6 Snowboard Tricks to Learn Right Now

Learning new tricks is one of the most fun aspects of snowboarding, but with so many things to learn, where should a beginner start? Right here. This guide outlines six of Burton’s favorite beginner snowboard tricks that will provide a solid foundation to build upon as you advance your riding.

These tricks can be learned on any snowboard but for riders who are serious about advancing in the park, we recommend a softer more forgiving park snowboard and medium flex snowboard bindings. Also, don't forget to wear your helmet.

Video: 6 Tricks to Learn Right Now

Pro tip: Familiarize yourself with these tricks and then do them over and over again. Ollie over bumps and rollers, press and butter on the trail, and take a few switch turns in the middle of a park lap—this will build muscle memory and make it easier to learn more difficult snowboard tricks in the future.

Trick 1: Ollie

An ollie is a specific way of jumping off of the ground vertically while snowboarding. In general, we recommend learning how to ollie first, as it is a critical step towards learning other snowboard tricks. Once the ollie is mastered, it can be used for flatland tricks, rail tricks, and jump tricks.

How to Ollie on a Snowboard

While standing upright and centered over your snowboard, shift your weight to your back foot. Think of this like loading up a spring.
Keeping your torso upright, shift your weight onto your back foot while simultaneously pulling your front foot upwards from the snow. As your front foot leaves the ground, use your back foot to jump and push your whole body upwards into the air, using the flex of the board for additional pop.
Once both feet are off the ground, bend your needs upwards towards your chest. As you reach the top, or the highest point of the ollie, having your knees bent will help your feet stay parallel to the ground, which is the key to keeping your body level and stable while in the air.
Land with both feet at the same time so your board is parallel to the snow—landing either too heavily on the nose or tail will throw off your balance—and compress your knees again (like a spring) to absorb the landing.

Trick 2: Press

Pressing your snowboard (sometimes called "buttering") is the act of leaning your weight over either the nose (nosepress) or tail (tailpress) of the board in such a way that the opposite end of the board is off the snow (or feature). This trick is super fun and can be done anywhere on the mountain, from boxes and rails to the middle of a cruiser run.

How to Press on a Snowboard

We recommend getting started by learning how to tailpress, which is generally more intuitive and easier for first timers.
For a tailpress, shift your weight directly over your back leg and keep your torso upright and your weight directly over your rear binding. If your center of gravity gets too far behind your binding, you will slip out.
Now, slowly release any weight you have on your front leg and the nose of your board will naturally raise off of the snow.
Butter like it’s a Saturday morning pancake breakfast.
To come out of a press, simply shift your weight back over the center of the board.

Trick 3: 50-50

A 50-50 is when you ride over a box or rail (sometimes called a “jib”) with your snowboard parallel to the feature. The 50-50 snowboard trick is a great way to ease into park riding, test out new features, and get warmed up for the day. We’ll break down the steps for hitting a box, but this advice also applies to rails, tubes, mailboxes, and most other jibs.

How to 50-50 a Box on a Snowboard

Start by riding towards the box. Take a few speed checks, if needed, to adjust your speed. It may take a few tries before you know exactly how much speed you need, but a general rule is to go a little faster than you think you should. Speed will help you to get over the box and help you fall away from the feature if you lose your balance.
Once you’re about ten feet (three meters) away from the box, point your board straight towards the box and stay flat on your base. Any edging or turns right before you get onto the box can throw off your balance and cause you to fall.
You’re about to be on the box so focus where you’re going and as the nose of your snowboard crosses the lip of the takeoff (the top edge of the jump), ollie to get onto the box.
Land with your base flat on the box, keeping your knees bent and your center of gravity over the middle of your board. Look towards the end of the box and try to maintain balance. If you start to slip off the side of the box, don’t worry, just go with it and slide or hop off. You can always try again.
As you reach the end of the box, anticipate your landing by keeping your knees bent in order to absorb the landing.
Take a few turns as you ride away.

Trick 4: Tripod

A tripod is a fun, flatground snowboard trick that seems complicated, but can be learned pretty quickly. Doing a tripod is about distributing some of your weight to your upper body and arms while balancing on the nose or tail of your snowboard—which side of your board you pick is personal preference, but we’re going to explain it over the nose of your snowboard.

How To Do a Tripod on a Snowboard

Start out on flat ground. Lean your torso and bodyweight over the nose of your snowboard until both of your hands are on the snow about shoulder-width apart in a handstand-like position. The majority of your weight should be supported by your hands and arms and not on your snowboard.
As you bend to reach your hands to the snow, your snowboard will naturally slide away from your torso. Let your rear foot rise off of the ground, bringing your snowboard with it so the tail of your board is pointing toward the sky.
At this point, only the tip of the nose of your snowboard is still on the snow. Make sure to keep the base that is touching the snow flat against the ground and avoid going up on either edge. This will keep you balanced.
To get out of a tripod, push off the ground with your hands and bring your torso upright as you shift your bodyweight back over your legs, naturally bringing your rear foot and tail of your snowboard back to the ground.
Try this trick a few times on flatground before taking it to the trail. When initiating a tripod while you are moving downhill, go slow at first, make a toeside turn, and lower your arms and torso towards the ground from your toe edge, rotating to a flat base as you shift your weight to your arms above the nose of your board and raise your tail above the ground.

Trick 5: Straight Air

Similar to 50-50ing a box or rail, hitting a jump relies on a few of the same principles: setting your line into the take-off, keeping your base flat as you approach the feature, and using an ollie as your snowboard leaves the lip of the jump. Keeping your base flat, your knees bent, and your torso upright are all key to staying balanced when hitting a jump.

How to Straight Air a Jump on a Snowboard

Start by riding toward the jump. Take a few speed checks, if needed, to adjust your speed.
Pro tip: Watch other riders hit the jump to get an idea of how fast you should go.
Once you are about ten feet (three meters) away from the jump, point your board straight, keep your base flat, and bend your knees while keeping your torso upright.
As the nose of your snowboard starts to leave the lip of the jump, ollie and bring your knees up toward your chest to keep your center of gravity over your board. This will help keep you stable in the air.
Spot your landing and land with your base flat, keeping your knees bent to absorb the landing.
Ride away stoked!

Trick 6: Ride Switch

While riding switch isn’t necessarily a snowboard trick, it is a fundamental component of many other tricks and one that is definitely worth learning. Also, riding switch is part of the progression to becoming a better rider that expands on both your ability level and your overall experience. Riding switch is simply snowboarding downhill in the opposite stance that you usually ride: if you normally ride regular (left foot forward), then riding switch would mean heading downhill goofy (right foot forward). If you have solid control while riding your board switch, you will be comfortable when approaching jumps and rails or landing off of them switch as well.

How to Ride Switch on a Snowboard

Practice snowboarding switch on a wide trail that is not very steep and always keep an eye out for other skiers and snowboarders; this will allow you to take big, sweeping turns and better control your speed.
Start facing uphill on your toe edge. Remember when you were learning to snowboard and heelside turns were easier to learn? Let’s start with a switch heelside turn first.
Get a little momentum and start moving switch stance across the trail (the goal is to make a very wide turn so you don’t pick up too much speed).
Keep your knees lightly bent, your torso upright, and your body positioned squarely over the center of your board as you initiate a switch turn, rolling from your toe edge to your heel edge.
As you get to your heel edge and are facing downhill, come to a complete stop. That’s your first switch stance turn. Stopping between turns initially will help you to slow down your speed and stay in control. As you feel more comfortable making switch turns, you can start linking the turns together.
Repeat these steps, initiating the process from your heelside edge and completing a switch toeside turn.

Snowboard Trick Progression

These fundamental riding principles lay the foundation for all other freestyle moves. With practice, these fundamentals will become second nature. You'll develop a muscle memory for every move, and will be ready to progress on to more challenging maneuvers when you're ready. The possibilities of what can be done on a snowboard are almost limitless. If you can imagine it and are willing put in the practice, there really isn’t any snowboard trick out of reach. So, grab the crew and drop in. Remember, it’s okay to fall. You’ll probably earn some bruises but someday soon you’ll be throwing down with the pros on the big jump line in the park.

We’d love to see your progression, share your photos on Instagram and tag @burton.

Special thanks to Burton Team rider Kelly Clark.