Snowboard Freestyle Disciplines: Park, Halfpipe, Slopestyle and Big Air

Freestyle disciplines at a glance

In its 2026 competition rules, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) lists halfpipe, slopestyle, big air and street style among the snowboard disciplines. The speed disciplines, snowboard cross and parallel races, are also governed by FIS, but they are racing disciplines, not freestyle.

We explain the other styles in skiing and snowboarding in our guide Ski and Snowboard Riding Styles.

Halfpipe

According to the FIS World Cup halfpipe standards:

These dimensions are the World Cup target; actual wall heights at competitions vary slightly from venue to venue. The rider rises out of one wall, does a trick in the air, lands back on the same wall and crosses to the opposite wall.

Slopestyle

In slopestyle, the rider comes down a course that combines rail and box sections with jumps one after another. One trick is done on each feature, and the judges assess the course as a whole: the difficulty of the tricks, how different they are from each other, clean landings and a flowing use of the course. A recreational snowpark is in fact a small-scale slopestyle course.

Big air

In big air, the rider does a single trick off one big jump. The judges look at the difficulty of the trick, its amplitude and how clean the landing is. You can find trick types such as spins and grabs in the glossary entries spin and grab.

What do judges look for?

The guide that Canada Snowboard prepared for its regional judges (it describes itself not as an official rulebook but as a pocket guide) sums up the main criteria with the acronym DAVE:

In addition, progression, risk, combinations and, in the halfpipe, use of the pipe are deciding factors. Each run is assessed with a single overall impression score out of 100.

Park features

We explain the beginner tricks (ollie, press, butter and the 50-50 on a box) in our guide Ollies, Nollies and Basic Freestyle Skills on a Snowboard, and the park safety rules in the Park Smart section of the same guide. At many resorts, park features are marked by size; AASI, the American association of snowboard instructors, also matches rider levels to features in a progression that starts with the smallest (XS–S) features and goes up to medium (M) features.

Which features are riskier?

In a case-control study by Russell and colleagues, who followed snowboarders in a snowpark in the Canadian province of Alberta over two seasons:

Compared with rails, the odds of injury were about 10 times higher in the halfpipe and about 4 times higher on jumps. In the same team's case series, the most commonly injured area was the wrist (20%) and the most common type of injury was a fracture (36%); head-and-neck and torso injuries were more likely on features where riders are airborne. These results apply only to snowboarders and to a single park. We explain how to protect yourself against wrist and head injuries in our guides Preventing Wrist, Shoulder and Head Injuries in Snowboarding and Back, Wrist and Hip Protectors.

Your first steps in the park

Watching freestyle is exciting; trying it is safe when you go in the right order. On an activity holiday, the right path is to get linked turns solid first, then ollies and presses on flat ground, and to start with the smallest box. Doğadayız winter packages include accommodation, ski pass and equipment; lessons with an instructor come with the basic course packages. Watching each other from the side of the park and celebrating your first 50-50 together is one of the unforgettable moments of a social adventure holiday. To check your level, see our Snowboard Skills Checklist; for programmes, see our winter activity holidays page.