Better than the Last: Everything hurts... Backflips!

Friday 28th: I write this three days on and I'm still aching all over...

Note: So I've never backflipped before. Ever. Not into an airbag / pool / on a trampoline / anywhere. And my skis weigh a tonne. So I was basically ignoring the two main pieces of advice for a first backflip; practice without skis to get the feeling and use light skis to make the rotation easier. Oops.

After weeks of persuading people it finally happened; kicker time. Tom Tom and I headed up Flegere early to choose a spot. We chose a spot on a roller skier's right of Index, above the crappy 3-man lift. The run out was seriously steep - perfect. After half an hour of digging Dan and Bertie joined us with a portable speaker. Another half hour of work with the music blasting and it was looking pretty good.

Not a bad spot

Dan speed checked first and his first comment was 'whippy'. I speed checked and it proper threw me. First wipe out of the day. Still, the kicker was definitely whippy. No more testing for me. Straight into backflip time.

Screwing up the speed check

Attempt 1: Few beers, music, psyched myself up and went for it. Surprisingly I... failed. Timed it all wrong and threw my arms before the jump, under-rotated and landed square on my back. Shit. Landing wasn't too bad though thanks to the heavy powder so was up and ready to go again.

Back first...

Attempt 2: Went straight back up. This time I got enough rotation but looked over my shoulder throwing me off axis. First real feeling of flipping. Cool. I can do this...

Dropping the shoulder

Attempt 3: Straight up again. Determined. Popped hard. Flipped. Landed. Collapsed face first in a heap screaming to get the others to get me out of my bindings. Serious pain in my right knee. Thought I'd done my ACL. Nope, my other ski was pressing right into my ACL. The others informed me that actually my ski had popped off on the lip, I'd landed on one foot, carried on down then fell. My ski was 5 metres above me... Felt like a right tool for shouting for help.

Pretty sure that should be on my foot

Break

Attempt 4: Asked TT what I was doing wrong, told me I was dropping my shoulder, look straight up, follow the hands. Went up confident that I could do it as long as my ski stayed on. Went for it. Boom. Landed. I washed the tails out so it wasn't perfect but I'm not surprised as the landing zone was shite by then (rocks poking through) so we called it.

Finally

Nice sequence by TT

In between my attempts Dan had an epic first non-airbag backflip attempt and threw it so hard he over rotated by at least half a revolution. TT hit some big grabs. Aidan joined us for a couple of hits. Richo went for a few and Tom landed a nice big grab. Pretty awesome considering he's only just started jumping.

Dan over-rotating

TomTom

Roberta

Tom going HUGE

Aidan

Landing absolutely trashed - rocky

Tom trying his best to headplant a rock

After Tom tried to cave his skull in on a rock we moved on and built another smaller kicker to the side. Dan almost landed a backflip but caught his tip and headbanged. Looked painful. I just grabbed it, didn't think it was big enough for me to get a full flip. TT tried a tamedog and wiped out sideways. Richo came close on a backflip attempt. He went again and landed... then washed the tail out further down. Respect. Last jump of the day I caved half of the jump in throwing me sideways. Took the hardest fall of the day. Couldn't move my thumb for two days, everything is still sore and shoulder feels loose.