The MFM butter is named after Mark Frank Montoya, an ex-pro snowboarder notorious for his style. It's a nollie with some frontside roll into a tail butter at 90 degrees, then the rest of the frontside 180 counter-rotated out, landing switchRiding with your non-dominant foot leading instead of your natural stance. If you normally ride left-foot-forward (regular), switch means riding right-foot-forward - and vice versa. It feels foreign at first but is essential for landing tricks and all-round board control.. It looks complicated and is genuinely confusing to learn, but it breaks down into achievable steps.
Think of it as kicking your back leg around into a tail press, then a front 180 out.
Before you try it
You should be comfortable with tail presses, flat ground 180s, and riding switch before starting. Tail butter 180s - buttering on your tail at 90 degrees, then continuing the rest of the 180 - are the direct building block for this trick, so dial those in first.
How to do it
The easiest way to get your head around this trick is by jumping the movements with your board off: nollie, tail butter, frontside 180. Nollie with some frontside roll, tail butter at 90, then continue the rest of the 180. It seems silly, but it's critical to understanding the physical movements, and building muscle memory with your board off really helps.
With your board on, try the same movements standing still: nollie roll, pop back to a tail butter, front one out. The last step is pretty difficult on flat ground - that's normal.
While riding, start with the simple version. Approach on a heel edge entry path to add some frontside direction into your nollie. Butter on your tail at around 90 degrees, then continue with the rest of the 180, landing switch. You don't need much effort at this stage, but it's important to be smooth here before moving on.
For the actual trick, roll your nollie to approximately 90 degrees, then shift your board back to butter on your tail. Make sure your upper body is twisted open with your arms and shoulders - this is the position you need to counter-rotate the 180 out.
At this stage you'll figure out this trick is actually much easier with speed, and it works way better over a terrain feature like a roller. With speed, the MFM butter is not a slow pressed butter - it's a quick, aggressive movement. You're almost just dragging parts of your board through these positions rather than balancing in a press. As you progress, the more shifty you use, the better it will look. That requires a lot of effort shifting your body position and precise timing, which only comes with practice.
The MFM butter is no more difficult to do switch than regular, and they link together nicely back to back over a set of rollers.
Learn more here:
Video by Snowboard Addiction
Key tips
- Jump the movements with your board off first - nollie, tail butter, front 180
- Learn the simple version smoothly before adding the nollie roll
- Use a heel edge entry path to feed frontside direction into your nollie
- Twist your upper body open at the tail butter so you can counter-rotate the 180 out
- Add speed and use a roller - this trick is easier fast than slow
- It's a quick, aggressive movement, not a balanced press. Drag the board through the positions