
Advanced Freestyle takes a wider look at freestyle both in and out of the park, with a view to develop versatility and creative riding. This chapter shows a selection of tricks that are commonly performed at an advanced level and can be categorised into all-mountain, jumps, boxes/rails and halfpipe riding.
All-Mountain: Butters
What, Why, How
A playful style of riding involving a combination of pressing and spinning, often in the absence of terrain park features.
To have as much fun as possible on flatter, groomed terrain.
360 Tail Butter:
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With a mellow approach speed, either down or across the slope, pressure the tail and turn the whole body in that direction.
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Allow the upper body to continue to spin and pull the board uphill.
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Keep the board in a tail press and subtly change edges in the fall line to the new edge.
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Continue to turn the shoulders, and allow the hips to complete the spin.
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Release the press to complete the trick or build by adding more rotation, transfer to a new press or even pop out.
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Try this butter frontside and backside or even switch to increase versatility.
Frontside Nose Roll 180-out:
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Ensure that the nose roll and switch backside 180 are solid as a baseline to building this new progression. A quick refresh of each may be needed.
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Bring the two tricks together with a forwards nose roll, riding away switch moving the hips aft into a switch tail press. Allow the upper body to continue to turn and pop off the back foot into a switch backside 180.
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For the complete trick, as the nose roll is released use this rotational momentum to spin the switch backside 180 when popping out of the press. Explain where to look throughout the trick to aid balance.
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This trick can be done in backside variations, when riding switch and even with hardways takeoffs.
Backside 180 to Press 180-out:
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Ensure the backside 180, switch tail press and switch frontside 180 are solid as a baseline to building this new progression. A quick refresh of each may be needed.
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Bring the three tricks together in a single traverse by doing a backside 180, ride away switch and move the hips aft into a switch tail press. Allow the upper body to continue to turn in the switch frontside direction and pop off the back foot to release the switch frontside 180.
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For the complete trick, after landing the backside 180 in the tail press keep the rotational momentum moving only through the shoulders to then pop out of the press and spin the switch frontside 180. Explain where to look throughout the trick to aid balance.
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This trick can be done in frontside variations, when riding switch and in hardways variations.
Hot Tip
Achieving smooth butter tricks can be likened to dancing on a snowboard. Dance moves involve balancing over one leg, spinning around, transferring weight to the other and also balancing over both feet when desired. This can help students not only move in a way beneficial to the trick but also to visualise the moves they need to make to perform the right dance combo / butter trick.
Movements & Board Performance
Vertical & Longitudinal with Pressuring
Blending vertical and longitudinal movements is key during butter tricks. The COM will move fore and aft and up and down as a result of precise flexion and extension movements in the ankles, knees and hips. This can be developed through mileage and often the range of these movements needs to be explored to flex the board, create/hold/release presses and utilise rebound when required.
Lateral with Edging
Edge awareness throughout butters requires constant fine tuning movements with the ankles, knees and hips. This will allow the rider to keep the COM over the uphill edge when required and also transition over a flat base through parts of the tricks to allow them to flow.
Rotational with Spinning
Rotational movements will involve the whole body. Depending on the trick the upper body can be used to generate power and can be separated from the lower body to help create and maintain rotational momentum.
Terrain & Group Management
Choose terrain that will help keep the riding speed relatively slow and also provides enough width to utilise traversing tasks. If using traverses to build butters, ensure that students are spotting for each other and checking their blind spots frequently. With a range of abilities and stances, be sure to offer options for regular and goofy riders as well as adequately challenging butter tricks to keep interest up without taking away from the ability to achieve the butter.
Corrective Teaching
Student is unable to maintain flex in the board during butters:
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Ride slower to begin with to ensure that fear does not become an issue.
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Review how to move the COM longitudinally while maintaining flexion in both legs.
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Encourage students to move their hips further vertically downwards and fore/aft towards the nose/tail as desired.
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Spend time learning about the board’s flex and rebound properties to understand how far the COM needs to move to maintain flex.
Student struggles to keep rotational momentum over a flexed board:
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Review how to use pre-wind to store and release rotational energy into a trick.
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Focus on leading rotational butters with the head and eyeline to avoid the spin stalling mid-trick.
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Encourage the use of a larger range of rotational movement and also more powerful application of those movements.
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Keep the snowboard as flat as possible to ensure that tilt or twist does not create too much grip which will slow rotational momentum.
Self Reflection
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“Did I choose an easy enough butter to build from as the lesson progresses?”
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“Are my students capable of performing all the ingredient tricks separately before trying to perform the complete trick?”
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“Are the tasks I’m using to build my progression relevant to the butter trick?”