How To Truck Driver, Bow & Arrow and Seatbelt Grab

Technical grabs will make your skiing stand out, so it's super important you keep a few in your back pocket. The advanced grabs that we will be focusing on in this tutorial include the Truck Driver, Bow & Arrow and the Seatbelt grab. These are great tricks to learn together as they are all a progression from one to the next.

Are you looking to lock in some technical Freestyle Skiing tricks? Grab the Tramp Skis now and improve your skiing today!

(Narrating/Skier: Kalissa Lolos. Film/Edit: Adison MacDonald. Filmed At: Whistler Bounce)

Prerequisites

Before trying these advanced grabs, it's important you have some fundamental jumping skills locked in:

• Shifties
• Safety grab
• Japan grab

Warm Up To Truck Driver

Warm up on the trampoline with the Safety grab. While one hand is doing the Safety, grab the other ski with your other hand to get into a ball like position, this is a Double Safety grab. It's important to have the Double Safety fully locked because this is the basis from which all three of the following advanced grabs stem from. 

The Double Safety.

Tweak out the grab by straightening your legs forward while still holding firmly above the bindings. You have now translated the Double Safety into a Truck Driver grab.

The Truck Driver. Oh and hot tip, this grab is easier to execute in flips and off axis tricks as opposed to spin tricks. 

Bow & Arrow

The Bow & Arrow seems like a complicated grab until you break it down and realize that it is just a progression from the Double Safety.

1. Beginning with that Double Safety position, tweak one leg out to the side
2. Tuck the bent ski towards the opposite knee
3. When tweaking the left leg straight, your hips will open to the right while your upper body counters slightly to the left. This will help keep your body centred

Seatbelt Grab

Just like $7 footlong's from Subway, the Seatbelt is definitely a crowd pleaser.

1. Start out by laying down on the edge of the tramp with your legs in the air
2. Imagine you are jumping and grab Leading Japan
3. Keeping your foot in its place, remove your hand from the grab
4. Now, take your opposite hand and reach around and over your other leg to lock in the Seatbelt

Sounds complicated because it is. 

The first few times you try this trick you may feel uncomfortable and awkward, but do not get discouraged! Keep trying and aim to grab the inner edge just behind the boot to get that good style. 

Practice the Seatbelt with some off-axis tricks you have already dialled to really make your skiing stand out.

There you go, some advanced grabs broken down so you can master them. Remember, the Truck Driver, Bow & Arrow and Seatbelt grabs all stem from the Double Safety so get that bad boy locked in before trying any of these tricks. Then once you've got it, send it! 

Alex McCann
Ski Addiction
Helping You Ski Better