Freeskiing
Fabian Bösch’s ski-jump Double Front Flip is the new-year inspo we need
He can't. He won't. Yes, he has! Watch Fabian Bösch leverage gravity to land a Double Front Flip on the vertiginous Gross-Titlis-Schanze ski jump in Switzerland.
The best ski jumpers in the world just concluded their fight for flying glory at the Four Hills Tournament in Austria, but freeskier Fabian Bösch isn't interested in simply launching from his local ski jumping hill in Engelberg, Switzerland. Armed only with his 'normal' skis, he just launched a Double Front Flip from the Gross-Titlis-Schanze hill. Difficulty: out of this world!
Now that's one hell of a Double Front Flip
© Dom Daher/Red Bull Content Pool
Watch the video below to see the huge amount of preparation that went into Bösch's attempt.
6 min
Behind the scenes at Fabian Bösch's mega jump
Go behind the scenes as Fabian Bösch attempts to start 2021 with a bang by landing a Double Front Flip.
At the limit on the World Cup's steepest hill
Front Flips on ski jumps are nothing new for Bösch – in 2016 he landed a simple Front Flip on the significantly smaller ski jumping hill in Einsiedeln, Switzerland.
The Gross-Titlis-Schanze hill is notorious for being the steepest in the World Cup, with a 36-degree incline usually bringing ski jumpers up to the incredible speed of 90kph on their run in to launch. This time, however, it was a freeskier is at the top of the jump, with a Double Front Flip the goal.
Surveying the hill and kicker placement
© Dom Daher/Red Bull Content Pool
Getting ready to drop in
© Dom Daher/Red Bull Content Pool
Fancy hitting a ski jump run in skiing switch? No problem for Fabian Bösch
© Dean Treml/Red Bull Content Pool
Tuck for luck: Fabian Bösch mid double flip
© Dean Treml/Red Bull Content Pool
”In 2016 I tried something similar in Einsiedeln, but only a Front Flip on a smaller hill in summer,” says Bösch. "Now, I wanted to take the idea to a new level on a 140m hill in the snow.
Why not drop in switch?
Some people might find the concept of a Double Front Flip from the hill too easy, so Bösch decided to drop in to the hill switch – backwards.
How did he get in position to launch the Front Flip? Below the take-off platform a kicker was waiting, formed from 130m² of snow, allowing Bösch to do little 180 off the end of traditional jumping platform before the actual jump, a 50m leap down into the valley. What a way to start the new year.
