Last Updated25 October 2024

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.

Intro to Halfpipe & Transition

What, Why, How

Introducing the basic skills necessary to ride halfpipe.

Halfpipe is a fun but technical discipline within snowboarding. Halfpipe riding helps to create strong and versatile riders.

Outside the Pipe:

Spend time riding banks and gullies, focusing on maintaining a strong stance and keeping the body perpendicular to the snowboard.

Introduce hop turns on banks, purely as an option, should it be needed.

With a large carved back-up turn, introduce the timing of the movements necessary for ascent up the pipe’s wall. Start each back-up turn with a strong edge and progressively flattening while travelling uphill. Focus on the feeling of the flat base as momentum decreases.

Take this into large carved turns with timing changes, using the flat base across the fall line, then directly down the fall line, then a combination of both. This can be adjusted into patience turns, bringing in the use of upper body rotation to redirect the board.

Hot Tip

Experimenting with edging and flat basing on banks and in gullies is an ideal way to prepare someone for the halfpipe. Find a suitable bank/gully transition with appropriate snow conditions, and have your student try to ride up it on an edge, do a hop 180 and come back down again. Now have them try to progressively change their trajectory on the bank to a longer arc, drawing out the shape more and more each time, and removing the hop. Draw attention to the edge angle of the board when doing this.

Inside the Pipe:

Look at the halfpipe from different viewpoints, e.g. the drop-in, the bottom of the pipe looking up, or the top of one wall. Explain the different parts, e.g. flat bottom, frontside and backside walls, transition, vert and lip. Watch a few riders go through if possible. If using a transition feature in the park, consider how these aspects change and how it flows with features above and below.

Have your student follow you through the halfpipe, or on the transition feature, making turns in the lower part of the transition, focusing on stance. Ensure that the line ridden is shallow, using the time travelling across the pipe’s flat bottom to control speed and check stance/alignment.

Take more laps in the pipe, or transition feature, to get mileage. The front arm can be used as a way to lead body movements through the transition and take a smooth line. Use the hop turn if necessary to change edges, but focus on flattening the board through the transition and carrying momentum further up the pipe’s wall as confidence grows.

Movements & Board Performance

Vertical with Pressure

A gentle vertical movement will help the rider to maintain speed and blend other movements, extending slowly when travelling up the wall and flexing when travelling down. The timing and power applied here can be increased as confidence grows, turning it into a pumping movement through the transitions. Subtle vertical movement is also required when making hop turns to maintain balance in the air and absorb landings.

Lateral with Edging

Holding an edge across the flat bottom using angulation in the lower body will help to maintain speed. Reducing the edge angle of the board as the rider moves through the transition will help them to take a good line in the pipe and encourage the rider to keep their body away from the pipe’s wall. The edge change should happen at the pinnacle of the rider’s trajectory on the wall, out of the pipe’s lip, or during a hop-turn, and the down transition will be ridden on the uphill edge.

Rotational

Rotational movements of the shoulders and hips will allow the rider to make turns on the pipe’s walls or when making hop turns.

Longitudinal

A centred stance is important to maintain throughout all transitions initially.

Terrain & Group Management

Before introducing halfpipe riding, make sure your student has strong awareness of their edges and a well-balanced, active stance. Without this, your student is likely to struggle in the pipe, which could create a feeling of intimidation and may lead to them becoming afraid of it.

Ensure that the pipe is in appropriate condition before taking ANY students there. Try to time your students’ first visit with softer snow conditions and less people. Encourage students to enter the pipe without dropping in on the wall at first. Use the hop turn as an option but not as the main turning mechanism if possible. This will be useful for those who struggle to flatten their board on the wall and change edges. When working on line through the pipe, remember that speed can increase very quickly. Encourage speed control across the flat bottom of the pipe with speed checks if needed.

Corrective Teaching

Student struggles to control speed when first riding the pipe:

Begin your run by entering the pipe in the flat bottom, rather than dropping in from the wall. This will reduce the initial riding speed.

Encourage your student to take a shallower line across the pipe and make their traverse across a little skidded.

Use speed checks in the flat bottom if necessary.

Student struggles to keep their body perpendicular to the snowboard (i.e. not maintaining a centred stance):

Have the rider perform a floating leaf through the pipe focusing on maintaining an upside-down T-shape between their body and snowboard. A sliding 180 can be added in the flat bottom of the pipe to allow the rider to stay in the normal stance when approaching the wall.

Student leans laterally over their heel edge when riding up the backside wall:

Focus your student on flattening their base as they ride through the transition towards the vert, keeping their body away from the pipe’s wall. This will allow your student to maintain momentum and rotate the nose back into the pipe. This should only be used if your student is comfortable moving through the transition already.

Reduce the riding speed and focus more on the timing of lateral movements lower down the transition. Once the movement is becoming more natural, slowly increase the riding speed to increase amplitude.

Remind your students that we are riding down the pipe. Often the perception of amplitude is seen as riding up the walls. By redirecting the line down the pipe you are encouraging lateral movements more on top of the board as your student climbs higher on the wall.

Self Reflection

“Do my students have the edge and flat base awareness to go into the pipe?”

“Have we spent enough time riding natural features with similar transitions before going in the pipe for the first time?”