How to butter on a snowboard

How to butter a snowboard, in short: move your weight over one end of the board so the other end lifts and the board flexes, then either hold that press or pivot around it. Butters are all about controlling how the board bends and turns while it stays partly on the snow.

That matches how PSIA-AASI’s Freestyle Specialist Performance Guide describes a good butter for instructors: a sustained pivot and press with the board in partial contact with the snow, the rider’s center of mass over the nose or tail, performed both clockwise and counterclockwise. Its entry-level snowboard list includes butters out to 90 degrees and back to a forward stance, 180 nose or tail butters, and 360 butters.

You don’t need a terrain park. A gentle, wide, quiet groomed run is ideal: practice at the side, where you’re visible from above and out of the main traffic line. Because many butters finish with the board pointing the other way, some switch riding helps.

A fitted, buckled helmet is worth wearing even on flat terrain: catching an edge while pressing can cause a quick fall, often backward.

Start on flat ground, strapped in, then move to a gentle slope, running straight and slow.

Tail press, also called a manual

1. Ride straight with the board flat and your weight centered.
2. Shift your hips toward your back foot and bend your back knee while lifting your front knee slightly.
3. Let the nose rise off the snow. Hold for a moment, then return to center.

Nose press

1. Ride straight, slow and flat.
2. Move your hips and chest toward your front foot, bending the front knee and lifting the back one slightly.
3. Let the tail rise. Hold briefly, then return to center.

Keep the board flat across its width. If one edge digs in mid-press it can catch, so stay balanced over the middle of the board from edge to edge. The same flat, centered press is what you’ll use later on low boxes in the park.

Most butter falls come from moving too far, too quickly. These drills build control:

• Rocking presses. Ride straight and rock gently from nose to center to tail and back, holding each position a little longer each time.
• Quarter pivots. On a flat section, press the nose and let the tail swing around about a quarter turn, then return to straight. Repeat on the tail, then in the other direction.
• Slow speed only. Butters are far easier to control slowly, and a caught edge hurts less.

Your arms help with balance, but avoid swinging them wildly. Let your shoulders lead gently in the direction you want the board to pivot. The same press-and-pop feeling helps your ollies, which also start by loading the tail.

Nose butter to switch (nose roll)

Riding slowly, press onto the nose, then use your shoulders and hips to let the tail swing around until the board points the other way. Settle flat and ride away switch. Many riders call a full pivot on the nose a nose roll. Try both directions; one will feel easier.

Tail butter back to regular

Riding switch, press onto your tail (now the leading end), pivot around and ride away in your normal stance.

Tripod

A tripod is a stationary or very slow trick where you press the nose or tail and support yourself with one or both hands on the snow. Learn it on flat ground first, keep your wrists relaxed and only lean onto your hands as far as you can control.

Once 180 butters feel easy in both directions, a butter 360 joins a nose pivot and a tail pivot into one continuous rotation: press the nose and pivot to switch, then shift to the tail and keep turning until you face forward again. Keep the speed very low and the board flat across its width all the way around.

This on-snow rotation is also good preparation for rotating in the air. It gives you the feel of turning your upper body first with the board following, which you’ll use for ollie 180s on the flat and later for full spins off small jumps. A qualified freestyle coach can check your balance and edge control before you add speed.

We suggest adding a few butters to each easy run rather than spending a whole day on them. To see where buttering sits among the other freestyle skills, look at our map of the trick learning order.

Softer, more flexible boards are generally easier to press. On a stiffer board, keep the movements small, move your hips further over the nose or tail, and use your body weight rather than trying to muscle the board around. Lower speed helps too. If you want to know how flexible your board is, check the manufacturer’s description for your model.

• Too much speed. Slow down. Most butters happen at very low speed.
• Tipping onto an edge. Keep the board flat across its width while pressing.
• Bending at the waist. Move your hips over the nose or tail rather than folding forward.
• Only practicing one direction. PSIA-AASI lists being “only able to rotate in one direction” as a fault, so work both ways and in switch.
• Practicing in busy lines. Pick a quiet section at the side of the run, visible from above.