Miller flip
- Skill:
- do a miller flip
The Miller flip is a heavily inverted backside 360 where you drag your hands through the snow and let your feet come over the top. It's the classic first hand-drag inversion, and despite looking terrifying it's one of the friendliest inverted tricks out there - if you already have backside 360s, you're most of the way there.
Before you try it
You want comfortable backside 360s first - the whole trick is built on that rotation, so if the spin isn't automatic yet, work on that before adding the inversion.
The other useful building block is the tripod, specifically a fast, snappy one. Learning to plant your hands quickly and flip the board over them teaches you exactly the hand-to-snow motion the Miller flip needs. If your tripod is quick enough, your feet will already leave the snow - at that point you're doing a flat-ground Miller flip.
Learn it on a knuckle. The knuckle of a jump (or any rolling side hit) is the best possible place to try your first one, because the shape helps the rotation come all the way around and there's no gap to clear.
How to do it
Come into the knuckle with good speed - going in slow is what makes the trick awkward. Set up exactly like a backside 360.
Pop early. This is the part riders get wrong: if you wait until the top of the feature it's already far too late. Popping well before the lip gives you time to reach down, scrape your hands along the snow, and push off them on the way through.
Instead of keeping the 360 flat, drive your hands way down toward the snow as you initiate. Your feet follow the rotation around and over the top - that's the whole inversion. Keep the backside 3 turning underneath you and you'll come back around naturally.
Spot the landing as the rotation brings it into view, extend, and ride out.
Learn more here:
Video by SnowboardProCamp
Key tips
- Solid backside 360s are the real prerequisite - the Miller is just a tilted one
- Learn a fast tripod first; it's the same hand plant, and a quick one already lifts your feet
- Use a knuckle or rolling side hit, not a big kicker
- Pop early - popping at the lip leaves no time to get your hands down
- Go in with speed; slow attempts are what feel sketchy
- Drive your hands low toward the snow instead of keeping the spin flat, and let your feet follow around
- It's far less scary than it looks - most riders get one on the first session