The slash pop doesn't really have an official name - it's a trick Nev Lapwood from Snowboard Addiction named after what it actually is: you slash over a terrain feature and pop out of it. Roll up a knuckleThe rounded crest of a jump landing - the hill right after the kicker, where the flat deck rolls over into the downslope. Coming up short and landing on the knuckle feels like hitting flat ground, so you aim to clear it and touch down on the slope past it. Riders also session knuckles on purpose: bouncing tricks off them ("knuckle hucks") is a lower-consequence way to play with pop and rotations. or a roller with speed, throw a slash across the top of it, and let the pitch of the feature fling you off the back with extra float.
It's the kind of trick you end up doing constantly once it clicks, because it works on almost any bump on the mountain - park knuckles, side hits, cat track rollers, the lip of a groomer. It works frontsideThe direction of a rotation or approach where your chest opens toward the direction of travel (or the obstacle) first - usually abbreviated FS, as in FS 180. For a regular rider a frontside 180 rotates counter-clockwise. The term comes from surfing and skateboarding and sticks to every spin and rail trick. and backsideThe opposite direction to frontside - your back leads into the rotation or the obstacle, abbreviated BS, as in BS 360. Backside is usually the slower of the two to trust, because you lose sight of the landing or the end of the feature partway through the rotation., and there's no landing to clear, so the consequences are low.
How to do it
Practise the slash first on open groomer, without a feature. Get up some speed, then slash a little onto your tail - it's almost like a high tail press with a shifty motion in it - and then bring the board back down and ride out. Do it both frontside and backside until neither direction feels like the awkward one.
Now take it to a feature. Approach a roller or the knuckle of a park jump with speed and throw that same slash right as you're going over the crest. Doing it over a pitch like that makes you go momentarily weightless - the snow drops away under you at exactly the moment you're loaded onto the tail. That's the moment you pop out of.
Extend out of the slash as the board comes off the crest and you'll get noticeably more float than a straight ollie off the same feature would give you. Land centred, ride away, go find the next roller.
Learn more here:
Video by Snowboard Addiction
There is also a mention of the trick here, on the YouTube channel Ed Shred right here: He calls it "Tail dragger" instead, and he does it a bit more buttery:
Source: Ed Shreds
Key tips
- Speed is the ingredient. It barely works slow and feels great fast
- Learn the slash on open groomer before taking it to a feature
- Slash onto your tail - think high press with a shifty motion in it
- Practise both frontside and backside from the start so neither becomes your bad side
- Time the slash to the crest of the feature. The weightless moment is what you pop out of
- Rollers, knuckles, side hits, cat track lips - almost any bump on the mountain works