The Ultimate Snowboard Fails List [Hand Picked by Our Editor]

Wiping out is part and parcel of snowboarding. No matter how good you are, it’s going to happen to you eventually. These snowboarding fails can be so epic that people watch them on YouTube again and again.

But no matter the nature of the fail, they’re always fun to watch. That’s why we’ve compiled the ultimate list of the greatest (and sometimes not so great) snowboarding fails of all time. From rookies and pros to Olympians, we have everything on this list. But before we start wiping out, we have an important message to deliver:

 

Our Most Epic Snowboarding Fails

You’ve got the gear. Now, it’s time to look at some of the best snowboarding fails of all time. Hopefully, your wipeouts are never so severe that you find your way onto this list.

The Two Funniest Snowboard Fails Ever

The Faceplant

Everybody loves a good faceplant. Well, not the people who are faceplanting. But everybody else does. This video shows a novice snowboarder going for some sort of jump and rotation. Unfortunately, he gets absolutely no air and just lands flat on his face:

We don’t know where this happened but we love the little laugh from the cameraman as the trick literally falls flat on its face. It looks like the guy is okay though, so hopefully, he could smile about it afterward.

Snow’s Revenge

At first, this looks like a standard fail. The snowboarder clearly has some experience and just miscalculates a landing, causing him to roll. He even gets lucky and rolls into an upright position. He would have been ready to just carry on, but the snow he’s kicked up during his roll comes back for revenge and smacks him in the back, knocking him over again. He was just unfortunate enough to get a two-for-one fail:

The Two Most Dangerous and Worst Snowboard Fails

Going Off-Piste

There’s a reason why snow parks and ski resorts have pistes. These are designated safe tracks for snowboarders and skiers. Going off-piste comes with some pretty big risks, as the snowboarder in this video discovered. Unable to see a crevice covered in snow, the guy drops down into a hole in the ground upside down. He’s only saved by his board getting wedged between the two edges of the crevice, as you can see in the first clip of this compilation:

We know this incident happened in France. Thankfully, we also know that the snowboarder and his son survived the accident. If he’d been alone, this snowboarder would have been a goner.

Near-Death Cliff

From the same compilation video, we have something that seems innocuous at first. A snowboarder is moving pretty slowly down what seems like a fairly simple hill. But that hill turns out to be a sheer cliff with an extremely steep drop. Check it out at 5:53 of this video:

The good news is that the boarder recognized the drop before he went over and was able to grab onto a rock while his legs dangled over the cliff. After getting rid of his snowboard, he managed to clamber back to safety.

The Two Best Snowboarding Rookie Fails

Newbie Takes on a Street Jump

Some snowboarders get a little overconfident in their abilities, leading to them taking on jumps that they’re simply not ready for. That’s what happened to the rookie in this video. He spots a street jump and decides to give it a go. As he comes off the jump, he seems to lose control of his entire body and ends up flopping into the snow below:

We see the boarder start getting up at the end, so we’re pretty sure he’s okay. But that little scream when he knows things are about to go wrong gets us every time.

The Two Best Pro Or Olympic Fails

Lucas Foster’s Beijing 2022 Crash

Lucas Foster had big hopes for his half-pipe run at the Beijing 2022 Olympics. And it started pretty well as he pulled off a pair of tricks, including a double cork 1080, flawlessly. Then, the third trick happens. And it fails so badly that Foster cracks his board in half and ends up falling 7.1 meters from the top of the pipe to the bottom while in an uncontrolled spin:

We’re not exactly sure how, but Foster managed to get up from this wipeout without any injuries. This one could have ended very badly. But in the end, it only cost Foster his good score rather than leading to any broken bones or serious injuries.

Shaun White’s Triple Cork Crash

Shaun White is an absolute legend in snowboarding. He may be the most recognizable pro in the world. He’s even been the star of snowboarding videogames. But there’s one trick he’s never been able to pull off at an event – the triple cork.

In this video, we see White go for the trick during a practice run. But he miscalculates, leading to a wipeout where he lands back-first on the half-pipe’s edge:

This one ended in some nasty injuries for White, who had to go to hospital and is seen limping his way out toward the end of the video. We’re pretty sure he suffered some injuries to his hips and tailbone here.

The Two Best Snowboarding Chair Lift Fails

Frank Spencer’s Battle with a Drag Lift

When you know how to use a drag lift, they’re quick and easy ways to get up a slope while staying on your board. They can even give you a chance to work on your balance. But when you don’t know how to use them, they’re a recipe for some amusing fails. That’s what some poor guy named Frank Spencer discovers in this hilarious fail video:

Spencer tries and tries again, falling each time as he just can’t get the hang of the drag lift. The cackling of the camerawoman really makes this video for us because she just can’t stop laughing. Still, we’ve got to admire Spencer’s determination because he doesn’t stop trying.

The Lift That Goes Out of Control

We go from a funny lift fail to an absolutely terrifying one. Ski lifts scare a lot of people because they leave you dangling over a mountain edge while you get transported to the top. But when one goes out of control.....

We’re not sure where this happened but the results are terrifying. The poor people on the lift have to hold on for dear life as it comes hurtling down the mountain. When it rounds the bend, the lift flings its occupants into the air, leading to them crashing onto the ground. Even then, the danger isn’t over as the lift keeps going, making every chair a potential death trap. Thankfully, nobody suffered fatal injuries in this accident. But they very easily could have.

The Best Snowboarding Rail Fail

The Potential Back Breaker

Pain is the first thing that comes to mind when we see this video. The snowboarder makes a fast approach toward a rail and jumps in anticipation of landing on it. But the jump doesn’t go as planned and the boarder lands back-first on the rail:

The video title says that he broke his back. We hope that isn’t the case. But the screams and moans in the immediate aftermath of this wipeout tell all you need to know about how dangerous this sport can be when you try tough tricks.

The Best Snowboarding Jump Fail

The Best Snowboarding Backflip Fail

Slow motion video makes everything seem so much more painful. And that’s what we get in this two-minute clip that shows every small detail of a backflip gone wrong. We don’t know the name of this unfortunate snowboarder. But you can see this jump start to go off the rails as soon as he gets some air. The rotation just doesn’t happen, leading to a flat fall onto the lower back that could have caused a serious injury:

The video description says he was okay, which is good news. But without any snow to break the fall, we can imagine this failed backflip causing a lot of pain. When we say back and tailbone injuries are some of the most common in snowboarding, clips like this show exactly why that is.