My name is Chris Neltner. I was born on December 4th 1994 and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. I'm a Sagittarius. I grew up in Finneytown. I have an older brother of 2 years, and a younger sister of 2 years. My family is Catholic. I went to St. Vivian, a private Catholic Grade School, and for High School I went to St. X, a private Catholic High School. For college I went to Miami University of Oxford, Ohio. I studied Graphic Design. Most Importantly, I grew up skiing Perfect North Slopes at the age of 13 in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.
I've always been a fascinated and fascinating child. My nickname as a baby was "GooGoo Eyes Is." I looked at everything as a child with wide eyes and fascination. And as a toddler that didn't stop. Reptiles, Amphibians, Bugs, Fish, anything cold blooded fascinated me. Giant fan of Dinosaurs. I was the kid begging to go to the creek with my dad to catch water snakes and crawdads. I got my first snakes as pets when I was in kindergarten. Every year on my birthday we would bring the snakes into our class and teach the other kids about snakes and reptiles. We did that up until 8th grade, bringing in Iguanas, tortoises, Alligators, Boas, Pythons, etc etc. Everybody in my Class loved my birthday. I loved my birthday too because I got to stand at the front of the class like I was Steve Irwin while actually holding a 4 foot Alligator.
In 6th Grade I got to go with the Boy Scout Troop to Perfect North Slopes and ski for my very first time. It was the best day of my life because I didn't know this before, but I was good at skiing. On my first day of ever skiing as a 13 year old I was able to ski "Center Stage" a Long Steep Black Diamond (475 vert ft.) It was Exhilarating & Terrifying. But I did it. Something changed in my head, as if I had received my first Mental 1st place ribbon I got to wear proudly on the inside. Felt like Breathing my first few breathes as a Big Kid.
Luckily, my neighbors also skied, my best friend Nick's family skied too, and my Dad bought me and my brother our own boots and old rental skis. So now I could actually go to skiing a few times a month. Plus if I cut grass and worked during the summer I could buy a pass. So it all came together more perfectly than I could have ever seen coming.
Skiing was amazing to me because it held truth. Truth is something my family and the catholic church hid. I was a clueless kid growing up, including through High School. It felt like everyone was in on some big secret. And if you tried to find out they'd get very upset at you or they'd merely be just as ignorant as you. But I knew Skiing knew the secret and Skiing used the secret almost like super powers. Skiing was Magic. And the Older kids, Jibulant, had it. And I wanted to be in their spot.
Tall, Long Hair, Baggy Pants, Hoodies like Jewelry, Toothpick Poles, Skullcandy's, they rode around like royalty. You couldn't tell them shit. All the lifties sucked up to them. Everyone said hi to them. Everyone watched from the chair lift as they just flew. Kam Kopp with the Aggressively smooth rail lines, Andy Hall the All American Classic Style God, Chris Laker The Prince of Skiing, (Goepper was there too but I never knew which one he was.) Ian Block with the Tall guy Steeze. Jacob Cane with the Biggest Tallest Kit I'd ever seen, Brad Kholmeier just INSANE, Kyle Taylor the Young Gun. I wanted to be all of them at some point. I wanted to be cool with them. But I couldn't even keep up with them. So I just admired from a far on chair lifts alone.
I didn't really have any ski friends at first when I got into park because all my other prior ski friends were scared of Park and my older brother didn't allow me to ride with him and his friends. They didn't want to get hurt. I didn't either, but I knew it came with the journey to the top of the game. And to me at the time, the top of the Game was if Chris Laker knew who you were. But my new friend Kurt Weber who transferred to my school liked park. And I was starting to notice the other kids that skied park too.
Ankilla was my brother's Crew. Ancilla is a freshman latin class word meaning slave woman, aka Bitch. So naturally my Older brother and his friends changed the C to a K and started a crew with it. Like I said, I wasn't allowed to ride with my older brother, so I naturally couldn't be in Ankilla either. All I wanted was my older brother to think I was cool. And if I was cool enough, I'D BE IN ANKILLA.
A funny turn of events led the original crew of Ankilla to break up because everyone went to different far away colleges. So Tim the only remaining one was forced to add new members because he wanted the crew to still be alive. So naturally, my older brother fell out, and I hopped in. And Tim wanted to start getting shots so he could make edits. So overnight I went from wishing I was in it, to now being one of the stars in it.
I was a sophomore in college when this new Ankilla Crew formed and decided to make yearly ski movies with movie theater premiers. So every season I did just enough college to pass and not have my parents on my ass about grades. But I was mostly focused on stackin clips and creating a segment. Right off of the Bat I knew I wanted my shit to be powerful. I wanted to make stuff Laker, Kam & Andy would be proud of. And Style was a NECESSARY.
I became obsessive, practically Self Hating when getting clips and reviewing footy. Every loose arm in a trick pissed me off. Every wishy washy landing was disgusting. I critiqued every kit I was wearing. I'm still upset I thought Helmets and sunglasses was even a look to begin with. I relentlessly compared my catalog of shots and abilities to my homies in Ankilla. "Why don't I have switch tricks, I'm too scared to dub. I can't spin a 6 out. I can't do a disaster 4."
I felt like the worst skier in Ankilla after our first movie. I didn't even really impress myself. So the next year I made one of the most important decisions in my Ski career. If I wasn't able to beat everyone else in Ankilla at the game we were all playing, then I'll just play my own game for now on. And from that moment on, I started paying attention more to what everyone else WASN'T doing more than what they were doing.
I began to let my ideas flow. I began putting my foot down and saying, "This is mine. I'll do what I please with it because I know it'll be beautiful." I started Sewing my own ski gear. I started doing 180s on, switch 5050s on thin rails, and Dressing murdered out in all black. I began to have a hardness in my sight as I skied. I began to understand the weight of my body in motion. My feet grew heavier and stomped more landings. My rotations began to follow through. And that's when I knew I had to make something uniquely me. Next thing I know at midnight during a flood in the Summer, I'm completely under water in full ski gear.
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The prior season and resulting season's segment in Ankilla's 2nd movie Subtropic told me, I can really do this. This goes somewhere and I have the keys if I choose. So the 2016-2017 season I started painting my gear gold. Black and Gold it was a testament to myself. A necessary bond because right after my birthday my family kicked me out of the house for leaving church 5 minutes early to go ski.
Luckily, I had a college apartment, but the mere violent disproportionate rejection hurt the most. And the Perfect North Pro Rail Jam was in a few days and I was a top contender for first place. So I did the only thing that could make me feel half way decent, I started hiking rails and practicing all my swap 4s; misty-eyed, confused, frustrated, determined. And by the skin of my teeth I won 1st place for the first time. My homies who helped judge told me that Elliot and I had actually tied, and it was an even split between all the judges on who got 1st. So they decided the victor with rock, paper, scissors, and I had won.
That victory was all I needed. My heart was tired after that comp. It was a confirmation to all my affirmations. I don't know why my family hated me then but I knew I was doing something right. So I proceeded to have the best season I had ever had up to that point. I out stacked everyone in Ankilla with Footy. I had the heaviest and most unique shots. Everyone wanted my segment to anchor that year's movie SYZYGY. My senior year at college now was over, and my new Colorado Friend KTan invited me to live on his floor in keystone during the summer for 200$. So I packed my things and left.
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