Snowboarding’s most-famed contest, the halfpipe, is performed in a half tube of snow. Halfpipes are approximately 11 to 22 feet (3.3 to 6.7 metres) high, with slopes between 16 and 18 degrees, which is enough of a pitch for snowboarders to maintain their momentum. (Though official definitions and dimensions do not exist for these terms, halfpipes with walls higher than 16 feet [4.9 metres] and with vertical walls of nearly 90 degrees are often called superpipes. The Olympic standard height is 22 feet [6.7 metres].)

Snowboarders “drop in” by entering the upper end of the pipe at high speed from either the left or right side, carrying that speed and flying high as the shape of the opposite wall slingshots them into the air and then back onto the same wall. While airborne, they perform spins, flips, and board-grabbing tricks before landing back in the pipe. After landing, they travel slightly downhill to maintain speed and continue their trajectory across the “flat bottom,” the section between the pipe’s walls, and up the opposite wall, launching again into the air to perform other tricks. The athlete’s routine of five to six runs is judged by a panel of experts on the technical difficulty of the tricks, their execution, and the height and style exhibited while performing them. The athlete with the highest score wins.

The main stages for international superpipe competition are the Winter X Games and Winter Olympic Games. Other important superpipe competitions include the FIS World Cup Tour, the TTR World Tour, and the Burton U.S. Open.

Slopestyle

In the slopestyle event, snowboarders take a run through a course consisting of three to four large jumps made of snow and three to four jib-style obstacles of the course builder’s design, showcasing a rider’s creativity and consistency. The jumps can seem huge, but for the most part they are designed with matching takeoff and landing angles, giving the rider a long time in the air with minimal difficulty in landing. The jib-style slopestyle features can include handrails, ledges, or stair-sets that mimic those of urban landscapes commonly associated with skateboarders.

Riders launch off the jumps and perform airborne spins and flips before landing back on the snow. Jib features are intermixed along the way. A panel of judges rates the runs using a point system that rewards difficulty, execution, and style. The rider with the highest score wins.

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The primary international competitive showcase for this event is the Winter X Games, which crowns a slopestyle champion annually, but slopestyle competitions debuted at the Winter Olympics in 2014. Other important international slopestyle competitions include the FIS World Cup Tour, the TTR World Tour, and the Burton U.S. Open.

Urban and jibbing

Directly influenced by the “grind anything” approach of skateboarding, jibbing is a freestyle snowboarding technique that consists of riding on any surface other than snow. Most common surfaces include metal rails, boxes, benches, concrete ledges, walls, rocks, and logs. It typically occurs in a snowboard resort park, but it is also pursued in urban environments. Where there is no slope to gain speed on, urban jibbers will “sling shot” each other toward rails, using a banshee bungee—essentially a gigantic rubber band—mechanical winches, or even (most dangerously) automobiles. The bulk of jibbing takes place outside judged events, but jibbing is part of slopestyle contests and of dedicated rail jam events.

Because of their limited use and the need for the best possible maneuverability and flexibility, jib boards are usually the shortest and softest of all snowboards, used with soft boots and bindings. Their edges are often intentionally dulled (“detuned”) to prevent friction and to avoid catching on small obstacles and burrs that may present a danger to the rider.

Big Air

Big Air is an event where riders take turns hitting one massive trajectory jump, performing airborne spins and flips before landing back on the snow. Each athlete may hit the jump five to six times during the competition. A panel of judges rate the athletes’ tricks based on difficulty, execution, and style, awarding a score for each jump. Winners are typically awarded in the categories of best overall winner (the sum of all of the rider’s total jump scores) and best trick winner (the highest-scoring single trick of the competition).

Because they can be staged with scaffolding and do not require an outside venue, Big Air competitions can be held virtually anywhere that a drop-in, take-off ramp, and landing can be constructed and coated with a layer of snow or ice shavings, even indoors. This flexibility in venue has exponentially increased the event’s popularity and marketability.

The “Air and Style” competitions are the largest and most prestigious Big Air events in the world. The original Air and Style event is held in Innsbruck, Austria, while this author’s Shaun White & Oakley Beijing Air and Style event introduced this style of competition to an Asian audience. Other important competitions are the city-based FIS World Cup Big Air Tour and the X Games Big Air.

Rail jam

Rail jams are among the most grassroots of all snowboard competitions because of their minimal requirements. They can be staged almost anywhere at any time given a small space, a rail-type feature, and some snow or ice shavings from a hockey rink. Competitors take turns creatively riding a rail set-up or other urban-style features. There is no running order to the competitors: riders take their turns whenever they want and in whatever order they choose. There is typically a set time period for the jam, and athletes may take as many turns as they want during the allotted time. Judges watch the competitors and, rather than award scores, simply name winners in two categories at the conclusion of the event: best overall and best trick.