What’s an alley oop?

So what is an alley oop? I read a couple of different description and still confused. I always thought that it’s when you spin against the transition e.g. on the frontside wall (toe edge) of a halfpipe you spin backside. But then how does that work on a quarter pipe

You correct Skip.

And how does it work on a quarter pipe? I doesn’t. That is to say, not unless the quarter pipe is sideways like a half pipe wall.

Some tricks only exist in a halfpipe, just like some tricks only exist off jumps and can’t be done in the half pipe.

For eg. An Air to Fakie an only be done on a half pipe or quarter pipe (quarter like feature). You cannot do them on a jump because you would land forward if you air without rotating.

Another cool thing that can happen is you can do a trick in the park, and then do the same motion in the pipe and it becomes a differently named trick because in the pipe you will land in a different direction to how you would land in the park.

An example of this is the Backside Misty (Front flip 540) this is a park trick, but do it in the halfpipe and it becomes a McTwist!
1. Because you land straight instead of switch.
2. Because when you do things off a vertical wall and land back on a vertical wall there is less flip rotation, making the trick look a bit different.

Hope that all makes sense

It still works on a quaterpipe.  Same way as a halfpipe. Instead of just going up and down and landing on the same area as you took off with your spin, you jump across the quiater pipe. Done in skating too.
If the boarder rides regular, takes off from A and spins backside spins, and lands towards B that is an alley oop spin is it not?
Even narrower quaterpipes not as wide as below. But not jumps, doesnt work for them

Ah I see, thanks for the pictures and clear explanation both of you. Cuz I remember on Terje’s movie series in 2007 he said that Nico shouldn’t do the alley oop mctwist but do the regular instead (on a quarterpipe competition).

I knew someone was going to say that     Dammit K2!

Yeah, he’s right… smart ass skater. Now it’s my turn

It can actually be done on jumps too

But like I said, when some tricks are taken out of the pipe and into the park they get a different name.
If you do an Ally Oop off a park jump, you get a Hard Way Spin.

How do you do this? Spin off the wrong edge.
When you spin backside in the park, you will normally carve in a curve on your toe edge, then spin off your toes in the same direction you were carving.

To do a hard way backside spin, you would carve a curve on your heel edge, and then spin backside off the heel edge in the opposite direction to the way you were carving.
Just like an ally oop, but the park version   and even if people don’t realise how difficult you just made your spin, they will appreciate how good it looked because you have to start the jump with your board dead straight instead of rotation as you leave the jump.