How To Flatspin 360

This off axis, intermediate trick is a favourite for many skiers as it is one that you can easily combine with different grabs along with your own flair. This tutorial will take your Flat 360 from the trampoline and help you stomp it on the snow!

(Narrating/Skiing: Dean Bercovitch. Film/Edit: Vince Emond. Filmed At: Whistler Blackcomb)

What Tricks Will Help?

You may find that learning a few other tricks first will help you get this down even quicker, smoother and safer. Having Backflips and 540s both with grabs on your trick list will give you increased air awareness and skill when spotting blind landings. Additionally, learning how to carve on take off will help whenever there's any edge roll.

Textbook carve take off.

Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself!

Before just sending 'er through the park, it's a good idea to throw your Tramp Skis on and nail it on the trampoline first. Finding the control between Backflips, Sideflips and Flat 3s before getting on the snow will help you make any mistakes with fewer consequences.

Dean dialling it in on the trampoline first.

Taking It To Snow

Find a jump with a steeper lip to begin with as this will help you to get your flip around. Getting your body position over your skis will help you maximize your pop, which in turn will bring you more control throughout the trick. 

The perfect body position ready for take off!

Body Position

It's important to get your body positioning spot on! Follow these four simple steps and YOU TOO can look like Dean.

1. Push your shins into the front of your boots, hold your arms out in front of you and keep your shoulders tall. 
2. Push off the jump to extend your knees. Achieving a perfect take off comes down to getting a solid extension off the lip. 
3. Allow your hips to drive forward while still getting your pop. At the end of your extension, your hips should open slightly in the direction you're rotating.
4. As you take off, your driving arm should also move from being beside you to dropping behind you.

Getting ready to drop his driving arm behind his back.

Speed Up Or Slow Down

During take off, keep your eye on the knuckle well into the air or at the least until your feet have left the lip, as this helps you to keep forward in your boots. Alongside this, getting a good spot of the knuckle as you take off will help you to judge if you are coming up short or sending it too far.

Through spotting the landing on take off, you'll know if you need to tuck or grab to accelerate the rotation or if you need to lay it out to slow down. Once you're in the Flat 3 spin, you won't see too much until you float around and are able to flip your vision over to see the knuckle of the landing again.

Spotting the knuckle during take off.

Eyes On The Prize

If everything up until this point has gone well, finding the landing again should come easily. With your last moments before landing, extend your legs to slow your rotation and absorb the impact by bending your knees and being forward in your boots.

Dean's getting his vision back onto the landing.

There you have it, another trick locked in! For more great tutorials, make sure to sign up to our newsletter.

Ollie Barbour
Ski Addiction
Helping You Ski Better

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