what is butter in big air skiing

In big air skiing, a “butter” is a stylish pre-spin where the skier presses the tips or tails of the skis into the snow and starts rotating before fully leaving the lip of the jump.

Quick Scoop: What is a Butter in Big Air Skiing?

A butter uses the flex of the skis so that part of the ski (usually the nose) stays in contact with the snow while the skier’s body starts to rotate. In big air, this happens right on the takeoff: the skier leans heavily onto the tips (nose butter) or tails (tail butter), “smears” them over the lip, and initiates the first part of the spin before fully popping into the air.

Judges and fans like butters because they add difficulty, risk, and style to a trick: you’re committing your weight onto the tips or tails while lining up a huge spin, then snapping off the jump into a cork or bio rotation. In modern contests and Olympic-style big air, clean, fully pressed nose-buttered takeoffs (with the tail clearly off the snow) are specifically rewarded in scoring criteria.

Key points (TL;DR style)

• Butter = using ski flex to press nose or tail while starting a spin on the snow.

• In big air, it’s done on the takeoff of the jump as a pre-rotation.

• Nose butter: weight over the tips, tail lifted as you start the spin.

• Often used to flow into corks/bios and make tricks look smoother and more technical.

If you watch replays, look right at the lip: when the skier leans onto the tips and already starts spinning before fully leaving the jump, that’s the butter.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.