How To Rocket, Venom & Stinkbug Grab

In this tutorial we are taking on the Rocket, Venom & Stinkbug grabs, which are all grabs that only touch the front part of your skis. Before working on these advanced grabs, make sure your basic grabs like the Nose Grab, Safety and Mute grab are easy to do. With a bit of a tweak of course.

This tutorial was filmed with the Ski Addiction Tramp Skis. Get your pair now and start training today!

(Narrating/Skier: Dean Bercovitch. Film/Edit: Adison MacDonald. Filmed At: Whistler Bounce)

The Rocket

Let’s start with the most classic grab in this tutorial, the Rocket Air. A Rocket Air is when you grab and cap both noses of your skis at the same time and is usually done with your legs together.

The Rocket Air ladies and gentlemen.

1. Start with grabbing Double Safety
2. Tweak it by pushing your heels down to the ground. That motion will tempt your hands to slide up the ski a little bit, let them. As they slide up, your legs and upper body will pike in. If they don’t, then you will get off balance and have to release the grab
3. Once you're balanced, finish the tweak by sliding your hands all the way to the tips of your skis.
4. You now have a Rocket Air!

The Venom

Next let’s talk about the Venom grab. To grab Venom, you have to cross your skis over each other and grab a nose in each hand.

• Start by grabbing a nose with the opposite side hand
• Then tweak that nose over and across the other ski, much like a Mute grab. But instead, hold the nose of the ski like a Mute. Keeping one ski base on the top sheet of the other ski will make getting the second hand on easier.
• Grab the ski that’s below the already grabbed ski with your loose hand on the outside edge of the ski
• Once both hands are on you’re looking right down at your Venom Grab 

The Venom grab.

The Stinkbug

This grab is rarely done in freestyle, but when it’s done right it looks awesome! A Stinkbug is essentially doing two inside Safety’s at the same time and tweaking it hard enough that your tails cross in the back.

• Start by grabbing Double Safety, but on the inside edges instead of the outside
• When you grab them, you should feel your noses point away from each other a little bit
• Drop your knees into each other and pull your skis away

Be prepared to let go and adjust if you need to as you can get off balance easily. 

These grabs will change the rotation and style of the tricks you can do. Progress slowly into using these grabs within your tricks to stay safe and to be skiing for many years to come!

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Alex McCann
Ski Addiction
Helping You Ski Better