When Inverts Were Illegal: The History of Getting Upside Down

In 1992, pro snowboarder Dave Seaone did an inverted aerial at a world-cup halfpipe comp in Japan. He was DQ’ed and fined $100. Welcome to the prohibition era, when riders had to hide their McTwists and triple check for ski patrol before throwing a backie. In this episode, Tricia and Jen track down the first flip ever captured on film (allegedly), they delve into fun handplant variations and trace the origins of early tricks like the J-Tear and Crippler. After a deep dive into “hotdogging” (later known as “freestyle”), they unearth the source of the inverts ban—and why it plagued snowboard-dom well into the late 90s. Finally, they bring in live human expert Keir Dillon—legendary rider and inventor of the PA Roll—to describe WTF that trick is, as well as delivering some opinionated conversating on all things upside down. Cover photo: Bud Fawcett