Hello Steemians,
Today, I am going to teach you guys how to backflip on skis. You might not know how fond of skiing I am, but if you subscribe to us, I can assure you that in the near future, you will understand how much I love skiing.
First of all, let me introduce myself as a skier. I am an expert skier who used to compete a lot when I was younger. I raced a lot and I was quite good in slaloms. However, since I never got quite good enough to make a living out of it, I now ski for fun, which means that I can do whatever I want to do.
Why did I choose the backflip trick?
Well, first of all, getting upside down is the most fun thing you can do on your skis! Don't tell me your friends wouldn't be impressed if you showed them how to backflip on skis like a boss. And do you know what the best part of backflip is? Even though it looks super impressive, it is actually one of the easiest ski tricks you can perform!
I am going to guide you step by step on how you can achieve the exact same thing. It will be better if you are a good skier, you don’t have to be an expert skier in order to do that, but an average or good skier will help of course. Being good at gymnastics helps too, personally, I am very bad at everything that’s like gymnastics and this is where it was hard or me. If like me, you don’t even know how to do a cartwheel, don’t worry it is still possible to backflip on skis even if it will not be as easy.
The first thing you want to do will be to get your body to feel how to do a backflip in a safe environment. There are plenty of places that will let you do just that. If you are confident about yourself, you can skip these first steps and start right away in the snow but I would recommend you follow these steps first. The best places to learn are on a trampoline and in the swimming pool on a diving board.
The rotation, first on a trampoline. What you should do first is to roll over backward. Once you are comfortable with this, you can bounce off your back into it, it will be half a backflip. For the full flip, the most important part is to throw yourself straight upward and not to throw yourself backward. The easiest way to rotate at first is to bring your knees back to your chest and to hold them in your hands. Once you see the trampoline again, stand straight again and it will make you stop rotating. Here is on a trampoline but what about the snow?
Once your body is comfortable going upside down, you can now try it with skis. The safest place to learn would be on an airbag as it shouldn’t hurt you. If you can’t find one, then you should build a small jump that would land in the powder or in soft snow. When you build a jump for a backflip, make it so that the end is poppy. A poppy end will throw yourself almost naturally into the rotation.
Here is a picture of me performing one, the week I learned how to do them.
Once you have found/built your jump, practice a couple jumps on it in order to feel the height, the speed you will want to have and to feel comfortable. Now it is time to actually try it! The most difficult aspect of doing a backflip on skis and on real snow is having the guts! Yes, I told you backflips are easy tricks, however, the hard part of actually doing a backflip is daring. You just have to do it! Because once you are in the air and performing the rotation, you can’t back down.
If your rotation isn’t perfect but you committed, then you might fall a few times but at least it will be on your butt (most common at the start) and it won’t hurt, really. But if you stop halfway through, then it is getting bad for you. But honestly, after a few tries, I am confident you will get it down! What could really help you is getting someone to videotape you as you will be able to see your mistakes and know how to improve.
Now that you can do a backflip on skis, try improving it! Here is how pros do it :
See the difference? That looks smooth, however, don’t try it like that at first, you need to master it if you really want to get to that level. (I personally can’t do that)
I hope I helped you with these tips and remember that the most important one is to dare! It is easy once you dare.