---
title: Disaster Rail
seo_title: How to do a disaster on a rail on a snowboard
skill: gap onto the end of a rail
switch: true
image: disaster-rail.mp4
image_source: https://youtu.be/Q-FyXFWVSmc
image_credit: Ed Shreds
image_credit_url: https://www.youtube.com/@ShredSchool1
image_clip: https://youtu.be/Q-FyXFWVSmc?4:48.3-4:54
authors:
- renec112
published: 2026-08-31
---

A disaster - or gap to rail - means skipping the first half of a kinked rail and landing on the last section instead. Rather than [boardsliding](/snowboarding/backside-boardslide) a down-flat-down all the way through and absorbing every pitch change, you air over the kink and touch down past it on one straight piece.

It's a speed trick. Take more than you'd normally use on that rail, because landing short - directly on the kink - kills all your momentum at once and puts you on the ground. Build up to it by airing over the *side* of the rail a few times: same run in, same pop, but you land on snow next to it. Once you're clearing the kink every time, move your line over and put the board down in a [50-50](/snowboarding/fifty-fifty-box) on that last section.

The landing is the easy half. There are no kinks left to upset you, so it's really just a [straight air](/snowboarding/straight-air) that happens to finish on metal.

Watch more here at the 4:21 mark:

https://youtu.be/Q-FyXFWVSmc?si=cEjh066gPsgwiFUg

*Video by [Ed Shreds](https://www.youtube.com/@ShredSchool1)*