Research

2009-06-04T13:38:00.000-07:00

Freestyle skiing is more than a sport; it is considered a life style. Tom Wallisch, one of the best and most well known freestyle skiers in the world, has “always had such a passion for skiing, but haven't and still really don't take it that seriously. What keeps me hiking all day, lapping the park from 9-4, or hitting the same handrail 80 times is simply my love of the sport itself. I would never consider any day of skiing "training" or anything like that. Nothing about our sport is really serious and that's why I love it so much. Everyone is just out there to shred, learn something new, and have a damn good time doing it” [1].

This aspect of skiing is followed closely by the young skiing crowd. Tom Wallisch says, “Well I'd love to stay involved with the industry for as long as possible. There's nothing else I can really see myself being a part of. I'm sure at some point I'll have to stop skiing park and urban, but I'm not at all anxious for that day to come. Urban and park riding are some of the most easily accessible parts of our sort for young kids these days, and I'd like to stay a part of the young crowd for as long as possible!” [1].

Freestyle skiing is about pushing yourself to your limits to see what you are capable of. Tim Durtschi, a pro skier, says, “I pretty much told myself at the beginning of the year that I was going to try and learn a bunch if new tricks. I know most pros like to do the whole water ramps training ramps deal, but I went there one time and was pretty over it. I just want to learn new tricks the old fashion way, the way I learned double backflips when I was 15...build a jump into soft snow and just send it! I still haven't done any doubles in the park and probably won't (laughs), but it's just so much fun doing them into powder off a jump that we built in the mountains. Some of you may also remember Chris Collins Triple back attempt, which was insane!” [2].

Freestyle skiing in the backcountry has grown over the years. Tim Durtschi is a leader in backcountry freestyle skiing, and he says “There is so much variety and creativity you can have in the backcountry. Sure you can do creative stuff in the park, but it's just different ya know. You can do a 360 off a park jump and it's always gonna look and feel pretty much the same, but in the backcountry you can do a 360 off a pillow or a cliff or a tree, or a jump, gap...etc. I could go on forever you know! Another thing is the new rockered skis, they are opening so many doors with switch landings and take-off's, and making natural take off's more possible. I get excited seeing all types of skiing progress, but backcountry trickery is the one that I think has the most potential and I am right there pushing it as hard as I can” [2].

Freestyle skiing is all about going out and having fun. There are difficulties in the way, and teen skiing sensation Bobby Brown said “graduating from high school in January was the most important one, because it allowed me to go and take advantage of all these opportunities, and then obviously winning Dew Tour was really cool, but I feel like this last trip I went on in Sweden was the best. Just having the heli doing laps filming us for like three hours straight was probably the pinnacle of my season. I learned so many new tricks in that time frame alone and I was skiing with Henrik Harlaut and Alexis Godbout and it was the most enjoyable skiing I’ve ever done in my life. We were hitting the Reverse Transfer Gap that the guys only got to hit for like an hour at JOSS because of the weather and the people at Åre plowed the two take-off’s into one big one and it was honestly the best jump I’ve ever hit. It was the most floaty, most mellow jump ever and you could basically try any trick with very little consequences because it was so perfect” [3].

Injuries are a common occurrence in the ski world, especially knee injuries. Matt Philippi, a pro skier, explains about tearing his ACL. “ACL tear number one happened while I was filming with Berman (Level 1 Producions) in the Montana backcountry. Actually, in Real Time there is a shot of me doing a 360 of a cliff and eating shit. That is when I first hurt my knee... I landed in someone else's bomb hole. Bad news. I kept skiing on it though and fully tore it a couple weeks later at WSI pipe. I heard my knee pop when I took off into a right 720. I knew in the air that it was bad. Luckily I landed clean... but that was my last boost of the season. So one surgery and eight months later I was skiing at Breck. I had only been skiing for two months but I had been working super hard, trying to get ready for X-Games pipe. I had most of my tricks back (Check the video clip at the bottom from Get Lucky... that was filmed a couple days before blowing my knee again). I did a switch alley-oop 540 and lost one ski when I landed and then just sat down and felt the knee go again. I was pretty devastated. I got surgery six days later” [4].

The fear of global warming has put many people into green mode to help stop the issue. Mark Abma, a backcountry skier, created an environmental advocacy group called One Step to help save the sport. Abma “was inspired to create One Step because I love the mountains and skiing and have been noticing the effects of global climate change all around me. It’s affecting ski communities all over the world and I want to create a voice and model in which we can start to make positive changes towards sustainability and a brighter, greener future” [5]

Simon Dumont, probably the most well known freestyle skier in the sport, was crowned World Champion by the Association of Freeskiing Professionals (AFP). Dumont feels “pretty good about it. I think it’s great that we have something that actually represents. I’m actually glad for the credit because I think it’s very hard to compete well in all three disciplines. Although I think that for this first year it might not be as credible since the AFP system wasn’t well known. But people now know about it and they’ll be hungry to step up their game and start competing in all disciplines. I know I’ll be ready to defend the title next year” [6].

There are many aspects of freestyle skiing that pros choose to compete in. Simon Dumont believes “a lot of the guys now are focusing on one aspect of competing. You have the jibbers who do their thing, and a lot of people who specialize in big air or pipe skiing and so on and so forth. Skiing is a broad sport and there is a lot of creativity out there. I just think that by focusing on one event, you’re losing out on skiing; there is a lot more out there” [6].

Jason Levinthal and his brand Line Skis have revolutionized the ski. They started off with a full symmetrical ski, which has the same dimensions in the tip and tail. Rom Marcucci talks about their new ski. “The Afterbang is another first in LINE’s long history of them. This ski has been quietly under development for four years. The level of secrecy is almost astonishing. Athletes signed confidentiality agreements. Even those on the inside knew little about the ski. Engineers went so far as to hand paint the sidewalls of the early prototypes so they would look more like normal Invaders, Chronics, or Anthems. Every other ski on the market has a core that is laid up vertically. The Afterbang is horizontal seven ply maple like a skate deck. The deck construction results in a very customizable flex pattern. LINE is able to move the butter zone right in front of the binding, easing butters and presses. This ski is so much fun in the park. Secondly, durability is increased exponentially. The engineers have a field day testing this ski in the lab. They slap it on flat metal in the freezer, slap it against rails, purposely chip it, soak it in water, freeze it, then try to break it. The Afterbang outperformed every other ski in these tests. It’s like a cockroach: tough” [7].

There are many competitions throughout the season, but for the skier’s, it is not always about winning. Henrik Harlaut explains about his experience at the Winter Dew Tour. “I didn’t even make it to finals on that stop, but B-Dog aka Phil Casabon didn’t make it either, so we just shredded the public park and had a lot of fun. And also our brother Tom Wallisch won the whole thing. You don’t have to be happy just for yourself, you can also be happy for your friends if you know what I’m saying” [8].

Many of the tricks and style that skiers use originate from other sports. Henrik Harlaut looks to “a lot of inline skating and skateboarding for inspiration. A lot from inline I take, how they wear baggy clothing, their steeze is super low, and it is like how my steeze is kind of on skis. For a while I thought I was copying way too much of Brogan and Wallisch with the whole afterbang thing. So I was just looking for my own style. I think I got it now, and it turned out to be just low and pretty much how inliners have it. Just land low and keep it like that, just floating like that for me. With skateboarding, I like taking a lot of the stalls. It’s a lot of things that you can take from other sports that have not been done in skiing yet” [8].

Being a freestyle skier is not about money. Henrik explains how “you need to love skiing if you want to do this sport. If you don’t love skiing, it’s not worth it, because there just isn’t as much money as other sports. But I’m not really worried about it, just as long as I can travel around the world and ski as much as I want and hopefully when I’m older I won’t have to work which would be the best. I also think that all competitions will blow up more and more and hopefully get into the Olympics” [8].

Many up and coming freestyle skiers look to the pros of the past and present. Phil Casabon, a skier who just recently started to get his name out there, talks about looking up to skiing legend JP Auclair. “Of course he was one of my favorite skiers way back when, and still is. JP is an amazing dude. He is getting old and is still killing. I bet he could still do some real sick shit in the park but it just isn’t his focus. He’s such a good skier and has been around since the beginning. So basically, when JP speaks, it is always useful to listen. He helps me out all the time and is also a super chill guy that I get along with easily!” [9].

JP Auclair, one of the original athletes of freestyle skiing, helped start Armada, a ski company that focused only on freestyle skis. “It was obvious that there was a need for a new ski company. The sport had a lot of momentum and the traditional nature of the people running the big brands were holding all the youngsters back. Our respective sponsors shut us down quite a bit with ideas for ski designs, graphics and even marketing. When Armada was created, we had an outlet to be creative and turn our ideas into reality. We’ve come a long way. We’ve made mistakes, learned a lot and I’m proud of that’ [9].

Sarah Burke, one of the best female freestyle skiers, is a big influence in the sport. “People are always asking me when I’m going to wind down. I know I’m getting older. But I still love it and want to do well with it. Until I stop enjoying it, I’m just going to keep going for it 100-percent” [9].

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2009-05-21T12:20:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, thanks for visiting my blog about freestyle skiing. Feel free to ask any questions, post your opinions, or just enjoy the blog.

Freestyle Skiing

Research

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