method relies on a great deal more than the ability to pull it off. So much of what snowboarding stands for is based upon a rider's style - regardless of what trick they are attempting. However, these days the tricks are getting so technical that one might think it'd be impossible to pull them off without looking like a flailing idiot.
Over the years, riders have been pushing the progression of snowboarding - adding rotations, flips, tweaks, and grabs. Like Mikkel Bang so bluntly put, doing flips used to be considered "gay". Now, it is massively accepted in snowboarding with the double cork epidemic.
The only constant thing in snowboarding - the one aspect that will always be placed above all else; is style. That is what separates the best riders from the rest; not how many spins you can manage to pack into the amount of time you're in the air. However, these days it happens to be that people are capable of doing these advanced tricks with plenty of style to go around.
Shaun White, Scotty Lago, I-pod, Mikkel Bang, Kazu Kokubo - they all have their own signature style and are at the top of the competitive circuit. Ultimately, all we want to see is a confident and natural ease - the ability to make these ridiculous tricks look effortless. If a rider can accomplish this unspoken feat, most likely they have the snowboarding world watching on in amazement.
Case in point - Shaun White's flawless double cork. Kazu's epic McTwist. Any of Mikkel's slopestyle runs. Or Terje's immaculate method. They are all such different riders but with the same ability to make a trick their own and embody "style" in every sense of the word.
Who knows where snowboarding will be in the next decade or how far these riders will take it but one thing is a given - the appreciation of style and natural ability will always remain the most important factor.
Check out what the pro's (rookies as well as legends) have to say about the matters of style:
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