Once you’ve mastered the art of speed and control while you cut up the mountain on your snowboard, it’s time to hop up onto those rails in the park and grind it all out! Let’s take a look at all the tricks you can pull off grinding rails.
Always Ollie
Balancing Basics
To do a grind on a rail, you have to know how to do an ollie, but most importantly, you have to know how to do an ollie with complete control. Perfect your ollie in all types of situations before you jump onto a rail. Not only will you have to ollie to get on the rail, but you also have to ollie to get off and land properly back on the snow.
Grinding your Gears
3 Grinds
So once you ollie up onto the rail, there are basically 3 types of grinds that you can do:
- 50/50 Grind – With your board parallel to the rail
- Rock and Roll Grind – Turning your board perpendicular to the rail
- Five-O Grind – Lift up the tail of your board and grind it out on the nose
Don’t Rush the Rail
Snowboard Style
The big thing to learn how to do these grinds is to lose your fear. A steel rail is the last thing you want to run into at high speeds on a slick, slippery, and cold mountain. You have to practice and practice all your fundamentals before you try grinding rails. If you rush into this trick too early, you might rush right into a rail.
Video Visualization
There’s a lot of good tips on you tube to learn how to do different grinds. Watching someone else perform the grinds is a great way to visualize yourself doing the trick.
Learning how to grind opens up a whole new dimension of where you can go on your snowboard. Once you learn how to balance yourself grinding along rails in different positions, you will have the confidence to travel over most surfaces.
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