The snow is melting, and the 2014/15 season is drawing to an end so, of course, the world’s pro’s are taking the chance to huck themselves of absolutely massive jumps knowing a slam won’t rule them out of an upcoming comp. Just last week, UK snowboarder Billy Morgan broke the internet by landing the worlds first ever Quad Cork 1800 flip.
And a few days prior to that, Norwegian teenager Øystein Bråten (who, we’ll grant you, is a skier, but probably knows a lot of snowboarders) landed the first ever flip on/off a rail.
And now, Canadian snowboarder Maxence Parrot has only gone and stomped another world first. Max, the son of former Big Break co-host John Parrot, has just stomped the worlds first Switch Quadruple Cork Underflip 1620.
The difference between this and what Billy landed? Well, it’s kind of complicated, but basically Max’s trick is more like four backflips with a 180 thrown in for good measure, all done after taking off backwards.
Sadly, people have already started moaning about these Quad flip variations, complaining about how it’s ruining snowboarding, that they look ugly, and a whole host of other unsustainable, pointless bobbins.
To those complaining, we say this: This is progress. It’s part of the evolution of snowboarding. We’re certain that some of the lycra-clad early snowboard racers didn’t approve of the likes of the early Sims team turning up and doing new fangled freestyle tricks while they were wiggling in and out of slalom gates.
Furthermore, if you don’t like the way these big tricks look, watch something else. Absinthe are still making movies. This wont stop the Helgasons doing naked backflips over burning sex toys.
It won’t stop Jeremy Jones staring at a couloir for three days before going and slaying it. It wont stop Forest Bailey flipping off every single object ever created either by nature or man.
Most importantly, it wont stop anybody going out there and riding their snowboard however the fuck they want to. This is progress. Embrace it for what it is. Champion it if you want. Ignore it if you don’t. But accept that it’s not going to go away.
“Why have snowboarders stopped naming their tricks?”
That said, we do have one complaint about all of this. Why haven’t Billy, Max and Øystein already slapped some stupid names on these tricks. If you land it first, you get to name it, right?
Look at iPod and his YOLO flip. And that, although gnarly, was only a variation of Shaun White’s Tomahawk. You can go back as far as you want. Palm-Air? Lien? Come on chaps, you’ve done the hard part.
Max, why not embrace your snooker roots and name it The Big Break. Or The Crucible. Billy, why not call your world first The Gish or The Siamese Dream? And Øystein, The Oyster Barnacle is the obvious option. If nothing else, imagine Claire Balding struggling to explain them to the general public come the next Winter Olympics.