The Gaper Guide to Snowboarding Style Faults and Fails
And How To Fix That Whack Form, Function, and Flow
Welcome to the tribe. This guide post isn’t about gatekeeping; it’s a public service announcement designed to foundationally onboard you into snowboarding. When the sport was smaller, an inherent awareness of etiquette and technique—across the mountain—was learned through observation and modeling among tight crews, heckling and happenstance correction. As the general populous at-large takes over the base area, extending and upending the lifts and lines, it’s the responsibility of the collective advocates, arbiters, and enforcers to ensure these unspoken standards remain, now outwardly shared and impactfully clear. The sport is truly inviting of all, but for the shred scene to retain its established and aspirational quality in continuum, a certain adherence to decorum and unwritten law is absolute necessary. After all, when anything goes (’cause nobody knows) and everything’s cool … in fact, nothing, no longer is.
The difference between a rider (Shred) with flow and style—and a Gaper (Kook, Jerry, or Noob), is defined by easily avoidable habits that compromise your composure and control, and those many intermountain interactions that make you apparently awkward, an on-hill distraction to be avoided, dissed, and dismissed. Moving past the Gaper status isn’t about talent … it’s more about ditching these inefficiencies and unawarenesses, that will then lend much to evolving one’s play, presence, performance, and prowess.
Let your riding make the statement, command attention, not your short comings and wrong doings.
The Number One Gaper Fail: Sitting Down to Strap In
This is the numero uno habit separating the Kook from the Shred. The practice of sitting down to strap into your board kills momentum, bottlenecks the mountain, and is completely unnecessary.
The Gaper Trap
Safety & Flow: Stopping right off the lift or sitting in a busy in-run zone is a hazard. Your first priority is always to clear the lift drop area. Your second is not to become a static obstacle.
Momentum Killer: Sitting delays your day. And If you’ve got a weak or soft core, the fuss of writhing and wrestling yourself upright from a sitting position with all your gear on can become a visible and physical struggle.
The Wet Seat Factor: You become susceptible and prone to a wet seat and cold backside, especially if you’re wearing inferior outerwear that soaks up moisture.
Shred Status: Mastering the Standing Strap-In
The goal is to clear the lift, out of traffic, pulled over to prep, accordingly.
Clear Out: Glide or skate immediately out of the way to a safe, wide-open spot.
Anchor the Heel: This is key! With your front foot strapped in, kick the board’s heel edge hard into the snow 2-3 times. This creates a secure trench, locking the board in place and preventing it from slipping downhill when you lean over.
Pre-Set: Keep your back binding’s heel strap open and ready before you put your foot in.
Cinch & Lean: Plant your back foot firmly into the binding. Since the heel edge is anchored, you can now safely lean slightly over your toe edge to reach down, grab the strap, and crank the ratchet tight. The whole process takes seconds.
Caveats: When Sitting is Less Gaper-y (But Still Not Shred Status)
While the goal is to master the standing technique, certain real-world concessions exist:
Designated Seating: If you’re strapping in on a provided bench or designated seating area near the chair, you’re at least not blocking traffic. Use this only if absolutely necessary.
Physical Interference: For riders with a larger profile or those slightly impaired by a few too many IPAs, and who find a “protuberance of gut” interferes with the ease of bending, sitting down in a safe, designated spot is understandable.
Ultimately, commanding the Standing Strap-In technique is the definitive move that eliminates the need for benches, saves energy, and keeps your kit dry.
The Flow Hack: Step-In or Step-On Bindings
Gapers sit down. Shreds learned to strap in standing up. But some alternate Masters of Flow use the new FASE system bindings, among other offerings, designed to eliminate the pause entirely. Step-in and step-on systems are the technological shortcut, whether you subscribe or not.
Read more: Step In or Step On
The Set-Up Fail: Swapped Anatomical Baseplates
When mounting your bindings, the left and right baseplates are not interchangeable, yet many Gapers unknowingly mount them up backward … positioned not duck-footed in stance, but instead fuck-footed in orientation, like a little kid who puts their feet in the wrong shoes. (This can also be a result of set-up done by the Jerry at the box store where you bought your board at discount.
The Gaper Trap: What Happened Stance
If erroneously attached, it turns your stance into a disoriented ergonomic hiccup. (Now, if you’re running something dated and universally shaped in baseplate, but still functional, probably picked up at some yard sale last summer … binding straps attach from immediately inside your stance outward, so that they can be fastened / unfastened on the outer sides of your feet.)
Shred Fix: Knowing Right From Wrong
Most modern bindings now feature anatomical molding — a quite obvious curvature denoting left and right. (Out of the box, on the board, and if/when in doubt, ask don’t assume.)
Read more: Support Your Local Snowboard Shop
The Oversized Daypack
Carrying a massive, half-empty pack on groomer runs is a classic Gaper move. These packs are designed for backcountry safety, academia, or a trip to the beach … not resort riding essentials. (Leave the half-rack of PBR in the Subaru for a parking lot après.)
The Gaper Trap: Too Much Stuff
Style and Performance Fail: The pack acts like a sail and/or a pendulum, swinging your weight around and throwing you off balance during turns, especially in side hits or jumps. You end up fighting your gear instead of making the mountain your playground.
Safety Risk: Does this really need explanation. For those slow on the uptake, I’ll direct you to the link immediately below.
Shred Fix: Light Is Right For Resort Riding
If you need to carry essentials (water, tool), use a small hip pack, leg bag, or a minimalist hydration vest. Otherwise, use the locker.
Read more: WTF is in your Backpack / Equip-To-Rip
The Pant Leg Faux Pas
Your outerwear is a key indicator of your experience level, particularly how you handle your pant cuffs.
The Gaper Trap: Flossed and Flooded Pants
The Flossing Sin: Some years back, likely up on the glacier fields of Mt. Hood, where innovation or ridiculousness is often trialed (I recall Crab Grab Founder Preston Strout, for instance, wearing a neon green baby’s onesie on his head in lieu of a beanie or balaclava for lightweight summer sun protection) … the trend of wearing one’s pant cuffs above the boot took hold and campers took note and adopted. While less prevalent today, you’ll still see it on a weekend resort day, a powder day, dumbfounded by the dimwittedness.
Flossing your pants guarantees that when you fall (and you will bail), the inside of your boots will fill with snow, leaving you with wet feet, blisters, and an early exit.
Shred Fix: Just Don’t Do It
Snowboard pants are designed with a cuff gaiter (a secondary elastic band, some often fitted with a lace hook as an added failsafe) that goes over the boot to create a seal. The main pant cuff should then drape loosely over the boot for a clean, natural look that keeps the snow out.
The Selfie State: “Look mom … no clue.”
Prioritizing documentation over flow and safety is a modern, high-visibility Gaper fail. The entire mountain is not your personal content studio, and dangerous pauses expose everyone’s safety.
The Gaper Trap: Not Everything is Worthy of Documenting
This is the rider who stops suddenly, often right after a feature or halfway down a busy run, to check their edit, adjust their angle, or set up a “complicated” shot.
Safety Hazard: Stopping in the middle of a run, especially one with blind spots or high traffic, turns you into a static obstacle. A collision at speed is a serious risk for both you and the incoming rider / skier.
The Pole Fail: Using a long, unwieldy selfie stick while riding—often one that necessitates riding in an awkward, compromised stance—screams inexperience and is a major distraction hazard.
Shred Fix: Safe Capture, Maximum Flow
Shreds understand that the best footage is captured by paid professionals or in the minds’ eye. The Three-Step Rule: If you must stop to film: 1) Pull over completely, off the main line of the run. 2) Stop above the intended filming zone so you can spot incoming traffic. 3) Keep the pause brief.
Hands-Free: The preferred method is a chest or helmet-mounted camera. It keeps your balance centered, your hands on the job, and your focus on the terrain.
Moving Sticks: If using a short grip or stick, keep your momentum. The only thing worse than riding with a stick is stopping to film with it.
Read more: Unplug and Ride
The Mid-Run Menace: Stopping in the Danger Zone
This is the most critical and unforgivable safety and etiquette violation, somewhat cited in the above section but highly repeatable. Never stop where you are not clearly visible from above. This is true for general runs, but mandatory for the terrain park.
The Gaper Trap: Static Obstruction
The Mid-Run Menace stops to rest, text, or adjust their gear right after a roll-over or in a dip in the slope where they become an invisible roadblock.
Blind Spot Collision: Anyone approaching at speed from above will not see you until it’s too late. The resulting collision will be fast and dangerous for all parties.
The Jump Summit Sin: This is the absolute worst park fail. Stopping, sitting, or standing on the knuckle or lip of a jump means an oncoming rider, who is already committed to their takeoff line, will literally land on you. This can result in serious, life-altering injury.
Shred Fix: Always Spot, Always Clear
General Runs: Follow the ‘Visible From Above’ Rule. Always pull far over to the side of the run, preferably behind a stand of trees or an embankment. If you can’t see the top of the run, you should assume someone can’t see you.
Terrain Park: The flow is law. Never, ever stop on the takeoff, lip, or landing zone of any feature. If you fall, get up and get out of the landing zone immediately. If you need to stop, pull into the clear space between features.
The Boombox Blunder: Bluetooth Speakers
Riding is a personal experience, and the mountain is a shared space. Blasting music from a portable speaker is a violation of shared etiquette.
The Gaper Trap: Main Character Syndrome
The rider using a speaker assumes everyone around them appreciates their taste in music (they don’t) or wants their personal soundtrack forced upon them (they definitely don’t).
Atmosphere Killer: Many people come to the mountains for the silence, the wind, and the sound of their board on the snow. You’re actively destroying the ambient peace for dozens of people.
Safety Risk: Loud music is a massive distraction, masking the sound of other riders approaching, patrol, or critical warnings from others on the slope.
Shred Fix: Keep it Personal
Keep your soundtrack confined to headphones or helmet speakers that are audible only to you. If you’re riding with a group, the only acceptable volume is one where the speaker is barely audible to riders immediately next to it on the lift. When on the run, turn it off or down completely.
Read more: New Sounds From The Way Back
The Fabric Fail: Cotton Kills
This isn’t a style issue; it’s a fundamental failure of mountain safety and layering that screams inexperience.
The Gaper Trap: Soggy Sweatshirts and Jeans
Cotton absorbs and holds moisture, whether it’s sweat from exertion or snow from a fall. Once wet, cotton loses all insulating properties and acts like a freezer pack strapped to your body.
Safety Risk: This phenomenon is why the mantra “Cotton Kills” exists. It rapidly lowers your core temperature, leading to dangerous discomfort, loss of dexterity, and in extreme conditions, hypothermia.
The Look: Wearing cotton garments, especially denim jeans or thick hoodie sweatshirts under your shell, creates an unmistakable bulky, stiff profile that compromises movement and gets dangerously cold the moment you start sweating.
Shred Fix: The Rule of Wicking
Never wear cotton on the mountain. Everything that touches your skin—your socks, base layers, and mid-layers—must be made of materials that actively manage moisture.
Base Layers (Next to Skin): Use lightweight Merino Wool or Synthetics (polyester/polypropylene) that wick sweat away from your body.
Socks: Wool or synthetic socks only. Do not double up your socks, and ensure they are thin enough to fit properly inside your boot without bunching.
Mid-Layers: Use performance fleece or synthetic insulation that breathes and dries quickly.
The Padded Paradox: Butt Armor
The use of padded shorts or “butt armor” is the clearest non-verbal announcement that you’re new to this (and not true to this). You can and should expect to fall and to take certain precautions in your awareness, accordingly. However, your ass is probably well-enough cushioned to get spanked on occasion.
The Gaper Trap: “Rectum … Damn near killed ’em!”
While protective gear is practical, the padding often creates an unmistakable, awkward bulk (like you’re carrying a load, giving you the appearance of wearing a thick, oversized diaper). This look instantly invites heckles and unwanted attention because it telegraphs inexperience and, possibly, turds.
Shred Fix: Ok then! Safety First, Style Second
Safety Priority: If you are a complete beginner or are hitting features that pose a risk of injury, wear the padding! Safety trumps style 100% of the time.
Style Rule: If you must wear it, ensure the pads are slim-profile and completely invisible under your outerwear … and while I’m a fan of the OG TMNT, wearing a ninja turtle strapped to your tail is a non-starter.
The Lazy Setup: Loose Gear Liability
A true Gaper is easily spotted by poor attention to kit, fit, and setup, which directly impacts safety and performance.
Gaper Trap: The Sloppy Boot Liability
Loose boots are one of the fastest ways to compromise your riding. This leads to heel lift, where your heel rises inside the boot as you apply pressure to the board’s toe edge. This causes a delayed response, making your turns sloppy and inefficient.
Shred Fix: Crank It Down
Cinch up your inner and outer laces/dial up your BOA system tightly before your first run. The boot should feel like an extension of your foot. (If your feet hurt, you need better fitting boots, not looser laces.)
The Vision Fail: An Absence of Eyewear
Thinking you don’t need to run goggles is an obvious oversight and a classic beginner mistake that compromises eye health and visibility.
Gaper Trap: The No Goggle Boondoggle
Riding without proper eye protection is dangerous and uncomfortable. High-altitude sun exposes eyes to intense UV radiation, risking painful snow blindness (photokeratitis); cold air at speed blasting your ocular orbs will make dryballs out of your eyeballs.
Shred Fix: Optics Aren’t Ever Optional
Always wear goggles over your eyes when riding (and make sure to adjust to prevent “Euro gap”).
The Headwear Haphazard
A kinda critical safety and style component often overlooked is proper headwear, which protects against injury and the elements. (Helmets, for any parent reading this, are a non-negotiable, IMHO.)
Gaper Trap: The Bare-Head or Bad-Beanie Gaper
The Bare Head: Riding without a helmet is proven unsafe and ignores the risk of concussions. (Of course, this is a personal decision as a preventive measure.)
The Bunched Beanie: Wearing a helmet with a oversized, thick, cuffed beanie stuffed underneath it compromises the helmet’s safety fit and often pushes the helmet too far back, also creating a massive and ineffective goggle gap.
Shred Fix: Thinner is a Winner
For warmth, use a thin technical balaclava or a skullcap liner that doesn’t add bulk. If you’re only wearing a beanie, ensure it is low-profile, snug, and doesn’t flap around or impede your peripheral vision.
The Toe-Edge Tussle (Flat-Ground Folly)
This call-out and tip is perhaps a mere matter of personal preference and will likely be cause for comment and criticism. However, from my own perception, it smacks of skateboarding “goat” (the practice of pushing with your front foot, instead of your back) .
When pushing on a snowboard, leaning your weight over the toe edge of your board is a habit to break stat, as it’s clumsy and counterproductive to control and glide.
The Gaper Trap: Pushing Goat
Leaning on and over the toe edge causes the board to dig into the snow, whereby you’ve got to constantly self correct to keep from falling forward, the board washing out behind you, with the likelihood of “Wilson-ing” on the track (the split-legged disaster where one foot stays on the board and the other slips out, a sure fire way to strain or tear your MCL).
Why the Heel is the Only Way
When you skate, your unstrapped foot should be positioned behind you for proper form. This prevents you from catching that toe edge, bashing into binding strap,s and offers more keen and clean control.
Shred Fix: Heelside Aligned
Keep the board perfectly flat and use your back foot, again positioned behind you, to generate quick, explosive pushes for momentum.
The Flat-Track Fail: When In Doubt, Skate About
Flat sections and lift lines are where a rider’s efficiency is truly tested. Gapers waste energy and momentum in these zones.
Gaper Trap: The Hand-Pusher or “Clawer”
This occurs when a Gaper, unable to generate speed, drops their hands and attempts to push themselves along the snow or the ground like a crab. This move is intensely inefficient, soaking your gloves, wasting energy, and causing you to lose all forward momentum.
Shred Fix: What Would Lupe Fiasco Do?
If the slope is truly flat, unstrap your back foot, and kick, push, kick, push, coast.
The Riding Fail: The Backseat Hunch
This is the ultimate failure of form and the source of immense frustration. It’s the most common technical flaw among beginners attempting to link turns.
The Gaper Trap: Leaning Backwards
The Backseat Gaper is terrified of catching their front edge, so they compensate by leaning their body weight aggressively over the back foot and tail of the board.
The Consequence: This unweights the nose, making the board impossible to steer and initiate a proper toe-side turn. It leads to the classic “washing out” or fishtailing down the hill, resulting in choppy, uncontrolled skids instead of smooth, carved turns.
Shred Fix: The Balanced Stance
Your weight should always be centered and balanced over the middle of the board. Think of a gentle, athletic forward lean, bending your knees and ankles to keep your chest facing slightly down the hill (over your front binding). This puts pressure on the front edge, allowing you to actually control the turn initiation. Control comes from the front, not the back.
The Outerwear Uniform: The Dope Snow Tell
While style is subjective, the brand you wear can be a powerful non-verbal indicator of your mountain literacy. The widespread adoption of Dope Snow as the mass-market brand has made them the outerwear du jour for the general public.
The Gaper Trap: Dope is Nope
These kits are characterized by highly visible, matching color schemes (often monochromatic pastels or loud colors), prominent oversized lettering, and a focus on social media aesthetic over technical, multi-condition performance. Wearing a completely matching, high-visibility outfit immediately telegraphs that the rider is more focused on making a visual statement than on technical mountain navigation and layered utility. It screams, “I bought this entire outfit online last week.”
Shred Fix: Many Other Alternatives …
Shreds favor established, technical shell brands that prioritize Gore-Tex or similar high-end waterproofing, durability, and a classic, low-profile look. Focus on layering (shell over insulation) and subtle, earth-toned colors that blend with the mountain. A slightly mismatched, durable kit shows an understanding of fashion and funcition and suggests years of accumulating proven, reliable gear.
Read more: The Case for (and Against) Dope Snow
The Fashion Fails: Jerseys, Starter Jackets, and Loud Accessories
Your outerwear should speak to technical function, not team loyalty or throwback nostalgia. Snowboarding is its own a culture and while independent non-conformity and questionable attire are usually celebrated, dressing like you just left a sporting event isn’t.
The Gaper Trap: Jock Twitch, etc.
The Sport Jersey/Starter Jacket: These are usually made of non-technical materials (cotton, cheap polyester) that hold moisture, don’t breathe, and offer zero weather protection. They are the antithesis of the essential technical layering system. They also draw undue attention.
Loud Headwear: Beanies with superfluous sassafras or aggressively obnoxious doodads (e.g., animal ears, cartoon characters) should be confined to cosplay conventions.
Shred Fix: Ride More Schlock Less
Let your riding do the talking, not your gear.
Choose Function: Outer layers should be durable, waterproof, and breathable (e.g., technical shells, DWR-treated fabrics).
Subtle Style: Less is always more … And a little personality goes along way. Keep the accessorizing clean, keen, simple, novel or just outright functional.
The Confidence Clause: Intentional Irony
This is the singular, highest-level exception to all fashion and style rules. When a highly proficient rider employs a seemingly “Gaper” uniform—such as a ridiculous costume, non-technical jersey, or neon snowsuit—it’s not an accident or a technical flaw.
The Uniform of Ironic Mastery
This choice is known as The Confidence Clause. The outfit is a stylistic declaration of ironic intent, turning a technical foul into a piece of performance art.
The Difference: A Gaper wears a non-technical outfit because they don’t know better (a technical flumox). A Shred wears a ridiculous outfit despite knowing better (a stylistic choice).
The Requirement: To pass the Confidence Clause test, your riding execution must be impeccable. Your flow, speed, control, and chicanery completion must be so commanding that the outlandishness of the outfit is completely overridden by the mastery of the performance. If you crash while wearing the outfit, you’re automatically relegated back to Gaper status. The trick must be landed, or the style is an embarrassment.
The Lingo Litmus Test
Terminology is often the first indicator of experience. While language evolves, the old school guard still recognizes when someone is talking the talk, or just talking.
The most authentic and time-honored term is “Riding” or “Shredding” (as in “shredding the gnar”), which refers to snowboarding. While this term originated and held strong in the core lexicon, it has since been widely adopted across all board sports—from wave to concrete. Although it remains an authentic term, its widespread usage means it carries less unique distinction than it once did.
The term “Boarding” had traditionally been a clear sign of a Gaper, as it’s often used by outsiders. While it has become somewhat acclimated due to mass adoption, I still cringe when I hear it.
Boarding is the equivalent of “Sarfing”. This is an iteration of “Surfing,” used specifically to denote a prevalent kook-dom and the absolute lack of etiquette and style similarly invading saltwater line-ups.
The Queue Killer
This is the failure to maintain flow and momentum right before entering the lift line, creating a bottleneck that affects everyone behind you.
The Gaper Trap: The Unstrap Choke Point
The Gaper comes to a halt right in front of or just inside the lift queue entrance, usually sitting down here to now, you guessed it, unstrap. This sudden obstacle forces everyone behind you to halt while you struggle with your binding, completely killing the flow of the line and wasting precious minutes on a busy day.
The Shred Fix: Properly Prepared for Upload
Simply unstrap well before the queue begins and skate in with your back foot already freed or glide on through the entrance at a mellow pace, bend over, unstrap, and step out.
Ditching the Gaper Game
Moving from a Gaper to Shred isn’t about stomping sevens; it’s about addressing and eliminating all the gangly shit that squashes your steez. The points in this guide—from the simple act of strapping in while standing to correcting the crippling backseat hunch—are all focused on making your fit and flow smoother, safer, and more fun.
Again, this has been a public service announcement brought to you by That Snowboarding Blog. Our mission is to elevate and elaborate on mountain connection and culture for the everyday rider. Flow is the final goal: momentum that requires minimal energy. And if any above the above traps had you hamstrung or harangued … you’ll be amazed how quickly these small altered states unlock huge improvements in your evolution and enjoyment.
