henry bessell in europe, part two...

   Day two of our weekend adventure started with sunshine again, though the subzero conditions overnight (and substandard park grooming) were making for hard work on the jumps early... And so it was off to the jib line to search out something fun to hit and shoot... Henry worked hard on the hike and came through with a bunch of tricks which he's kindly commentated on the stitches below...

TRICK TIPS WITH HENRY BESSELL

5-0

 

1. For the 5-0 you pretty much just want to approach the rail exactly the same as you would for a 50/50. Straight at it or nice a square to the rail if it's an urban set up.
2. Make sure you ollie properly and don't two foot jump onto the rail because that will just create bad habits and will make it hard to get onto high rails. So pressure the back foot and snap it up once your front foot has left the take off.
3. Now you have to land in the press, because trying to press once you've already landed is not the way to do it. So make sure you are a little in the back seat but still balanced so you don't just slip out and land on your back. 
4. So just hold it as high as you can till the end of the rail, pop off, land on both feet and ride away clean. And thats the 5-0.

Tailslide to Fakie

1. Ok, so for a tailslide the key thing is the you have to land on your back foot or the tail of the board otherwise it's just a boardslide. So approach the rail on your heel edge to make it a bit easier to get into the tailslide position.
2. Now when you land on the rail make sure you have positioned the nose of you board out to the side as much as you can, so you land on your back foot and to give the trick a bit of style.
3. Stay balanced till the end of the rail and give it a bit of a pop at the end. complete another 90 degrees of rotation so you land fakie. Do this because I think it looks cooler and tailslides to normal look a little weird unless you do it really, really well or you are some type of style demon or something.

Frontside 180 on to Switch 50/50 to Switch Backside 360 out

 

1. This one's quite a bit harder. You are going to have to be comfortable with riding switch and both frontside and backside spins.
2. Approach the rail on your toe edge (for a non-urban set up) because this will make it easier to 180 onto it and not to the side.  
3. Frontside 180 onto the rail and start getting ready for you next spin. But while staying centred so you don't fall over before you even get to the end. 
4. Initiate and whip around the switch backside 360 at the end of the rail by looking over you back shoulder. And don't look down, your spin will just go nowhere. 
5. Try to spot the landing and tense your core and legs so you don't just collapse after getting it all around. This will prevent reverting too.

(Extra Tip: Place your shoulders and your arms ahead of the rotations so you can just whip your board around when you need to)

 

Alpine chillin after a long day...