*calling all urban skiers: opinions needed*

JeremyClarkson

JeremyClarkson

Active member
A post in the angry catholic preist thread got me thinking. (this is skiing related bear with me) In skateboarding, people are always being discriminated against by skating somewhere where the public thinks they shouldnt be. The "fuck the system and fuck you trait" of some skaters (mainly 13 year olds shitheads) is unfortunately often seen by the general public and thus gives skateboarding the 'rebel punk im a troublemaker' steriotype.

Obviousley urban skiing doesnt have culture big enough to have a steriotype. Feel free to diagree but give me your reasons. I dont ski urban and I hope to change that this season. Im hoping to get some opinions to help me what to expect and prepare for anythink that may arise.

Do you think urban skiers get the same discrimination/trouble/hate for sliding rails/ wall rides ect. as skateboarders do? And do you think we share the often misunderstood "rebel punk fuck the system" attitude that skateboarders do from the public?

opinions from personal experience would be preffered.

 
Here's a tip. Somebody tells you to leave the spot, leave. Don't argue or try to change their mind. Tell them sorry, it won't happen again, grab your shit and get out.
 
this. and scout the area you are going to hit to find the best time when no security is around or anything. depending on where you live people might just stop and watch. Here in the midwest people give us crazy looks when we hit urban.
 
they still might tell u to leave but i dont think they will look at u like a skateboarder because what ur doing is much different so they might respect u more.
 
honestly dude, unless you live somewhere like SLC where the cops are used to it, they won't have a clue what's going on. Snowboarders and skaters have this problem, but I've been at urbans and been busted, with responses from "What the hell are you doing? I just wanna watch" to "you kids can't be skiing down them stairs like that, it'll chip the cement".
As long as you are respectful and leave when asked odds are you won't get in any trouble.
 
try to setup so that you won't have to deal with public/cops. Hit the rail at night or find a rail thats not in a very populated area. but what i've found is that most people think its cool and interesting, and some stick around to watch. Only the Cops give a shit so you should just avoid them
 
Not true at all. They only care when the owner of the property calls and complains. I've setup a TON of urban shit with friends and never had a cop randomly drive by and stop to see what's up. They show up when they get called by people who own the property or someone who sees you and thinks you're vandalizing shit.

True story. Setting up a ledge in MA... there were like 15 of us at one point (ridiculous) and all of a sudden like 3 cop cars come whipping into the parking lot super fast and all hop out. They got a call that there was a gang fight going on (skiers in bball jerseys.... dressed like asshats... easy to confuse) and were super pissed at first.

We explained what was up respectfully, then left. They didn't care but since they were called they had to kick us out. It's their job.

Just be respectful when someone shows up angry and you should be all set. Avoid very public places as that is where you would probably get a ticket or something.
 
be clean... no one should know you were ever there.

If youre sneaky, you should be able to session most spots for hours.

Also, clean up after yourself, keep the spot safe for other people who want to shred it.

I know here so many people go out, then leave their shit up, leave a mess, and rails and ledges get capped. You dont want that.
 
You have to remember that its winter also...people arent walking around late at night, or looking for suspicious activity...and there are also snowdays...days where no one cares what you're doing....jst have them scoped out in advance
 
yea as long as your respectful the cops wont give you a ticket or anything. cops seem like d bags a lot but you really have to remember that its there job and most of them dont want to be dicks but they have to.
 
I was hoping this thread was going to be about the epidemic of huge jump ons being acceptable again and how its not cool. Guess not though

Definetly not the same stigma as skating though, most people are just amazed at the fact you can slide a rail on skis.
 
in my expiernces cops dont care in citys, in small towns they do though. Also if a real estate agent tells you the nebior is calling the cops say thanks then bail
 
last urban i was at a cop stopped by and he asked us if we saw a native that stole a taxi cab. we answered no he told us to be safe then he dipped out...twas fun
 
if they look like trouble, I babble at them as fast as I can in spanish. if they start to show signs they might understand me, I switch to spanish with an Irish accent, which really throws them off. The more big smiles and thumbs up, generally the better. And then when they try to motion for you to leave, you act like you interpret it as "show me what youre doing son" and then you go do it, but if you accidentally yell STOMP or if you fall and go FUCK, they catch on and tend not to be so understanding. But if they look cool just calmly explain what you're doing and how much better it is than smoking the devils cabbage, and how youre trying to lead a wholesome life and then give them a coffee, because im guessing youre doing this at night, oh yea, bring a thermos of coffee so you can offer them some, and maybe show them your eagle scout card if they ask for ID that is if you have one, because those get you out of really crazy things and I am still typing look at me go! cocaine is one hell of a drug.
 
I've never had a bad experience with urban at all. One time my friends and I were going to hit a rail at this school and the janitor came out and told us we should probably come later to hit it because someone called the cops on us. The janitor also said she'd leave the building's lights on near the rail for when we come back at night for good lighting for filming. Another time my friends and I built a kicker near my house that we towed into with my friends truck and one of my neighbors who I've never came out with his id and his dog and was cheering us on. So from my experience people don't view urban skiers the same as skateboarders. Just don't make a ton of noise or do anything that would be considered rude or indecent and you'll be fine.
 
low security times means late at night. which is probably why most urban missions in movies are done at what looks like pretty late
 
this past season i was hitting an urban at a neighboring highschool, when the lunch lady came outside to see what was going on. we explained, and she kept going on about how we couldn;t balance that well and we would "break our necks" and therefore she wouldnt let us do it. So after about 15 minutes of BSing we convinced her that we were a professional film crew (despite filiming on a shitty handycam) and that i was in fact an x games rail grind champion and the fact she hadn't heard of me was rediculous. she eventually got her fellow lunch ladys to come a watch and provide excellent commentary.
 
ha one time we were setting up this one rail with scaffolding for the drop in and had just got it set and the lights up and all, when some lady who for some reason needed to get up those stairs, she asked us if she could get up them, we said yes and then she waited for us to take it down. about halfway through taking it down she got impatient (it was cold and snowing) and then just started flippin shit on us, she was yelling for us to hurry up, so i was like 'you can walk up the stairs, theres nothing wrong with them' to which she replied 'you have all your jumps...(some more bs)...I MIGHT SLIP AND FALL' meanwhile im bustin my ass to take this shit down. I played it cool but it pissed me off that she flipped out, threatened to call the blue guys, and couldnt walk up snowy stairs (it was snowing and all we had set up was the drop in) so she bitched at us

some people jsut bitch, some call the cops, either way stay cool and your good
 
Actually I dunno if its ok to post this video here, but at least it didnt get taken off youtube, so I hope the Newschoolers moderators are cool with it...

What I want to say is that its not astonishing that everybody thinks skateboarders vandalize their environment (btw I dont think so), take this video as a demonstration:

Mike Vallely doesnt give a good example...
 
^Are there videos of pro skiers on youtube while they are fighting against 4 random guys calling them 'skier faggots'? I dont think so
 
a few years of skateboarding might help you learn how to pick your battles. people tell you to leave spots for legitimate reasons, and acting like an immature brat because you dont get to do what you want isnt quite the best way to solve anything. pack up, move on, and go back later.
 
lulz with the exception of head for the hills when will and andy got up at 5:30. andy was real tired from staying up watching mean girls...
 
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