Preparation
Before sending a 360 off a side-hit, a kicker, or a park jump...it's a great idea to first learn them traversing a slope.
How to Flatground Backside 360
1. The Setup
Approach on your toe edge, traversing across the slope at a shallow angle and a moderate speed. Get into a strong, stacked position by bending your knees while remaining balanced on the toe edge. This gives you a solid base to pop from.
Next, prepare your upper body by pre-winding your rotation. Turn your chest and hips towards your direction of travel, bring your elbows up in line with your shoulders, and position your hands in front of your chest, as if you're about to give yourself a fist bump.
2. The Trick
When you're ready to spin, initiate the rotation by throwing your lead shoulder towards the slope and behind you. As your upper body starts to turn, pop off the snow and bring your knees up to keep your board lifted throughout the rotation. Keeping the board clear of the snow helps reduce the chance of catching a tip or an edge.
3. The Landing
As the rotation comes around, look down towards your board to spot the landing. Prepare to touch down on your toe edge, keeping your knees bent and your body stacked over the board to absorb the impact and maintain a balanced stance.
Unlike a 360 off a park jump or side hit, a flatground 360 gives you very little airtime. Depending on your speed and the height of your pop, the rotation can happen in a blur, leaving you with limited time to spot the landing. When you first learn these, you will likely have to kick your legs around, like a revert, to stick the full 360.
Top tip: Build up to the full 360 by practising a 270 first, aiming to land flat-based with your board pointing directly down the slope. This helps you get comfortable with the pop, rotation and timing before committing to the full spin.
Common mistakes
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Ensure you take off from a strong toe edge stance with a good prewind, the trick isn't hard to land if you have those two dialled.
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Keep your back straight and try to keep your shoulders as parallel as possible during the rotation.
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Make sure to pop from both feet and to keep your legs lifted throughout the whole rotation, otherwise you risk catching your edge.
Full Tutorial
In this video, Taevis Kapalka helps you learn the Backside 360 on big park jumps - however, he also focuses on traversing 360s at the 6:40-7:35 mark.
Video by Snowboard Addiction