A word of encouragement to the greatest generation of skiers

OldParkRat

OldParkRat

Member
As an old timer in the game I must say this generation of skiers inspires me. They are well-informed of the rich history of freestyle, free-skiing, and even my hot-dogging days. Being in the park and seeing the groms on the local turf throwing down is impressive. There’s kids in the groove park at Heavenly you’ve never heard of doing tricks we never thought was possible to do on two planks. They have an endearing respect for the old guard as well, which I feel, is a great way to progress the sport while not adhering to tradition if that makes sense. Keep making street and park edits, keep riding with the homies, enjoy the journey, and never stop even when bruises and breaks take forever to heal when you get to your mid 40’s!
 
14530430:-Dan said:
How to not be a crusty old head 101. ?
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Thanks Tall T Dan. You are well-loved by the ski community. Keep the positive vibes flowing and a whole generation will follow you. Great interview on the two planker pod by the way. I respect your commitment to the art.
 
topic:OldParkRat said:
As an old timer in the game I must say this generation of skiers inspires me. They are well-informed of the rich history of freestyle, free-skiing, and even my hot-dogging days. Being in the park and seeing the groms on the local turf throwing down is impressive. There’s kids in the groove park at Heavenly you’ve never heard of doing tricks we never thought was possible to do on two planks. They have an endearing respect for the old guard as well, which I feel, is a great way to progress the sport while not adhering to tradition if that makes sense. Keep making street and park edits, keep riding with the homies, enjoy the journey, and never stop even when bruises and breaks take forever to heal when you get to your mid 40’s!
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I would not yell at this guy if he cut me off
 
Lovin the love in this thread.

35, not the oldest but not the youngest. I still love competing with the kids. They keep me updated and on my toes. If they want to win a comp, they have to crawl over my beaten body to get it.

Most often they deserve to win, sometime I win!

The freeskiing community is alive and well. Most followers of the sport are super chill and kind people. Ive been pushing limits with others for 25 years!
 
topic:OldParkRat said:
As an old timer in the game I must say this generation of skiers inspires me. They are well-informed of the rich history of freestyle, free-skiing, and even my hot-dogging days. Being in the park and seeing the groms on the local turf throwing down is impressive. There’s kids in the groove park at Heavenly you’ve never heard of doing tricks we never thought was possible to do on two planks. They have an endearing respect for the old guard as well, which I feel, is a great way to progress the sport while not adhering to tradition if that makes sense. Keep making street and park edits, keep riding with the homies, enjoy the journey, and never stop even when bruises and breaks take forever to heal when you get to your mid 40’s!
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As another old fart in the park I can say it's always the case the next gen are the ones that are the greatest generation. It is the way things should always be. They will want to break the mould and change styles and build on what went before. It is normal when you're a teenager certainly to feel indestructible, and overconfident. This combined with talent and well developed skill can result in people likeT Hall, Dumont, and Bobby Brown and Woodsy to name a few. I remember doing moguls comps in the late 80s and me and the rest of the juniors in the comp were stoking out bigger tricks than the older guys, and trying new styled tricks that didn't score well cause they weren't the dictated styles of the day, which were fairly narrow. Fun times, and they still are. Been hitting the park with a few guys about half my age this season and enjoying it. They've got some really sweet tricks to throw, lazy off axis backies for example. Really is nice to watch. But then I like watching everyone in the park from the tiny little kids to the ones that fall before they make it off the take off :-) Anyone being in the park is great news, and parks should be designed to be low impact landings (all sizes of kickers should be like this) and at least 4 sizes of kickers. This format will encourage as many as possible to try, and that will secure the future of the parks. Cause if the park doesn't invite people in, sooner or later it'll just be the very small clique of the cool kids, and that will ensure it dies fair quick. If only 3 or 4 people use the stuff, the resort will bin it as its not a fair return for investment. I remember skiing one season, and the XL kicker line had gone from being two options on the knuckle (one about 14m the other about 16m) to a single 20m hit. Now it was nice, but for a week I and maybe two others were the only ones hitting it. This was no doubt a combination of the size (20m) plus there being nothing other than small jumps of maybe 5m. Most folks can't go from 5m to 20m and feel confident for obvious reasons. I had a chat to the guys that ran the piste co, and told them about the change and that it was basically a waste of time cause it was only me using it for the past week, nice as it was. They got the park lads to change it back to the original setup and hey presto lots more people started stepping up. Made the laps a little slower, but the community stronger, and hopefully hooked some more young uns into the feeling :-)
 
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