Halfpipe Snowboarding is a snowboarding competition where the participants start individually from the top of a half pipe. The half pipe is a semi-circular ditch or a ramp built for this competition and its depth varies from 8 to 22 feet and the competitors perform different interesting tricks on this pipe which are scored by the judges.
The main criteria for scoring are the difficulty, usage of pipe, amplitude, variety of tricks and the execution of tricks as well. Below given are some of the most interesting tricks of halfpipe snowboarding but make sure you do not practice them without expert guidance.
Frontside Air
The rider approaches on the edge of the toe and airs out of the front side wall which is the left side wall for non-regular riders and the right one for regular riders. When airborne, the rider’s side is facing out of the halfpipe. During this trick, the regular riders land regularly but the goofy ones often mess up.
Poptart
The rider comes airing from the fakie to forward on a halfpipe, without having a single rotation.
Air-to-Fakie
In this trick, the rider airs straight out by making a vertical transition and re-entering the fakie effectively and smoothly, without spinning at all.
Alley Oop
This is a trick where a spin is performed in a halfpipe where the spin gets rotated in the opposite direction of the air. This means that the rider rotates on the backside on the front side wall or rotates front side on the backside wall.
Backside Rodeo
It involves the rider taking off from the front side wall and rotating backside, further back flipping down the pipe and rotating up to 540 or 720 degrees. It is one of the most difficult halfpipe snowboarding tricks and all safety precautions should be taken while performing it.
McTwist
This is a trick where the rider forward flips backside at 540 degrees and this trick can be performed on halfpipe as well as a quarterpipe. The rider can also continue the rotation beyond 540 degrees if he can. This trick was originated from the Vert ramp Skateboarding and was first performed by Mike McGill.
Wet Cat
In this halfpipe snowboarding trick, the rider had to create the variations of McTwist, with a 900 degree spin. This is again a very intense trick which can only be achieved after a lot of efforts.
Haakonflip
This is a very famous trick which is the aim for a lot of snowboarders. It was named by TerjeHaakonsen, the snowboarding legend.
Michalchuk
It is a trademark trick which was first performed by rider Michael Michalchuk. It is a wildcat back flip with a 540 degree spin. The rotation takes place at the backside of the backside wall.
Crippler
It is a general term for an inverted front side which is a back flip or sometimes even a mixture of backflip as well as side flip.
