Mike, Dave Tumpowsky, Danielle Mulkern, and I finally got a chance to try out the Water Ramps at the Utah Olympic Park.  After waiting three years for the chance, I was finally able to train for a day with the PCMR Freestyle Team.  It was awesome.

We met our coaches for the day at 11 am.  Filled out some paperwork.  Found some gear. And made our way to the trampolines.  We spent the next 30-45 minutes learning some air-awareness on the tramps.  I worked on my backflips.  Danielle (Mike’s fiancee’s sister) worked on her Lincoln Loops.  Mike practiced frontflips and threes.  Tumpowsky threw a bunch of flatspins and rodeo sevens.

I tried a few off-axis spins as well.

The next step was to get geared up and try some straight airs on the smallest jump, “The Hiccup.”  The first jump was actually pretty intimidating as we tried to adjust to rear-entry boots, old skis, and skiing on carpet.  After a few jumps and a lunch break, I started trying to spin and throw frontflips off the small ramps.  It was a blast.

Moving from the small ramp to the bigger ramp was the most intimidating/exciting point of the day.  With no ability to speed check or stop, you had to hop turn and point them all the way.  I threw an ugly 360 on my first attempt.

My coach suggested I try a frontflip on the bigger ramp, suggesting that the additional six foot drop would give me enough time to do a full rotation.  It was awesome.  I felt like Shane McConkey throwing a superman frontflip off some cliff.  The video confirms that I looked nothing like the late ski hero, but I swear I laid it out pretty good.

Having nailed the frontflip (by my standards at least), I moved on to my goal for the day: a backflip.  I have always done backflips by throwing my head back and letting my body follow.  My coach advised on the trampoline that that this wouldn’t work on skis.  I blew off the advice and promptly under-rotated my first backflip.  From there I figured things out, throwing three successful backflips in a row.  Maybe I could have landed one on snow, but three of them would have been good enough for a Solitude pow day.

My last two jumps of the day were Lincoln Loops.  I got the rotation right the first time, but came down on the outside of my left ski.  My coach suggested I hike up another 15 feet and try the same thing with more speed and height (“amplitude” if I had been in the X-Games).  This time, I made it all the way around.

Overall, it was an awesome day.  Definetely worth the wait.  I can’t wait to do it again this summer.