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How to Frontflip with Tyler Chorlton

In the latest Relentless Energy Pro tip video, Tyler Chorlton explains that, just like back flips, front flips are actually pretty easy as long as you commit fully to the trick. Oh, and you keep your arms by your side. And keep your eyes on your board. And all the other little things you need to do to avoid landing on your head.

Tyler and his pet moustache show you how to nail this trick off both big and small jumps, and he makes both look ridiculously easy.

1. First of all, a little caveat: try and learn any inverted tricks on either an airbag (many resorts have them) or a trampoline before you even think about attempting one on snow. And ideally, when you do feel ready to try this, make sure it’s into soft snow such as slush or powder.

2. The main thing to look out for on a frontflip is the take off. Ideally  you want something with a mellow lip followed by a steeper drop-off. This will give you more time in the air and you’ll land much more softly on the snow (if you do these onto a flat landing you’re likely to hurt yourself). The knuckle of a big kicker, or a cat-track dropping into fresh powder, is ideal.

3. If you’re comfy on the airbag or trampoline and you’ve found your spot, it’s time to commit. As you approach the edge of the jump, lean heavily back, building the necessary momentum to ‘throw’ the frontflip.

4. Just before  you hit the lip of the jump, throw all your upper body weight over the nose of your board, aiming to spring off it at the exact moment that it hits the top of the lip. You’re aiming to throw a cartwheel, so keep your shoulders in line with your board. If you dip/twist  your leading shoulder at all, you will start to go off axis and most likely land sideways.

5. To be honest, if you’ve thrown your upper body sufficiently hard, there’s not a great deal you can do now. As with the backflip, once you’re in the air, you will follow a trajectory that’s either right or wrong. Keep you eyes focused on your back foot.

6. If you want to speed up your spin, you can tuck up, and if you want to slow down your spin, you can spread your arms out. As you come down to land, your board should be in exactly the right position; you should be able to set it down on a flat base and ride away without really feeling the thud of the landing. If not, something’s gone wrong. here are four common problems:

i) You land, then go over the nose: you’ve thrown the trick too hard.

ii) You land on the tail of the board but can’t stand up: you’ve not put enough force into your throw.

iii) You land, then catch your toe edge and faceplant into the snow: you’ve twisted frontside a little during the frontflip. Square your shoulders a little and use your back hand like a tiller – pushing it so it faces directly back up the hill as you take off.

iv) You land, then catch your heel edge and get whiplashed into the run-off: you’ve put a little backside spin into your trick, again, keep your shoulders lined up and keep looking at your rear foot.

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