features

Articles like this one are dead. Or dying. Long-form ski writing is on life support. Outside is buying up all of the outlets to keep as cute little cash cows. Or something else equally dire. So sayeth the prophets of doom at least. Depending on which corner of the ski media landscape you...

I’ve been skiing for the past couple of years and the nines are really interesting to watch considering all the pros have perfect jumps and rails, but this year it seems like there’s really just not much stuff at all, I think there’s two sections and overall there’s only about 10 features. I...

I became aware of freeski culture at the height of the “Skittle-thug” era. My home hill’s terrain park was full of park rats with doo-rags, tall T’s, and the always cool bandana tied around the knee. Magazines were packed with shots of folks in the Salomon Magic Suit and G Suit. The wardrobes of...

Ahmet's right, when Freeskiing was introduced to the Olympics, the whole freeski scene was forced to take a look at itself and get it together so that skiers could be understood by the mainstream viewers & audience or as Ahmet says, "button up". My question is; does that have to continue? Do we...

Last week some of you were kind enough to let me know that I missed some spring skier stereotypes. So here ya go!

Photos: Hanne Lundin It's weird to me that you don't see more tours in snowsports. Back in my skateboarding days, there were tours pretty much constantly. The bigger name skaters rarely came off tour, they would just bounce from one sponsor's tour to the next. But during my increasingly...

Wiser writers than I have penned plenty of prose about the soul of mountain towns and how it’s under attack from over-development, under-appreciation and a host of other factors. So I won’t rehash that at length. It’s pretty obvious to all of us that the challenges of living and working in a...

As the season starts to wind down, there are a few classic responses to an imminent closing day. What's your default? And who did I miss?

There’s something special about the last few weeks of the ski season. Closing day is on the horizon but it doesn’t feel inevitable yet. We’re finally fit enough to make the most of a day on the hill without complaining of soreness for the rest of the week. Snowpacks are deep, the backcountry is...

all photos by Chris O'Connell JP Auclair is an icon. Whether you remember his backflip mutes on those Salomon 1080’s or for him cofounding probably the biggest freeski brand, Armada, his influence can be felt all the way through freeskiing. The man himself 2022 will be the 8th edition of...

I looked up to Ahmet a lot when I was a kid. In fact, I told him this right off the rip. He was, in my mind, the first brown dude I had seen "make it"... he was in a lot of ways, proof that someone from my background could make a place for themselves in this industry. For those wondering, "Why...

While most of my contributions to this website in the last few years have been in the form of words and doodles, when I joined newschoolers I dreamed of being a ski photographer. I shot for various outlets for a few years, and even landed a couple photos in print, before I decided that drawing...

Cover photo: Jake Dube Well, fuck. When it comes down to it, what else is there to say about Steel City Showdown? The level of rail game on show was beyond comprehension as a stacked crew of pros and up and comers threw down at Seven Springs, in what was arguably the heaviest rail jam to date...

Last week the red-winged blackbird was in Arizona, wintering with a flock of ten thousand other orange epauletted avians. But some imperceptible change in the weather prompted it to start north, and two days ago it flitted into the bed of reeds just below the bridge over the creek. When it...

Last winter I started a project to ski with and tell the stories of some of my favourite skiers... trying to lock down people in the middle of a pandemic wasn't easy so we were pushed to film every thing in the spring and again in fall. I love listening to freeski podcasts (I'm pretty sure I'm...

Images: Francis Boucher There’s no doubt that Phil Casabon is an exceptional skier, but he has always trodden his own path. Always stylish and creative, be that his back-to-back Real Ski Golds or his edgeless pro model at Armada, B Dog has never been afraid to try new things. After more than 16...

Are you even a pro skier these days if you don't pow surf?

This season, in the greater Teton backcountry skiing community there has been a fair bit of discourse about communication. Some of that came to a head in the Sliver Couloir in late January, and that incident has gotten a lot of press. This situation is symptomatic of a greater challenge that...

Calling one and all, it's time to set an alarm, put an entry in your diary or tell your parents to wake you up at 8.55. Registration for this year's Steel City Showdown goes live at exactly 9AM EST on Wednesday March 9th. Unless you have already received an invite you will only be getting in to...

I waited a while to post this one here, because I wasn't sure NS was the right forum for this kind of conversation, but after sitting with it, I realize NS is probably one of the most important forums for this to get to. Hope you're all doing well, - Adam Warning: Before listening, know that...