Editing Snowboarding (section)

==Styles==
Since snowboarding's inception as an established winter sport, it has developed various styles, each with its own specialized equipment and technique. The most common styles today are: freeride, freestyle, and freecarve/race. These styles are used for both recreational and professional snowboarding. While each style is unique, there is overlap between them.

===Jibbing===
{{main|Jibbing}}
"Jibbing" is the term for technical riding on non-standard surfaces. The word "jib" is both a noun and a verb, depending on the usage of the word. As a noun: a jib includes metal rails, boxes, benches, concrete ledges, walls, vehicles, rocks and logs. As a verb: to jib is referring to the action of jumping, sliding, or riding on top of objects other than snow.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://snowboarding.about.com/od/glossary/g/jibdefined.htm |title=Jib – Snowboard – Definitions – Glossary |publisher=Snowboarding.about.com |date=2012-04-09 |access-date=2012-08-15 |archive-date=November 27, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161127224125/http://snowboarding.about.com/od/glossary/g/jibdefined.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> It is directly influenced by grinding a skateboard. Jibbing is a freestyle snowboarding technique of riding. Typically jibbing occurs in a snowboard resort park but can also be done in urban environments.

[[File:Snowboarding_in_Hippach,_Austria.jpg|thumb|Freeriding snowboarding]]

===Freeriding===
{{main|Freeriding (winter sport)}}
Freeriding is a style without a set of governing rules or set course, typically on natural, un-groomed terrain. The basic allows for various snowboarding styles in a fluid motion and spontaneity through naturally rugged terrain. It can be like freestyle with the exception that no man-made features are utilized. ''See also [[Backcountry snowboarding]].''

[[File:Snowboarding1.jpg|thumb|Freestyle snowboarding]]

===Freestyle===
Freestyle snowboarding is any riding that includes performing tricks. In freestyle, the rider utilizes natural and man-made features such as rails, jumps, boxes, and innumerable others to perform tricks. It is a popular all-inclusive concept that distinguishes the creative aspects of snowboarding, in contrast to a style like alpine snowboarding.

===Alpine snowboarding===
[[File:Alpine boarder.JPG|thumb|left|An Alpine snowboarder executes a heel-side [[carved turn]], the typical style in alpine snowboarding.]]
[[File:Snowboarder during carving on hard slope.webm|thumb|left|Video of a snowboarder practicing carving on a hard slope, equipped with a boardercross board and hard boots.]]
'''Alpine snowboarding''' is a discipline within the sport of snowboarding. It is practiced on [[snow grooming|groomed]] [[piste]]s. It has been an Olympic event since [[Snowboarding at the 1998 Winter Olympics|1998]].
[[File:UTAH Snowboarding 2001.jpg|thumb|Freestyle snowboarder Matty Shaffer films for movie on handrail in Utah]]
Sometimes called freecarving or hardbooting (due to the equipment used), this discipline usually takes place on hard packed snow or groomed runs (although it can be practiced in any and all conditions) and focuses on carving linked turns, much like surfing or longboarding. Little or no jumping takes place in this discipline. Alpine Snowboarding consists of a small portion of the general snowboard population, that has a well connected social community and its own specific board manufacturers, most situated in Europe. Alpine Snowboard equipment includes a ski-like hardshell boot and plate binding system with a true directional snowboard that is stiffer and narrower to manage linking turns with greater forces and speed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.snowboard-coach.com/alpine-snowboarding.html|title=Alpine Snowboarding – Using a rigid setup for carving and control|website=Snowboard-Coach.com|access-date=2019-04-18|archive-date=October 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022085451/http://www.snowboard-coach.com/alpine-snowboarding.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Shaped skis can thank these "freecarve" snowboards for the cutting-edge technology leading to their creation.<ref name="bomberonline">{{cite web|url=http://www.bomberonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/How-to-Buy-an-Alpine-Snowboard.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.bomberonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/How-to-Buy-an-Alpine-Snowboard.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=How to Buy an Alpine Snowboard |access-date=2010-02-15 |year=2005 }}</ref> A skilled alpine snowboarder can link numerous turns into a run placing their body very close to the ground each turn, similar to a motocross turn or waterski carve. Depending on factors including stiffness, turning radius and personality this can be done slowly or fast. Carvers make perfect half-circles out of each turn, changing edges when the snowboard is perpendicular to the fall line and starting every turn on the downhill edge. Carving on a snowboard is like riding a roller coaster, because the board will lock into a turn radius and provide what feels like multiple Gs of acceleration.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alpinecarving.com/ |title=The Carver's Almanac – Hard booting and carving on an alpine snowboard |publisher=Alpinecarving.com |access-date=2012-08-15}}</ref>

Alpine snowboarding shares more visual similarities with skiing equipment than it does with snowboarding equipment.<ref name=help>{{cite web|title=Alpine snowboarding|url=http://www.snowboardinghelp.com/types-of-snowboards/alpine-snowboarding.php|access-date=13 November 2014|archive-date=March 12, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312043320/http://www.snowboardinghelp.com/types-of-snowboards/alpine-snowboarding.php|url-status=live}}</ref> Compared to freestyle snowboarding gear:<ref>{{cite web|title=Alpine Snowboarding|url=http://www.snowboard-coach.com/alpine-snowboarding.html|access-date=13 November 2014|archive-date=October 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022085451/http://www.snowboard-coach.com/alpine-snowboarding.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Boards are narrower, longer, and stiffer to improve [[Carve turn#Snowboarding|carving]] performance
* [[ski boot|Boot]]s are made from a hard plastic shell, making it flex differently from a regular snowboard boot and is designed differently to ski boots although they look similar.
* [[ski binding|Binding]]s have a bail or step-in design and are sometimes placed on suspension plates to provide a layer of isolation between an alpine snowboarder and the board, to decrease the level of vibrations felt by the rider, creating a better overall experience when carving, and to give extra weight to the board among other uses.  
[[File:Snowboarder in flight (Tannheim, Austria).jpg|left|thumb|Snowboarder in [[Tannheim, Tyrol]], Austria]]

===Slopestyle===
{{main|Slopestyle}}
Competitors perform tricks while descending a course, moving around, over, across, up, or down terrain features. The course is full of obstacles including boxes, rails, jumps, jibs, or anything else the board or rider can slide across. Slopestyle is a judged event and winning a Slopestyle contest usually comes from successfully executing the most difficult line in the terrain park while having a smooth flowing line of difficult, mistake-free tricks performed on the obstacles. However, overall impression and style can play a factor in winning a Slopestyle contest and the rider who lands the hardest tricks will not always win over the rider who lands easier tricks on more difficult paths.

===Big air===
{{main article|Big air}}
[[File:Big air Québec 2011.jpg|thumb|[[Sebastien Toutant]] at the downtown Québec big air competition]]
Big air competitions are contests where riders perform tricks after launching off a man-made jump built specifically for the event.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.yobeat.com/issue14/bigair.htm/ |title=Making it Big in Big Air |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311174639/http://yobeat.com/issue14/bigair.htm |archive-date=March 11, 2016 }}</ref> Competitors perform tricks in the air, aiming to attain sizable height and distance, all while securing a clean landing. Many competitions also require the rider to do a complex trick. Not all competitions call for a trick to win the gold; some intermittent competitions are based solely on height and distance of the launch of the snowboarder. Some competitions also require the rider to do a specific trick to win the major prize.<ref>{{cite web|title=Big air competitions|url=http://schneefreunde.com/|access-date=5 Sep 2016|archive-date=September 16, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916122323/http://schneefreunde.com/|url-status=usurped}}</ref> One of the first snowboard competitions where Travis Rice attempted and landed a "double back flip backside 180" took place at the 2006 Red Bull Gap Session.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.snowrev.com/Search?q=red+bull+gap+session/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101031141959/http://www.snowrev.com/Search?q=red+bull+gap+session%2F |archive-date=2010-10-31 |title=Search Results |website=snowrev.com}}</ref>

===Half-pipe===
{{main|Half-pipe}}
[[File:Snowboarder in halfpipe.jpg|thumb|Snowboarder in the [[halfpipe]]]]
The half-pipe is a semi-circular ditch dug into the mountain or purpose-built ramp made up of snow, with walls between 8 and {{convert|23|ft|m}}. Competitors perform tricks while going from one side to the other and while in the air above the sides of the pipe.

===Snowboard cross===
{{main|Snowboard cross}}
Snowboard cross, also known as "boardercross", "boarder X", or "snowboard X", and commonly abbreviated as "SBX", or just "BX", is a snowboarding discipline consisting of several (typically 4 to 6) riders racing head-to-head down a course with jumps, berms and other obstacles constructed out of snow. Snowboard cross began in the 1980s, earning its place as an official Winter Olympic event in the 2006 Turin games. Unlike other snowboard racing disciplines such as parallel giant slalom, competitors race on a single course together.

===Snowboard racing===
{{main article|Snowboard racing}}
In snowboard racing, riders must complete a downhill course constructed of a series of turning color indicators (gates) placed in the snow at prescribed distances apart. A gate consists of a tall pole and a short pole, connected by a triangular panel. The racer must pass around the short side of the gate, passing the long side of the gate doesn't count. There are 3 main formats used in snowboard racing including single person, parallel courses or multiple people on the course at the same time (SBX).