The Life Of A Snowboarder

Boardslide to fakie

Difficulty: Medium

1. Make sure you can pop frontside 180s and ride away fakie comfortably before you give this trick a shot. Then find a friendly little funbox or a mellow rail to learn it on. A wide sliding surface will make it that much easier to get a feel for it.

2. Approach the rail at a slight angle, from the right if you're regular, or from the left if you're goofy. Pop off the lip with enough speed to get up and onto the rail.

3. Land on the rail and make sure your board is flush or flat against whatever you're sliding. If you're leaning too far forward, you're liable to catch your toe edge, but if you lean too far back, you'll probably slip out and flop onto the rail. It helps to keep your hands in front of you and your knees bent for balance.

4. Now that you're sliding, concentrate on the end of the rail. Keep the rail centered between your bindings and your base flat all the way through the rail. Stay low with your knees bent and your upper body quiet (i.e., not wiggling or flailing around).

5. Once you get to the end, pop off and turn your shoulders slightly, this will help you bring your board around to fakie. Spot the landing and make sure you can get your rotation around quick enough as to avoid the dreaded toe-edge catch.

6. Stomp the snot out of it, ride away, butter back to regular, and set up for the next one.