In an instagram post a few months ago, Steve Stepp signaled his rather dire outlook for the future of skiing, noting that “no one wants to give an opinion”. Trolling or not, Mr. Steve has a point. Discussions of freesking’s metamorphosis have been largely limited to neurotic debates of aesthetic preferences (big pants vs little pants, wavy arms vs afterbang ect..).
Will freeskiing meet a similar fate as ski-ballet? I doubt it, or at-least much less drastically. Ski-ballet was unable to reform itself and relied much more on events to attract participation than freeskiing. Either-way, we should take some notes from our deceased cousin.
iii. A new challenge
A subset of core skiers today are remarkably the least vocal about their passion for skiing (at-least Zootspace-esque skiers seem shy). In general, it seems there is an intentionality in limiting skiings grip on ones social identity. Dissociation from the activity through posting snowboarding videos is an indicative trend. This is completely fine: there is more to life than skiing! But juxtaposed with core skiers of the past, this comportment is notably different.
What lead to this “reticent skier”? My best guess is it’s an epiphenomenon of heightened social consciousness among millennials. Young adults in the mid-2000’s operated happily in cultural vacuums, and so did skiing. The entropy of core skiers was simply to get more invested in skiing. This progression is fettered in certain skiers that are increasingly conscious of skiing’s haut-bourgeois roots and countryclub-esque requirements. Whether this has had a tangible impact on freeskiing, I am not sure. But I could imagine a situation where we have less skiers pursuing content production into their mid 20's, who otherwise would have in a previous era.
IV. What does this mean for the future of freeskiing?
Ski ballet’s demise exemplifies that events are incredibly important in the later stages of a sports evolution. Currently, freeskiing is bleeding both funding and events. I can only predict this will lead to freeskiing’s community shrinking more each year. In the mean time, I imagine freeskiing will be sustained in microcosms that are reflective of mid-2000s conditions- where freeskiing seems cool, and only cool. The healthiest of these groups being among highschoolers and wealthy competition skiers. In other words- retention of content producing adult freeskiers will be much more difficult. I can’t say much more than this, but I would be curious to hear what Mr. Stepp was thinking.
Sparknotes/ main points:
1.Freeskiing will always exist in some capacity because it is objectively fun, but “funness” can’t explain changes in freeskiing — one needs to be a little more misanthropic
2.Free skiings perceived social aura/cachet( i.e. skiing being cool) is the most ignored principal in understanding past, present and future changes in freeskiing
What is impacting freeskiing’s aura?
1. The novelty of extreme sports wearing off — the bursting of the extreme sports sensation bubble due to hyper-accessibility to incredible content
2. Money matters- but there is a bit of a causality dilemma between freeskings “coolness” and funding — initially, funding entered the sport because freeskiing had the momentum of being new and cool… while freeskiing today depends more on funding/events to legitimize and uphold the liveliness of the activity (take the evolution of inline skating or ski ballet as great examples).
3. Heightened social conscious of freeskiing as a “country club”esque activity (this is for a select group of skiers)
How does this involve freeskiing participation?
1. Freeskiing having positive social rewards plays an important part in incentivizing participation and content production (most prominently at the mid-upper levels).
2. The subsequent mystique established and upheld by the best skiers and events incentivizes beginners and forms the social identity of freeskiing
Why has freeskiing had an identity Crisis?
1. The era of freeskiers as rockstars was afforded by novelty (and is what must of us grew up on as kids)
2. Post-novelty and the money associated with it, freeskiing was unable to uphold the grandiose mystique it had established
3. To maintain communal incentives and avoid dissonance, freeskiing had to re-align with new virtues (think of new wave and the artistic aesthetic as a symptom of this re-alignment
*There are a few more conclusive points that are not in this list.
P.S. Despite a heavy dose of cynicism, I love to ski and will hopefully be a lifelong skier. The goal here was to potentially understand freeskiing’s implicit characteristics, rather than decreeing right and wrong. Let me know what you think!
Will freeskiing meet a similar fate as ski-ballet? I doubt it, or at-least much less drastically. Ski-ballet was unable to reform itself and relied much more on events to attract participation than freeskiing. Either-way, we should take some notes from our deceased cousin.
iii. A new challenge
A subset of core skiers today are remarkably the least vocal about their passion for skiing (at-least Zootspace-esque skiers seem shy). In general, it seems there is an intentionality in limiting skiings grip on ones social identity. Dissociation from the activity through posting snowboarding videos is an indicative trend. This is completely fine: there is more to life than skiing! But juxtaposed with core skiers of the past, this comportment is notably different.
What lead to this “reticent skier”? My best guess is it’s an epiphenomenon of heightened social consciousness among millennials. Young adults in the mid-2000’s operated happily in cultural vacuums, and so did skiing. The entropy of core skiers was simply to get more invested in skiing. This progression is fettered in certain skiers that are increasingly conscious of skiing’s haut-bourgeois roots and countryclub-esque requirements. Whether this has had a tangible impact on freeskiing, I am not sure. But I could imagine a situation where we have less skiers pursuing content production into their mid 20's, who otherwise would have in a previous era.
IV. What does this mean for the future of freeskiing?
Ski ballet’s demise exemplifies that events are incredibly important in the later stages of a sports evolution. Currently, freeskiing is bleeding both funding and events. I can only predict this will lead to freeskiing’s community shrinking more each year. In the mean time, I imagine freeskiing will be sustained in microcosms that are reflective of mid-2000s conditions- where freeskiing seems cool, and only cool. The healthiest of these groups being among highschoolers and wealthy competition skiers. In other words- retention of content producing adult freeskiers will be much more difficult. I can’t say much more than this, but I would be curious to hear what Mr. Stepp was thinking.
Sparknotes/ main points:
1.Freeskiing will always exist in some capacity because it is objectively fun, but “funness” can’t explain changes in freeskiing — one needs to be a little more misanthropic
2.Free skiings perceived social aura/cachet( i.e. skiing being cool) is the most ignored principal in understanding past, present and future changes in freeskiing
What is impacting freeskiing’s aura?
1. The novelty of extreme sports wearing off — the bursting of the extreme sports sensation bubble due to hyper-accessibility to incredible content
2. Money matters- but there is a bit of a causality dilemma between freeskings “coolness” and funding — initially, funding entered the sport because freeskiing had the momentum of being new and cool… while freeskiing today depends more on funding/events to legitimize and uphold the liveliness of the activity (take the evolution of inline skating or ski ballet as great examples).
3. Heightened social conscious of freeskiing as a “country club”esque activity (this is for a select group of skiers)
How does this involve freeskiing participation?
1. Freeskiing having positive social rewards plays an important part in incentivizing participation and content production (most prominently at the mid-upper levels).
2. The subsequent mystique established and upheld by the best skiers and events incentivizes beginners and forms the social identity of freeskiing
Why has freeskiing had an identity Crisis?
1. The era of freeskiers as rockstars was afforded by novelty (and is what must of us grew up on as kids)
2. Post-novelty and the money associated with it, freeskiing was unable to uphold the grandiose mystique it had established
3. To maintain communal incentives and avoid dissonance, freeskiing had to re-align with new virtues (think of new wave and the artistic aesthetic as a symptom of this re-alignment
*There are a few more conclusive points that are not in this list.
P.S. Despite a heavy dose of cynicism, I love to ski and will hopefully be a lifelong skier. The goal here was to potentially understand freeskiing’s implicit characteristics, rather than decreeing right and wrong. Let me know what you think!
