Spins go in increments of 180 degrees. There are two kinds of ways to land from a spin, ‘switch’ and ‘natural’ position.
Switch sees the athlete land in a different direction to where they started, after a 180, 540, 900, 1260, or 1620 rotation.
However, a switch in ski events refers to skiing backwards and looking over your shoulders, primarily used for freestyle competitions.
Landing in a natural position comes after a spin with rotations of 360, 720, 1080, 1440, or 1800 degrees.
A backside spin, shorted to ‘back’ in the trick name, are set from the toe edge of the board and see the rider’s chest facing downhill initially. A frontside spin, shortened to ‘front’, is set from the heel edge and sees the rider’s chest facing uphill for the first part of the trick.
For freestyle skiing, the equivalent is left side and right side spins. A skier will have their preferred way to spin, but choosing their non-dominant direction can earn more points.
The higher the number, the more difficult the trick. Numbers are shortened to just the first number in the trick – so ‘frontside 360’ is shortened to ‘front 3’ in the trick name.
A ‘hard way’ spin is one done from the opposite edge of the natural spinning edge, considered the ‘unnatural’ direction for a trick.
There are various types of flips that have unique names that don’t spell out exactly what the trick contains – including wildcat, tamedog, backflip, frontflip, rodeo, backside rodeo and corked spin.
These all involve varying degrees and direction of rotation – and can incorporate grabs.
