Back in June we got out to sunny Les 2 Alpes with Tyler Chorlton, Elias Elhardt and Victor De Le Rue to shoot some tricks tips for our free Snowboarding Basics guide (which should be able now in all good snowboard retailers) as well as some Relentless Energy Pro Tips edits. Here’s our favourite moustached ripper Tyler Chorlton taking us through the intricacies of the Miller flip. If you were wondering, Miller flips have been credited to skateboarder Chris Miller (although some say that Darell Miller actually did the trick first), and was perfected on vert ramps back in the 80’s. Miller flips are essentially inverted frontside 360s with a front hand hand-drag and if done correctly, are one of the sweetest looking tricks in the manual. You can do them jib-style on a bonk feature like the one at the start of this edit or you can do them on rollers or off the knuckle of jumps. Halldor Helgason has an absolute corker of a double handed one…
1. First up, you’ll need to find a good steep jump that’ll help you launch backwards into the flip – and it’ll need something in the middle you can handplant onto. In Tyler’s instance he’s on the plastic ball we met in the frontside 3 nosebonk.
2. Ride towards the kicker with a little bit more speed than you think you need – you want a lot of pop as it’ll help to keep your arm straight when you land on it. Since you’ll be drifting frontside, you’ll need to line the object up so it’s slightly on your heelside.
3. As you go off the kicker, initiate the spin in the same manner as a frontside 3, but at the same time severely drop your front shoulder, almost as if you’re trying to get upside down. Keep very crouched, and if at all possible, go for an indy grab with your trailing hand to keep your body position nice and compact. If you’re all extended and gangly this trick just isn’t going to work!
4. This twisting motion should stall your frontside spin, so with your leading hand, reach out and press the ball or obstacle with your hand, aiming to put pressure on it with your arm. As this is at the top of your air, you should feel relatively weightless. It certainly shouldn’t hurt (if it does, you’re going too fast and have hit the obstacle too hard). When you hit the perfect speed, you’ll effortlessly plant your hand firmly on the obstacle and should be able to pop yourself round into the rest of the rotation.
5. If all has gone well, simply push off from the obstacle and let that frontside 360 spin you initiated at the beginning keep bringing you around until you land flat based on the floor. Make sure you complete a full rotation so that your board is facing down the fall line – you don’t want to land side on. If you spin a little too much you can always apply a little toe edge as you land. You’ll be able to see the ground throughout the whole of this trick, and if you do it right it’ll feel very solid indeed. If you go too fast and miss the grab completely, well… you’ll have inadvertently tried your first frontside rodeo.
6. That’s it. Ride away like you’re Tyler Chorlton. In reality this trick will take a bit of time to master, but if you session one spot you’ll find you get used to the speed and wang required; after a while you’ll find you are more confident with the plant and can actually use it to help you flip around. On a slushy day and a small jump like this the falls won’t really hurt so give it a go!
