Snowboarding Tips – Hitting a Hip or Spine the Right Way

If you want to improve your snowboarding technique but don't want to spend a fortune on private instruction read our guide with some great tips on how to hit those rails!

One of the most common errors in hitting a hip is that the rider travels off to the side and lands flat. The correct way is to ride to the top of the jump and then turn in the air to match the landing. This is why hips are often referred to as corner jumps.

Hips can be very intimidating as the kickers have a steep transition that throws the rider high in to the air. Due to the steepness of the kicker there is often compression as the rider hits it, and this compression can suck up the speed, so often a little more speed is needed.

As you ride towards the hip you should make a note of the line where the top of the landing starts. You should then aim to follow this line on your approach, as you will lose sight of the landing as you are below take off.

With knees bent ride on a flat base and be ready for the compression. Your time on the jump will be short, and you will experience a feeling of being rocketed into the air. As with hitting a straight jump, you will know instantly if you have made an error. The perfect area to land is high to the start of the landing, known as the ‘sweet spot’. An air on a hip is a mixture between a big air straight jump and a pipe air in the way that you take off on a straight jump but then have to adjust your direction to land at a different angle.

For most, a backside air on a hip or spine is the easiest side to hit (right-hand side for regular), the reason being that when you are in the air, you can easily see your landing, whereas in a frontside hip air, your back will be facing the ground and your view will be blind.

The Most Common Mistake

The biggest mistake on landing from a hip air is that the rider does not accept that they have to change direction, and tries to continue straight – but this is impossible and your edge would just slip out.

On a backside hip air you should aim to land on your toe edge and ride at close to a 90-degree angle to the take-off. This is where the name ‘corner air’ comes from.