Trick tip: How to jib on a snowboard
In this instalment of trick tips, we explore one of the most playful things to do on a snowboard: Jibbing. But what is Jibbing? Let's find out why this skill is so fun to master and how it can totally change your riding experience.
Jibbing relates to the ability to slide over obstacles like rails or boxes on a snowboard. There are literally one million different possibilities when jibbing on a snowboard. That is also what makes it so fun – the infinite opportunities of learning new tricks. And the best part is, once you get the hang of it, you will be able to progress quite fast.
The royal discipline of jibbing is definitely bringing all your skills out to the streets. When jibbing the streets, make sure to wear the best snowboarding jackets and snowboard pants that you can find – because people will look at you! The kings of street jibbing mostly come from cities up north, where there is loads of snow in the winter but not a lot of resorts to try out your skills. Street Snowboarding requires a lot of ability on your snowboard but opens up a whole new canvas for your creativity. Sebastian Toutant (better known as Seb Toots) is one of those hyper-talented snowboarders who can bring their park riding to the cold streets of Quebec. If we talk reality, no one of us will ever be as badass as him but the least we can do is try by learning the basics of jibbing and by getting some inspirational ideas of this king of street snowboarding.
Basics of jibbing
So let us dive straight into the basics of this park riding discipline. Basically, there are two main obstacles you can tackle in the park when applying your jib skills: Boxes and Rails. There is a huge variety of different jib obstacles but in this trick tip, we are going to concentrate on the most common ones. Boxes are the ones you want to start with and once you feel comfortable on boxes you can bring your game to rails, which are much thinner and harder to ride. With the help of our friends at snowboard-addiction.com we created a trick tip on: How to Jib on a Snowboard. We broke it down into the first steps when jibbing on a snowboard, followed by two tricks you can learn quite fast when riding boxes and rails.
How to 50-50 on a snowboard
The first thing you want to learn, when jibbing on a snowboard is a 50-50. A 50-50 refers to the position your snowboard is having when sliding down the box. During a 50-50 your board is parallel to the obstacle you are riding. Start off by drawing a square into the snow that looks like a box, and try sliding over it with your base flat on the snow. It is exactly that feeling that you will have to copy when riding your first box. Find an easy box to start with. It should be a relatively wide box, close to the ground, flat, and with a ride on so you won’t have to jump onto it. When riding the box, try to keep your body weight over the board at all times so your base stays flat on the box. Challenge yourself by bringing your 50-50s to longer or narrower boxes, and try not to catch an edge! Practice is the recipe for success here. Once you feel comfortable with various obstacles, it is time for the next step!
How to boardslide on a snowboard
A boardslide on a snowboard is probably one of the most versatile tricks you can do. There are so many different forms of board slides that I can promise you that you won’t get bored with them very soon. When boardsliding, your board should be perpendicular to the obstacle. You can start by riding onto the box in a 50-50 position and shuffle into a boardslide position. The most important body movement when boardsliding on a snowboard is counter-rotation. Counter-rotation means that your arms and your board rotate in opposite directions during the boardslide. You initiate the movement by rotating your arms into the position of the boardslide. Once you slide your board into the boardslide position, rotate your arms back into a parallel position to the obstacle. Like that, it will be easier for you to keep the balance. When doing a backside boardslide, the body weight should be right over the center of your bindings. There are different forms of boardslides where your center of gravity will be on a different part of the board (for example, tailslide = weight over the tail, noseslide = weight over the nose, …). Like I said, there are literally one million options.
How to 50-50 backside 180
This is why I decided to add a little extra trick to try out at the end of this trick tip. A trick that combines our trick tip on how to rotate on a snowboard with this week’s trick tip on jibbing. By adding a rotation to the end of your 50-50, you will be able to up your 50-50 game and add a bit of difficulty whenever you feel like it. Use counter-rotation to initiate the backside 180 off the obstacle. The only difference to rotating on a jump is that you can’t use your edges when jumping off a box or rail. The momentum you have to create for the rotation has to come only from a combination of popping off the box and counter-rotation of your arms.
And that’s a wrap again. If you followed our weekly trick tips, you are now able to carve, jump, rotate and jib on a snowboard. Pretty solid, hey? Sounds like we raised a future pro rider already. But what is missing now? Right. Last but not least we will introduce you to the most dreamy thing that snowboarding has to offer: Riding powder on a snowboard. Riding powder on a snowboard is the ultimate feeling (and very close to the feeling of riding a wave on a surfboard). That is why we saved the best for the last. So stay tuned and don’t miss out on next weeks’ trick tip! Until then and see yas later!