Competitive Snowboarding

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Overview
Snowboarding is a world-renowned winter sport. It has spawned many competitions since it's inception. These competitions include: Boarder Cross (better known as Boarder X), Slopestyle, Half-Pipe, Rail-Jams, Big Air, and Freestyle. Snowboarding premiered at the Nagano Olympic Games in 1998 with the events Giant Slalom and Half-Pipe. More styles of snowboarding were later added to future olympic games.

Boarder X
Snowboarder Cross is a race-type competiton that involves a group of snowboarders (usually four) racing across a course filled with obstacles. A typical Boarder X course has steep turns, large jumps, small cliff drops, and a variety of other challenges to test the athlete's ability to stay in control at all times. The current olympic gold medal holder is American Seth Wescott who won in the 2010 Vancouver games.

Slopestyle
Slopestyle is a judged competition in which snowboarders compete to land the most difficult tricks and achieve the highest aplitude over a course that includes many jumps and rails. It is considered by many that in order to be competitive in slopestyle an athlete must be able to perform an exremely difficult trick known as the "Double Cork 1080". Link to professional snowboarder Sebastian Toutant's how-to of a Double Cork 1080. Slopestyle is an extremely progressive sport, and many believe with Torstein Horgmo's landing of the world's first "Triple Cork" that the sport will only progress further in the future.

Half-Pipe
The Half-Pipe sometimes referred to as the "Super-Pipe" is the most popular snowboarding competition. The half-pipe is also a judge-based competition, but unlike slopestyle's downhill terrain, athletes instead compete in what is known as a "Half-Pipe". A Half-Pipe is simply two concave walls on either side of a flat surface. Athlete's are judged based on trick difficulty, amplitude, and style. Some snowboarders have gone over 20 feet in the air off of a Half-Pipe wall. Like slopestyle the Half-Pipe is a progressive competition, and requires athletes to be able to land Double Cork's. Shaun White is the current Olympic Gold medal holder in the Half-Pipe. In his 2010 gold medal run Shaun White landed a new trick known as the "Double Mctwist 1260". Only one other snowboarder named Iouri Podladtchikov can land this trick.

Rail-Jams
A snowboarding Rail-Jam is a smaller competition usually held at a local mountain resort. A Rail-Jam involves riders sliding across and doing various tricks onto and off of rails, boxes, walls, picnic tables and other urban objects. A Rail-Jam is usually held in a timed format where competitors can get in as many runs as time allows (usually around an hour). Awards are usually given to the best trick performed by each gender.

Big Air
A Big Air competition is a timed-event usually lasting around an hour. Athletes compete with one another by trying to perform the best trick off of an unusually large jump requiring the boarder to clear gaps in excess of 60 feet. The competition is judged and the winner is normally the athlete that can perform the most difficult trick while maintaining control and style.

Freestyle(All-Mountain)
Freestyle riding is by fat the most dangerous type of snowboarding competition. A snowboarder will try to traverse an ungroomed all-natural mountain that include many life-threatening obstacles such as trees, rocks, cliffs, and avalanches. This style of competition can be described simply as man vs. nature. A video of snowboarders conquering a mountain can be found here.