Snowboard Race

The Snowboard Race is a racing game featured in Twilight Princess. The race begins at Snowpeak Top, the area found near the summit of Snowpeak, and ends at the entrance of the Snowpeak Ruins.

Background
After defeating a group of Shadow Beasts, a portal forms and Link is able to approach Yeto, who sits atop a small hill. Next to him is a frozen tree which has large leaves that have been frozen over with ice. Yeto shows Link how to use one of these leaves as a snowboard and guides him along the course to reach Snowpeak Ruins, the fifth dungeon of the game. The first time Link participates in the race, he only needs to reach the bottom of the course successfully to enter the dungeon.

After Link has completed the Snowpeak Ruins, he receives a letter from Yeta: "Husband and I sled lots now. Very much fun. Link, you join us at Snowpeak sometime!"

After traveling again to Snowpeak Top, Yeto will challenge Link to a race down the mountain. He can be beaten fairly easily, but tends to shove Link out of his way if he gets too close. After beating Yeto, he will congratulate Link.

The next time Link goes to Snowpeak Top, he can talk to Yeta and challenge her to a race. A lot smaller than her husband, she is quite a bit faster. It is still possible to get ahead of her, however Link must take the shortcut as Yeta does. Alternately, if Link tends to miss the shortcut, he may slash Yeta when she is close enough to make her spin out. Once victory is achieved, Yeta rewards Link's efforts with a Piece of Heart.

Rules
The controls are simple; holding A makes Link crouch, releasing it makes him jump, and the analog stick is used to steer. Link may also attack with a sword while boarding, and may even charge up and release a Spin Attack, which causes him to jump slightly.

There are a number of obstacles, such as trees, rocks and groups of Ice Keese, which can knock Link from his ice sled. There are a few shortcuts which can improve his time; at the start of the heavily wooded area is a ramp which can be used to jump to the top of a tree, then to a second and third, gaining Rupees and avoiding having to dodge past the tree trunks. Immediately after this area is a ledge of ice on the right hand side (left in the GameCube version) which must be jumped onto to access the main shortcut (seen on the map above as a thin line near the bottom). This bypasses a large section of the track.

Trivia
The background theme of the minigame is a remix of that heard during the Rapids Ride minigame.