You’ve got a back one. You’re comfortable doing a back three. And you’re looking to add one more 180-degrees of rotation to your bag of tricks. Enter the backside 540, a trick that offers an appropriate balance of technicality and style. Take off riding forward, spin backside, land blind, ride away switch.
For some backside five inspiration, go to 2:10:08 in the 2021 Natural Selection Tour Finals to watch Mikkel Bang’s winning run, which includes a massive, blind backside 540 at 2:10:30.
How to Do a Backside 540 on a Snowboard
Step 1: The Run In and Take Off
Mental commitment is important when learning to spin a 540. Coming up a little short is an easy way to reverse scorpion yourself. Don’t visualize that. Instead, trust that your experience with back threes and level of comfort landing blind when doing back ones can be put together to go for a five.
Pick a jump that you feel comfortable on already, ideally one that you can do a 360 off. Go straight on the run in, and then get on your heel edge as you approach the jump in order to set yourself up to spin off of your toe edge. As you approach the lip of the jump, switch your weight from heel edge to toe edge in order to initiate the backside spin as you leave the lip.
Yes, the above video from TWSnow’s 2015 20 Tricks of Brandon Cocard is teaching a switch back 540, but the run-in is still the same idea, minus the switch part. If you watch Cocard’s run-in, you can see the change from heel edge to toe edge as he prepares to take off from his toes.
Step 2: Wind Up
A bit of a wind up works in parallel with the weight shift from heelside to toeside edge and helps to initiate and drive power into the backside spin. Your front arm should open up a little as your back arm counters in the opposite direction. As you leave the lip of the jump, throw your front arm across your body, allowing your back arm to counter balance naturally.
Step 3: Grab Your Board
Just before your reach the apex of the trick in the air, initiate the grab. Not only does your preferred grab help you keep smooth and controlled in the air, it also adds style, obviously. When you’re learning a back five, a Weddle (front hand between the bindings on your toe edge) or an Indy (rear hand between the bindings on your toe edge) are two good grabs to start with. As you get more comfortable putting down a back five, try switching up the grabs in order to find your favorite way to do the trick.
Step 4: Spotting the Landing
As you come around the first 180 degrees of the trick, start spotting the landing. Having a sense of the landing is necessary for your air awareness. The last 180 of the rotation will be blind, so being aware of where the landing is throughout the trick is important. This will allow you to remain confident and committed to the full 540-degree rotation.
Snowboarding legend Chad Otterstrom broke down how to do a backside 540 for TWSnow in 2015 and his words still ring true. About landing, Chad O. says, “A good way to look at it is to come around on your back three, look at the knuckle, and then don’t take your eyes off the knuckle and then just kind of shift your body late backside 180. It’s a simple as that. A back five is a back three, late 180.”
Step 5: Landing
Release the grab as you near the completion of the spin and ready yourself for landing. Your knees should be bent and ready to absorb the impact. As we mentioned, the last part of this trick is blind, so trust yourself and maintain your awareness in the air to fully complete the last 180 so you can ride away clean. Once you’ve landed, rotate your head downhill and stay centered over your snowboard to ride away switch stance.
While it may take some time before you’re throwing back fives off big park booters like Otterstrom (and switch back fives like Cocard), keep practicing on jumps that you are comfortable on and the backside 540 will become a staple in your back of tricks.
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