The most undervalued trick — The Backside Shifty and how dial them on a snowboard

by James Streater @maverixsnow

A backside shifty is one of those really useful skills that supports your normal riding and a feeds nicely into your freestyle.

If we think of a snowboarder comprised of two distinct areas separated by their belly button then we have the lower half which is your hips, legs and feet (board) and the upper half which is your torso, arms and head. As a rider these two areas need to communicate and work in unison to ride a board fluidly or perform certain tricks. Yet, for some movements or tricks these two areas need to work independently. Thats where a lot of people struggle. The idea of separation, i.e rotating your lower body independently of your upper body is tough skill for many people to grasp.

Thats why certain really cool tricks like a frontside boardslide or a method are difficult to initially pin down. You need to have the flexibility, strength and control to initiate and hold that separation. This is where the backside shifty comes in useful.

Although on the face of it a Backside Shifty seems like a throw away trick the…